Mysterious discovery of 219 tombs on the cliff

This is considered the largest excavation in Chinese history, with 219 tombs on the cliffs from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Sixth Dynasty.

The excavation took place during the period from April 2019 to the end of March 2020 in Trung Hung hamlet (Zhongxin), Trieu town (Zhao), Kim Duong district (Jintan), Chengdu.

The image shows European ear wearing glass excavated from a group of tombs on a cliff.

The photo shows a panoramic view of the tombs on the cliffs of Trung Hung village in Kim Duong.

Gong Yangmin, who is in charge of the archaeological excavation project, introduced that more than 600 pieces of copper, silver, iron, glass, ceramic and porcelain were unearthed from the aforementioned tomb area. Among them, the majority of ceramics, mainly including pots, storage containers, bowls, pots, ceramic statues, etc. Bronze mainly consists of teapots, pots, cocktails, lamps, mirrors, etc., silverware holder mainly bracelets and rings, hinged knives, sickles, hoes, etc., glassware was mainly ear-wearing jewelry, and porcelain was mainly jars of tigers, jars and bowls.  

The painting shows intricate carvings in the tomb.

 It is known that the tomb area on the cliff has a total of four floors from top to bottom and can be divided into three categories: large, medium and small according to specifications, mainly medium and small tombs.

The large tombs are mostly two-chamber tombs with long, narrow open tombs, and compartments with coffins on either side of the main chamber. There were rectangular cavities inside, and some of the main rooms had original stone stoves and wells. The tombs were mainly in the Jin Dynasty. Small tombs are mostly single-chamber tombs with short and narrow dimensions. Most of the tombs inside are not mandarins, and the tombs are mostly of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

Cung Duong Dan told reporters that, according to the combination of the tomb shape and burial tools, these tombs have a long history from the late Eastern Han Dynasty to the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasty , in which two tombs of the Jin Dynasty are the main tombs. The tombs are arranged in an orderly manner in the tomb group, without disrupting the relationship and 2 to 3 tombs can often be seen in the same group. Experts say this could be a public cemetery used by many families at the same time.

Image showing combination of medium burial rooms

According to the research, this tomb has enriched archaeological documents about the burial field from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the mainland in Sichuan, and excavated artifacts in the graves provided abundant documents to go one step further in the construction and completion of documents on the development of the late Eastern Han Dynasty to the Sixth Dynasty in Sichuan. The intricate carvings in the tombs provided live visual material for research on social life and production during the Eastern Han and Jin dynasties in Sichuan.

In addition, Cung Duong Dan said that since ancient Sichuan was not the land of glass-making at the time, glass ears and other artifacts unearthed from tombs could come from Soil (now Hubei Province) or Southeast Asia. This discovery provided valuable clues for the study of cultural exchange activities between ancient China and foreign countries during the Jin Dynasty.