900-Year-Old Porcelain Found in Tombs in Northern China

XI’AN, CHINA—Xinhua reports that more than 100 pieces of porcelain were recovered from three tombs in a 900-year-old cemetery in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province. Archaeologist Miao Yifei of the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology said the cemetery may have held the remains of members of the Meng family who died at a young age. Their bodies had been relocated from other burial places, Miao added. The objects recovered from the tombs include celadon porcelain tea and wine sets, utensils, and sacrificial vessels made in the Yaozhou kiln in northern China around A.D. 1123, during the Northern Song Dynasty. Two of the five tombs in the cemetery were looted in 2010. To read about remnants of soup and noodles found in Shaanxi tombs, go to "Ancient Chinese Takeout," one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2011.