Beijing, Nov 10 (PTI) Archaeologists in China have foundover 300 graves in a 5,500-year-old cemetery estimated to havemore than 2,000 graves in it in the northwest ShaanxiProvince, a media report said today.
Covering around 90,000 square meters, the cemetery is inthe northeast of the Yangguanzhai ruins, which belonged to alate Neolithic group known as the Yangshao that originatedfrom the middle reaches of the Yellow River and is considereda main precursor for the Chinese civilisation.
The excavation of the site began in 2015 and so far 339graves have been found in an area of 3,800 square meters, halfof which have been excavated, Yang Liping, who leads theproject, said yesterday.
Yang said the total number of graves in the denselydistributed cemetery is estimated to surpass 2,000. Most ofthe grave owners died during middle age, with womenoutnumbering men, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
In some burial sites, archaeologists have found suspectedtraces of textile fabrics around human bones, it said.
"There are no wooden coffins. The dead may have beenwrapped in fabric when they were buried," Yang said.
Painted pottery, bone beads, hair clasps made with bonesand earrings made with stone or pottery, pigments and tortoiseshell have also been found in the graves.
Archaeologists are working with researchers from FudanUniversity to figure out the blood relationship between thosein the cemetery through whole genome sequencing, the reportsaid. PTI KJV MRJ AKJMRJ.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.