The ruins in Shandong Province, northwest China, are an area rich in cultural relics that mark the development of Chinese civilization.
According to the Global Times, the relics excavated from the tombs reveal that this area was the cradle of an aristocratic family, thereby providing additional documents to study the ancient feudal system of China.
With an area of about 800,000 square meters, the relic is divided into different areas such as residential areas and large cemeteries, stretching from the Tay Chu Dynasty (1046-771 BC) to the Dong Chu Dynasty (770-256 BC).
Researchers from the Shipwreck Archaeological Academy said that the tombs were built from the end of the Tay Chu Dynasty to the beginning of the Dong Chu Dynasty.
The tombs are in a unified shape, with the largest length of 36.6 meters. Chinese archaeologists have found 1 to 3 skeletons of people buried alive with the dead in 6 tombs. Some pieces of pottery as well as chariots and horse bones were also excavated from the tombs.
Among these discoveries, some bronze items were buried with the cars, including a bronze "ding" (a food container used in the ceremony with three legs and two hands) and a bronze crab.
The inscriptions on these bronze artifacts reveal that the tombs and relics belong to the Jing family, a noble family with many important officials in the Chu Dynasty.
Assessing the date, design, burial objects and engravings of the tomb, archaeologists speculate that the area around the original ruins was a hamlet of the Jing family.
Researchers at the Shipwreck Archaeological Academy pointed out that the ruins are a rare example of a hamlet in northwest China that existed during the late Warring States period and early Warring States period, which has great significance for research on the feudal and political systems of dynasties and geography.
