Scientists from the Shanxi Institute of Archeology have discovered an ancient Chinese tomb built during the Jin Empire, which occupied northern China and the present-day Russian Far East. It has been reported live scienceciting a university press release.
The stone tomb was found in 2019 by workers repairing storm drains 650 kilometers from Beijing. Archaeologists examining it found that the building was decorated with figures of lions, sea anemones, flowers, and guardian spirits (one female, the other male). The inner chamber of the tomb was probably made of unpainted, carved wood-like bricks. The remains of three people were buried in the tomb – two adults aged 50 to 60 and a child aged six to eight.
Here, archaeologists also found a land voucher with inscriptions indicating that the tomb was built between AD 1190 and 1196, when the area was under the Jin province rule. Although most of the empire’s subjects were ethnic Han, the imperial family descended from the Jurchen, a semi-nomadic people from northeastern China. Its close relatives today are the Manchus and the Evenks. According to the 1207 census, the population of the Jurchen province of Jin was 53 million people.
Precise information about the age of the tomb obtained from the land coupon will enable the dating of other structures in the area.