Archaeologists in China has uncovered an ancient tomb in Shanxi province, in the northwest region China. The tomb has been preserved by the authority after a massive loot in 2013.
The tomb was situated in the Xinzhou city. When the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology began to excavate the tomb in 2013, they found the tomb has been badly damaged and looted. The authority cleared the site for the archaeological team to excavate the site. Recently, the team discovered a mural depicting a blue monster and other murals in the 1,400-year-old tomb, as reported by CBS.
"The murals of this tomb had diversified motifs and rich connotations," The archaeological team said about the mural. "Many of which cannot be found in other tombs of the same period."
This discovery is a good news for the preservation of archaeological sites in China. All across China, the ancient tomb and burial sites are looted in a massive scale. The perpetrators search for artifacts to sell them in the antiquities market. China's antiquities are in high demand as international buyers are willing to pay millions of dollars for the artifacts found in Chinese ancient tomb.
Last year, the Chinese archaeologists worked in more than 2,000 sites as reported by China Daily. According to the head of Society of Chinese Archaeology, Wang Wei, there are many ancient sites were found in the urban construction, which becomes the main source of discovery of the archaeological sites. Nevertheless, the archaeologists also searched for the sites in the rural area.
Chinese archaeologists focused their search on the southern area in China, where the ancient trade route of as Silk Road resides. Latest excavation in several sites has also found another trade route, known as Maritime Silk Road. The evidence of this trade route was uncovered in many sites, that leads to trade between China and the ancient cities in Korean Peninsula and Japan.
