Lavish 2,200-year-old tomb unearthed in China may be that of ancient king

A 2,200-year-old ornate tomb in eastern China may belong to the ruler of the Chu state, one of the seven powerful kingdoms that vied for supremacy during China's formative Warring States period, an expert told Live Science.

The tomb is the largest and most complex ever found from the Chu state and would shed more light on the conditions of the time, according to officials with China's National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) who were quoted by the official state news agency Xinhua.

Archaeologists have spent the past four years excavating the tomb at Wuwangdun, which is located near the city of Huainan in China's Anhui province. According to Xinhua, archaeologists have unearthed more than 1,000 cultural relics at the site — including lacquered artifacts, bronze ritual vessels and musical instruments — as well as a central coffin inscribed with more than 1,000 written characters.

Radiocarbon dating and other analyses suggest the tomb dates to the late stage of the Chu state in about 220 B.C., when it was coming under the influence of the Qin state.

Related: 1,400-year-old tomb of emperor in China reveals evidence of royal power struggle among brothers and a warlord

Qin was ultimately the victor among the seven Warring States that followed China's royal Zhou dynasty — Qin, Han, Wei, Zhao, Qi, Chu and Yan — and its subsequent unification of the country is officially regarded as the beginning of modern China. 

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Vast tomb

The tomb's date corresponds to a critical period before the feudal Chu system disintegrated, Xicheng Gong, an archaeologist with the Anhui Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute who's leading the excavations, told Xinhua.