4000-year-old ancestral tombs discovered in China

China National News (ANI) Monday 23rd June, 2008

New Delhi, June 23 : Archaeologists have discovered five 4000-year-old ancestral tombs with skulls and human remains, as well as pottery and animal bodies, from Shanghai city in China.

The ancient remains were uncovered from the northwestern corner of an archeological site in the city's Songjiang District.

The tombstones faced in different directions which is not the tradition of Liangzhu Culture, a Neolithic jade culture in the Yangtze River Delta, according to a report in the Shanghai Daily.

A road with its surface paved with pieces of pottery stretched northwest to southeast at the western part of the archeological site showing obvious signs of human activity, it added.

According to Song Jian, head of the archaeology department of the city's cultural relic watchdog, houses there were found built on stakes or with strong walls.

Holes found in the ground may have had different functions and some might have been used as barns, he added.

Remnants of 4000-year-old buildings were also found to the north of the site beside a lake.

Experts have dug out large quantities of ancient remains belonging to the Neolithic period or the later Zhou, Han, Song and Yuan dynasties at the site, which was first uncovered in 1958 in Songjiang's Guangfulin Village.

Tracks of migrants from central China's Henan Province were found at the site, which demonstrated the merging of the civilizations of China's Yellow River and Yangtze River civilizations.

The archeological site is expected to become a cultural park before the 2010 World Expo, according to Songjiang government.