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Peruvian workers clean graves containing a trove of pre-Inca artifacts in Ferrenafe, Peru, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2006. Archaeologists in northern Peru said Tuesday they have unearthed 22 artifact-rich graves containing a trove of pre-Inca artifacts, including the first 'tumi' ceremonial knives ever excavated scientifically. The more than 900-year-old tombs were found next to a pyramid in the Pomac Forest Historical Sanctuary, about 680 kilometers (420 miles) northwest of the capital, Lima. They are from the Sican culture, which flourished on Peru's northern desert coast from A.D. 750 to 1375. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia) Archaeologists said Tuesday they have unearthed 22...

SAQQARA, Egypt - The arrest of tomb robbers led archaeologists to the graves of three royal dentists, protected by a curse and hidden in the desert sands for thousands of years in the shadow of Egypt's most ancient pyramid, officials announced Sunday. The thieves launched their own dig one summer night two months ago but were apprehended, Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told reporters. That led archaeologists to the three tombs, one of which included an inscription warning that anyone who violated the sanctity of the grave would be eaten by a crocodile and a snake,...

Phoenician tombs found in Sicily 40 sarcophagi unearthed at necropolis near ancient colony (ANSA) - Marsala (Trapani), August 23 - Archaeologists have unearthed 40 sarcophagi in what was once the sacred Phoenician burial grounds of Birgi, near the ancient colony of Motya . The tombs were discovered by chance by a group of construction workers excavating the foundations of a house close to the westernmost tip of Sicily near Marsala, culture officials said . Archaeologists said the sarcophagi were made of simple stone slabs and resembled those found on display outside the museum on the neighbouring island of Motya (present-day...

Tombs of Roman foes discoveredTerracotta, daggers and jewelry in Abruzzo necropolis (ANSA) - L'Aquila, June 7 - Fresh tombs of one of Rome's most implacable foes have been discovered in Italy's mountainous Abruzzo region . Some of the tombs have been dated to the Second Century BC, when Rome was still trying to subdue the warlike peoples that lived in the region . Others date as far back as the 8th century BC, before Rome was founded . A particularly interesting find was a 2nd-Century BC chamber tomb containing terracotta ware, jewelry and a dagger . "It's fascinating to see...

Over 4,200 Cliff Tombs Found in W. China City 2006-1-10 1:06:53 CRIENGLISH.com More than 4,220 cliff tombs have been spotted at 680 sites in Shangluo, a city in western China's Shaanxi Province, local archaeologists said Monday. The cliff tombs have large spaces and various conformations and are scattered at a 160-km-long belt joining DanJiang Valley in the east and the Qianyou River in the west, said scientists with the provincial archeological research institute. According to Yang Yachang, a researcher with the institute, most of the single-room tombs are erect stone caves in rectangle shapes and are three meters deep, while...

Chinese Archaeologists Find Ancient Tombs Mon Oct 17,11:31 PM ET BEIJING - Archaeologists have unearthed a 1,700-year-old complex of tombs in eastern China that contain bronze mirrors, porcelains and ancient money, a news report said Tuesday. ADVERTISEMENT The tombs near the port city of Ningbo were uncovered by a forklift operator working at a construction site, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The report didn't say who was buried in the tombs or how many bodies had been found. Inscriptions in the tombs indicate they were built in 256 A.D., the report said, citing Ding Youfu, a member of the...

Mysteries of the Xiaohe Tombs in Xinjiang, China The Epoch Times Jun 10, 2005 A bird's-eye view of the Xiaohe Tombs. (Zhang Hongchi) On April 17, 2004, the Xiaohe ("Small River") Tombs in Xinjiang Province, discovered in 1939 by Swedish archaeologist Folke Bergman, were said to be among China's top 10 archaeological discoveries. According to a Guangming Daily report from April 23, public interest in the tombs was first sparked when Bergman published a detailed introduction to the Xiaohe basin archaeology called the Archaeological Researches in Xinjiang in Stockholm in 1939. However, when the tombs' landmark Xiaohe River dried up,...

Excavation of ancient desert tombs ends, riddles waiting to answer www.chinaview.cn 2005-03-20 15:33:59 URUMQI, March 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese archaeologists finished the excavation of an ancient tomb complex in the Lop Nur Desert, northwest China, but researchers say the finds are puzzling and need more time to be understood. By mid March, archaeologists in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region unearthed 163 tombs of the Xiaohe Tomb complex, which sprawls on a 2,500-square-meter oval-shaped dune, 174 km from the ruins of the Loulan Kingdom, an ancient civilization that vanished 1,500 years ago. The complex contains about 330 tombs, but about 160 of...

Ancient tombs of unknown ethnic group discovered in Mazandaran TEHRAN, May 10 (MNA) -- Archaeologists working at the Laforak Cemetery in Savadkuh of Mazandaran Province recently discovered the remains of three skeletons with dolichocephalic skulls, anthropologist Farzad Foruzanfar announced on Tuesday. Of the fifteen graves excavated in the 2800-year old cemetery, three were different, in that they contained three skeletons with dolichocephalic (long-headed) skulls which were covered with a layer of earthenware, and their walls were reinforced by earthenware, too, he added. Experts have surmised that the three people belonged to a non-indigenous nation, since the inhabitants of Mazandaran at...

MEDA'IN SALEH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Sheltered from the world by an ancient religious curse and modern Middle East conflict, a spectacular ruined city lies almost hidden in the northern deserts of Saudi Arabia. More than 100 tombs and burial chambers are carved elaborately into rocky outcrops across the sands of this city, still bearing names and ornate religious symbols chipped into the sandstone 2,000 years ago. Nearby volcanic mountains, decorated with the 10,000-year-old art of prehistoric hunters, tower over a palm-filled oasis and an abandoned mud house village. Through them all snake the remains of an Ottoman railway, built...

