Year-ender: Top 10 cultural events from 2024

5. China unveils highest-level Chu state tomb ever excavated

The archaeological rescue project at the Wuwangdun tomb in Huainan, Anhui province, initiated in 2020, has yielded exciting findings in the past year.

The National Cultural Heritage Administration announced in April of 2024 that the Wuwangdun tomb is the largest in scale, highest in rank and most structurally complex Chu state tomb ever excavated through scientific measures to date.

A large bronze ding (an ancient cauldron) and more than 3,000 exquisite artifacts, including sets of bronze vessels, lacquerware, musical instruments, wooden figurines and a great number of animal and plant remains have been discovered.

As a Chu state tomb dating back to the late of Warring States Period (475-221 BC), the site has an independent cemetery surrounded by a moat, covering an area of about 1.5 square kilometers. Inside the cemetery there are chariot and sacrifice pits and tombs accompanying the largest No 1 tomb, believed to be for the owner of the cemetery.