A 800-year-old tomb group belonging to the Song Dynasty (960-1279) has been unearthed in Fengcun village of Changning County in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

According to archaeologists with the Changning culture heritage bureau, the tomb group, covering 200 square meters of land, was formed by ten odd tombs, each with three chambers.

The bureau director told Xinhua that featured with architecture style of Song Dynasty, the tomb group has a complete set of corbel brackets, coffer, and colorful statues of the master and maids.

Wei Zhijun, an official with the village, said that two strangers came to him several days ago and told him that they were willing to build a road for the village free of charge, and the only condition was that they could dig soil in the nearby hill, and no villagers were permitted to participate.

Words of the two men sparkled doubt from the villagers, who reported to local police. The tomb group was thus found.

(Xinhua News Agency February 18, 2007)