New archaeological discovery in Wuxi

Archaeologists work at the Chidun Relic Site. [Photo/wxrb.com]

Archeologists discovered another five tombs and some burial objects thought to be 5,000 years old at the Chidun Relic Site in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, the Wuxi cultural relic protection and archaeology research institute announced on April 14.

So far, up to 39 tombs and over 300 historical relics have been discovered at the site, which belong to the Songze Culture that lived about 4,900 to 5,800 years ago.

Chidun Relic Site, located in Qianqiao, Huishan district, was accidentally discovered by road construction workers two years ago. Archeologists have unearthed three-quarter of the whole site, and the remaining 200-sq meter area will be excavated this year.

Although it is hard to identify at this early stage the remains in the tomb, the unearthed jade objects found in them suggest that they must have enjoyed a high social profile during their reign, said Li Yiquan, an archeology expert of the institute.

Furthermore, archeologists also found some pottery fragments during the excavation, which "seem to belong to the Majiabang Culture," Li added and assumed that there might be some other and much older tombs underneath the current ones.

Majiabang Culture, like the Songze Culture, is another civilization in the Taihu Lake area lived in the Neolithic period, which started around 5000 BC and transformed to Songze Culture around 4000 BC.

Li believed the discovery will provide valuable new evidence for the social and cultural study of the Taihu Lake area.