Global Times reported that three sets of bronze bells were discovered on March 8 during the excavation of 570 ancient tombs in Tam Mon Hiep, Heinan Province, central China.
This is the first time that bronze bells dating back to the Warring States period (475 - 221 BC) have been found in the city, according to the Tam Mon Hiep City Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology.
The discovery of the tomb provides rich archaeological data to study the cemetery arrangement and the socio-political changes that occurred during the Dong Chu Dynasty (770 - 256 BC), as well as study the transitional periods of the Spring-Autumn period (770 - 476 BC) and the Warring States period - Yan Fei, the person in charge of the Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology of Tam Mon Hiep City, said.
A total of 570 graves were excavated dating from the Spring-Autumn period to the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911).
More than 3,000 burial objects were discovered during the excavation as well as 228 tombs during the Spring-Autumn Festival/Chien Quoc period.
He explained that the relics excavated from this site are similar to those from the Dong Chu culture or relics found in public cemeteries of the Nguyen Dynasty during the early Warring States period.
Among them, the M379 location, the four-legged tomb of a noble and the largest burial site, preserves 96 burial items, including a set of nine Vietnam-era bells and a set of 10 stone bells.
A relatively old percussion instrument in China, the bell appeared during the Warring States period (1046 - 771 BC) and developed strongly during the Spring-Autumn Festival until the Qin and Han Dynasties (221 BC - 220 AD).
In addition, the tombs of the Dragon people were also found in another cemetery, showing that the Tam Mon Hiep area is not only a vital artery connecting the East and the West, but also an important channel of communication between the northern regions and the central plains.
