Ancient tomb cluster in Changsha offers a glimpse into millennia of history

A cluster of over 200 ancient tombs containing more than 500 cultural relics has been unearthed in Changsha, Central China's Hunan province, offering archaeologists a glimpse into life in the region over 2,000 years ago.

The four-month excavation, which concluded last month, was conducted by the Changsha Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology. Before the construction of a logistics park in the city's Wangcheng district, archaeologists surveyed the planned construction area of 160,000 square meters and discovered 214 tombs within an ancient cemetery complex.

Preliminary analysis of the tombs' structure and contents suggests they date from the Western Zhou Dynasty (c.11th century-771 BC) to the Qin (221-206 BC) and Han (206 BC-AD 220) periods, indicating the site was used as a communal burial ground for over a millennium.

More than 560 relics were uncovered in the tombs, including bronze swords and dagger-axes, pottery pots and jars with intricate patterns, jade rings, and ironware. These items provide a vivid picture of the craftsmanship, material life, rituals, and military culture in this region over 2,000 years ago, archaeologists said.

Significantly, this discovery is not isolated. Groups of tombs were also found along the same mountain range in 2017 and 2024, suggesting the area was a long-term, preferred burial ground for a stable and growing community. This continuous sequence of tombs offers fresh insights into population changes, settlement patterns, and social structures in the region, archaeologists said.

The findings are also expected to contribute to broader studies on how regional cultures in the Yangtze River basin developed and interacted with other cultures in ancient China over time, they added.