- Archaeologists discovered the group of 22 tombs in February
at Qi Mountain in the northwestern province of Shaanxi. They cover an area
of about 80,000 square meters (860,800 square feet), the Xinhua news agency
reported.
-
- Ten of the tombs each have four passages -- an indication
that the owner was from the highest rank in the the Western Zhou Dynasty
(11th century BC - 771 BC).
-
- "Judging from the scale of the tombs, the owner
might be somebody of high rank, a duke, a prince, or even a king of the
Western Zhou Dynasty," said Lei Xingshan, associate archaeology professor
at Beijing University.
-
-
- Four inscriptions on some 700 tortoise shells unearthed
during the excavation suggested that the tombs were linked to the duke's
family.
-
- The archaeologists also unearthed a 1,500-meter (4,950-feet)
city wall and six construction ruins.
-
- The Duke of Zhou was the founder of the Western Zhou
Dynasty. He helped his brother overthrow the Shang Dynasty (c.1600 BC -
c.1100 BC) and became prince regent to his brother's young son after the
brother died.
-
- He was best known for established the ancient feudal
hierarchy and etiquette systems that laid the foundation for Chinese civilization.
-
- http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1540&ncid=1540
&e=4&u=/afp/20041019/sc_afp/china_archaeology_041019171918
|
