The 1,300-year-old tomb of Vo Tac Thien's son-in-law

The tomb in Shanxi Province contains 120 antiques and inscriptions on the biography of Tiet Thieu, a pho code under the Tang dynasty.

Colored ceramic statues in the grave.(Photo: China Daily).

The tomb is located in Diêm Thôn in Tây Hương district which is said to belong to Tiet Thiệu , the first husband of Thái Bình princess , the daughter of Cao Tông Lý Trí and Võ Tắc Thiên. Researchers from Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Institute unearthed the tomb from August to December this year, finding a total of 120 artifacts, most of which were colored painted ceramic statues.

The space inside the tomb.(Photo: China Daily).

The archaeological team also discovered an intact engraving of 600 words on a 73-centimeter square stone slab, recording the lineage, officials, the cause of death, the time of cremation, the children of Tiet Thieu. The tomb is 23km from the ancient city of Xi'an, facing south, 34.68m long and 11.11m deep, according to Li Ming, a researcher at the archaeological institute.

The discovery helped fill the space of Tieu Thieu's biography because two books that recorded the history of the Tang Dynasty, the Old Tang letter from the historian Liu Hu of the Jin Dynasty and the New Tang Dynasty of Âu Dương Tu in the Northern Song Dynasty, were not kept. information about him. The researchers also had the opportunity to explore the art of engraving, tomb arrangement and cultural and political context of the Song Dynasty.