2,000-Year-Old Silver Seal Found in Southwestern China

SICHUAN PROVINCE, CHINA—Xinhua reports that archaeologists from the Chengdu Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute have unearthed a private seal thought to have belonged to a Western Han Dynasty marquis. Team leader Gong Yangmin said the unicorn-shaped silver seal was found in an area containing 30 tombs dating to the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.–A.D. 25) and four kilns. The artifact is thought to have belonged to Liu Yue, Marquis Dingfu, who was the great grandson of a Han Dynasty emperor. Liu Yue’s tomb has not been discovered, however. Rather, the seal was found in a tomb thought to have belonged to one of his descendants. “The seal may have been passed down to his descendants who escaped to Qionglai City when Wang Mang, a powerful minister at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, usurped the throne,” Gong said. For more on archaeology in China, go to “Underground Party.”