Tomb's hexagonal shape supports theories Yomiuri Shimbun The mausoleum in Marukoyama in Asukamura, Nara Prefecture, is hexagonal, giving support to theories that have suggested the tomb belonged to a high-ranking prince, according to the municipal board of education. The mausoleum is the first hexagonal tomb to be found in the Asuka area, where there are many tombs of Imperial and aristocratic family members that date back to the late sixth and early seventh centuries, when Empress Suiko (554-628) ruled the region. Mausoleums were built in various shapes, but only a few hexagonal chambers have been discovered in the nation. Emperors,...

China unearths ancient Caucasian tombs AFP October 25, 2004 BEIJING: Chinese archaeologists have started unearthing hundreds of tombs in an arid north-western region once home to a mysterious civilization that most likely was Caucasian, state media said Sunday. The researchers have begun work at Xiaohe, near the Lop Nur desert in Xinjiang region, where an estimated 1000 tombs await excavation, according to Xinhua news agency. Their findings could help shed light on one of the greatest current archaeological riddles and answer the question of how this isolated culture ended up thousands of kilometres from the nearest Caucasian community. The tombs,...

Archaeologists unearth 3,000-year-old tombs in northwest China Tue Oct 19, 1:19 PM ET Science - AFP BEIJING (AFP) - Chinese archaeologists are unearthing a group of tombs believed to be the family cemetery of the Duke of Zhou, a de facto imperial ruler who lived about 3,000 years ago, state media said. Big Screen Action The season's hottest new games, cool arcade classics, and handhelds you've got to have. Archaeologists discovered the group of 22 tombs in February at Qi Mountain in the northwestern province of Shaanxi. They cover an area of about 80,000 square meters (860,800 square feet), the...

Exploring the mysteries of Xi'an's imperial tombs By David Fullbrook (That's Beijing) Updated: 2004-09-03 13:49 Dynasties and empires rose and fell along the Wei He River valley, where Xi'an lies. While the emperors are gone, their legacy awaits the spades and brushes of archaeologists exploring this crucible of Chinese history and culture. Terra-Cotta Warriors in the surburb of Xi'an [file photo] The terracotta warriors, one of archaeology's greatest accidental finds, hint at what else could lie under the barely scratched fields where emperors and aristocrats lie interred beneath 500 burial mounds. These tombs rise out of a fertile plain where...

CAIRO, Egypt - Egypt's antiquities chief on Thursday revealed a 2,500-year-old hidden tomb under the shadow of one of Giza's three giant pyramids, containing 400 pinkie-finger-sized statues and six coffin-sized niches carved into granite rock. Zahi Hawass, the director of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, said archaeologists had been working for three months to clear sand from a granite shaft found between the pyramid of Khafre — also known by its Greek name of Chephren — Giza's second-largest tomb of a pharaoh, and the Sphinx. Under blaring sun Thursday, Hawass said Giza's latest ancient discovery came to light after archaeologists...

50 ancient tombs uncovered From correspondents in Athens July 18, 2004 ARCHEOLOGISTS have discovered 50 tombs dating back to the late Minoan period, around 1400 BC, and containing a number of artifacts on the Greek island of Crete, ANA news agency reported today. The tombs were part of the once powerful ancient city of Kydonia, which was destroyed at the time but later rebuilt. The oldest among them contained bronze weapons, jewellery and vases and are similar to the tombs of fallen soldiers of the Mycenaean type from mainland Greece, said the head of the excavations, Maria Vlazaki. The more...

UPDATED: 08:09, July 15, 200414 Warring States tombs discovered in Sichuan After over one month's excavation, the archeologists in Sichuan discovered 14 tombs of the Warring States Period in Yonghe Township, Shimian County, Ya'an City, which is known as "Ancient Corridor of Ethnic Culture" in China. There unearthed over 200 rarely seen funerary objects such as Bashu style iron and bronze swords. According to the associate-research fellow Leiyu with Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics Research Institute, The Warring States tombs in Yonghe were located on the terrace of the south bank of the Dadu River. With one side backed by the...

Cemetery dig yields clues 3000 years ago By Ma Lie (China Daily) Updated: 2004-05-28 08:53 XI'AN: A new discovery has created a great stir in Chinese archaeological circles, raising questions that will require further excavations before any kind of definitive answer might be given. Researchers use white lines to mark the boundaries of the cemetery. [newsphoto] After two months of sleuthing, a group of Chinese archaeologists have found what they believe to be a large group of tombs of China's Western Zhou Dynasty (1046-771 BC) in Qishan County, in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province. But are these actually tombs of the...

Ancient tomb findings stun archaeologists www.chinaview.cn 2003-12-22 11:06:24 BEIJING, Dec. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- The finding of ancient tombs which may take up a total area of 1 million square metres in southern Beijing has surprised many archaeologists. Exploration of the first group of the graves, covering an area of around 200,000 square kilometres, has already started, with that into the rest five to six groups not yet scheduled, source with the Beijing Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau was yesterday quoted by the Beijing-based Star Daily. "Our preliminary prospecting indicates there are 40 to 50 ancient graves in the designated Group One,...

Ancient Tombs Reveal Bronze Age Civilization Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News Cinerary Vase And Tomb Oct. 6, 2003 — Archaeologists could soon unveil the social structure of a mysterious Bronze Age civilization from northern Italy, according to ongoing anthropological and archaeological research. The study centers on a large necropolis discovered in the Casinalbo village near Modena. Dating between 1500 and 1200 B.C., it consisted of more than 2,000 tombs belonging to the people of the "terramare" — prehistoric flat-topped mounds left by a Bronze Age pile-dwelling settlement built on dry land. "No necropolis of this size and age has been found...