Over 1,000-yr-old cave tombs found in east China

Archaeologists have excavated a collection of 88 tombs, including 34 cave tombs made of earth dating back over 1,000 years, at a cemetery in the city of Yantai in east China's Shandong Province, the municipal museum said Wednesday.

The excavation was led by Sun Zhaofeng, from the Yantai Municipal Museum, and it uncovered tombs spanning from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) to the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), representing various types.

The 34 cave tombs belong to the Tang and Song (960-1279) dynasties and mark the first large-scale excavation of such tombs in the city, Sun said.

Earth cave tombs were a popular form of burial during the Tang and Song dynasties, characterized by a north-south layout and consisting of a tomb passage, sealing bricks and an earth cave chamber.

The tomb passage, measuring approximately 1 meter in length and 0.8 meters in width, is located on the south side, while the earth cave chamber is on the north side. The roof of the tomb was shaped into a sloping hollow arch, extending from south to north.

A special form of burial, earth cave tombs were rarely found in Yantai in the past. This recent excavation of dozens of relatively intact earth cave tombs has offered valuable insights into their structure and characteristics, shedding light on burial customs, tomb evolution and social structure in the period, Sun noted.