Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology did rescue excavation at the Kindergarten Site of Three Treasures and Double Happiness Group in 1998, cleared up 20 Han tombs and 2 Tang tombs and discovered 600 artifacts of bronze, pottery, iron, jade etc. Most of Han tombs have a cave chamber with slope passage, but some have a brick chamber with rectangular side chamber. Most antiques unearthed are pottery vessels such as jar, pot, grain storage, kitchen, basin, tripod, and bronze artifacts like chariot and horse pooinents, small weapons, ornaments, daily used objects etc. Combining the tomb form with the discovered antiques, Han tombs can be divided into 4 periods: late phase of middle Western Han, late Western Han, middle Eastern Han and late Eastern Han. The Tang tombs dated at the Prosperous Period (AD 684-755 )
This tomb,locating at Shaanxi Tenth Cotton Plant in Xi’an Suburbs,was e xcavated by Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology in April 1996. The tomb, facing toward south,is consisted of tomb passage,arched passage,light well,little niches and the passage to tomb chamber.Its total present length is 8 .2m.There are 120 items of relics,mainly of pottery figurines of human and animals discovered on their original places.The figurines are: heavenly Kings(天王) and guarding monsters at the two sides of the entrance to tomb chamber,11 animals of zodiac system along the four walls of tomb chamber,4 saddle horses in different postures and 2 comparatively large grooms.The figurines like standing human,horseriders and half statutes were placed inside the tomb chamber,other smaller ones like horse,ox,sheep,dog and pig were in the niches along the walls of the arched passage .Porcelain spitton,Tower-shaped Jar and lead vessels were found in the tomb chamber as well. There are well-preserved murals on the walls of tomb chamber and the passage to tomb chamber.In the tomb chambers on the east wall there is a dancing scene and flowers;the north wall,a snake and a turtle;The murals on west and south walls are not clear,but we still can see screens with flowers and grass design,and scarlet bird. The bomb should belong to the period of the Properous Tang.
