2,000-Year-Old Children’s Graves Discovered in Northern China

SHIJIANZHUANG, CHINA—According to a Xinhua News Agency report, the burials of more than 100 children and just six adults have been unearthed in a 2,000-year-old cemetery in northern China’s Hebei Province. Located near the ancient city of Fudi, the cemetery could contain as many as 700 more burials. Zhang Baogang of the Huanghua City Museum said the children had been buried in pottery urns made from local clay containing sea shells. Skulls and foot bones have been found in smaller pots, while other parts of the body have been found in larger pots, he added. Many of the children appear to have been only two to three years old at the time of death, but samples of the bones and teeth will be tested for information on their age and sex. Archaeologist Li Jun of Shanxi University suggested the many children may have been gathered together for a specific purpose, and were perhaps sacrificed, died in a plague, or worked to death. To read about another recent discovery in China, go to “Tomb Couture.”