DATONG, CHINA—LiveScience reports that an excavation in northern China conducted ahead of a construction project revealed the elaborate 1,500-year-old burial of a high-status woman. According to a stone epitaph found at the entrance to the tomb, it held the remains of a woman named Han Farong who was the wife of a magistrate and lived at a time when the Northern Wei Dynasty (A.D. 386-534) ruled the area. Farong was buried with a necklace made up of some 5,000 beads, as well as gold earrings inlaid with gemstones that depict dragons and human faces. The style of the earrings is similar to artifacts discovered in Afghanistan in 1978, suggesting some degree of contact between the regions at the time. To read about another dramatic burial discovered in China, go to “Tomb from a Lost Tribe.”
