Gold ornaments unearthed in ancient tombs in China's Shaanxi

XI'AN -- Archaeologists recently excavated six ancient tombs and discovered a batch of cultural relics in Xianyang city, Northwest China's Shaanxi province.

The institute of cultural relics and archaeology of Xianyang city said the six tombs were located in Ta'erpo village, of which three date back to the Qin Dynasty (221 - 207 BC), one dates back to the Western Han Dynasty (202 BC-25 AD) and two date back to the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD).

Xie Gaowen, director of the institute, said that the tombs were found in a burial area of Xianyang city of the Qin Dynasty, where hundreds of Qin tombs have been discovered previously.

Xie noted that archaeologists excavated important items from one Qin tomb, including bronzeware, gold ornaments, shell ornaments and potteries.

"It is rare to see a group of nine pure gold ornaments found in one Qin tomb," said Xie, adding that the largest hemispherical ornament measures 1.1 centimeters in diameter, and exquisite patterns of water droplets, circles, beads and ropes were found on the ornaments.

Based on the size of the ornaments with buckles on the back, these may have been ornaments for clothes, according to Xie.

Archaeologists said that the welded ropes and beads on the surface of the gold ornaments indicated that the Qin people had mastered welding techniques during that period.