Boat-Shaped Coffins Unearthed in China

CHENGDU, CHINA—Xinhua News Agency reports that a cluster of boat-shaped coffins has been discovered at a construction site in southwest China. The cemetery is thought to have been used some 2,200 years ago by people of the Shu culture who may have operated nearby salt wells. Archaeologists led by Gong Yangmin of the Chengdu Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute estimate that there are 60 coffins in the cemetery, laid out in four rows. Forty-seven of them have been excavated so far. Two of the burials were exceptionally well preserved: One contained 10 bamboo baskets filled with grain, and the tomb’s occupant wore a string of glass beads at the waist. “Glass beads like dragonfly eyes were exotic at the time,” said Gong. “They were probably imported via the Silk Road.” The coffins were carved from a durable wood known as nanmu, which comes from evergreen trees and was used to construct actual boats as well. More than 300 artifacts, made from pottery, bronze, iron, and bamboo, have also been recovered. For more, go to “China’s Legendary Flood.”