Over 240 lacquer wares are unearthed, including earrings, jewelry boxes, plates, cases, tomb figures and horses. (Photo provided by Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics)

A large number of precious cultural relics are excavated from Laoguanshan Han dynasty tombs. Laoguangshan Han dynasty tombs, located in Tianhui town, Jinniu district of Chengdu, southwest China’s Sichuan province, have been excavated recently. Four tombs of the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C. -A.D. 24) were found with a large number of precious cultural relics unearthed. The four models of the jacquard used for making Sichuan brocade have filled the blank of China’s archaeological discoveries in silk textile technology. Some of the nine medical books unearthed have been verified to be the long lost medical classics written by Bian Que (a famous doctor in ancient China). Besides, lacquer figures with main and collateral channels marked on the body were unearthed too. It is reported that more than 920 bamboo slips and 50 inscribed wooden tablets, containing about 20,000 Chinese characters, were found in the tombs. It is the first time that Western Han Bamboo slips have been found in Sichuan.

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