Close to 1,500 years ago, a Chinese woman by the name of Farong was buried with some of the most exquisite jewelry imaginable. In 2011, her tomb was discovered in Datong City. After discovering her tomb, archaeologist proceeded to excavate the area. During their excavation, they found the amazing jewelry that Farong was buried with.
Photo: Live Science
Archeologists uncovered Farong’s tomb, which had been dug into the ground, and her priceless jewelry. Her skeleton is in very poor condition. Archaeologists are still unsure of her age, but have reported that she was found resting on “a pillow of lime, and inside the pillow are two bricks with rope patterns.”
Archaeologist also found an epitaph near her tomb’s entrance that states, “Han Farong, the wife of Magistrate Cui Zhen.” There were no other burials found in this particular tomb. However, archaeologists have noted that there are two separate tombs nearby that are in the process of excavation.
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Experts believe that Farong lived around 1,500 years ago, just before the collapse of the Northern Wei dynasty. Experts have also found that Datong City, was once the capital for this dynasty until it’s collapse.
The Jewelry
Two pieces of jewelry were found upon their excavation. The first was a set of earrings that are made of gold. These earrings portray an image of a dragon as well as a human face. The earrings are decorated with a gold teardrop design that holds a gemstone.
Photo: Live Science
The archaeologists comment that, “The human figure has curly hair, deep-set eyes and a high nose: wears a pendant with a sequin-bead pattern on its neck; and has inverted lotus flowers carved under its shoulders. In recent years, many gold earrings have been unearthed from Norther Wei dynasty tombs, but the earrings unearthed from this tomb are surely some of the most exquisite.” Only one other pair of earrings with a similar design have been found. These particular earrings were found in northern Afghanistan in 1978.
The second piece of jewelry found was a necklace that is composed of around 5,000 beads. The thread that once held the necklace together has now completely decomposed. However, experts believe that they’ll be able to reconstruct the necklace according to the position it was found.
Archaeologists comment that the necklace “consists of 10 large and small gold beads, nine flat gold pieces, two crystals, 42 pearls, and more than 4,800 small glass beads. The beads are the size of millet grains, some black and some green, and all re oblate, each with a perforation in the middle.”
You can read more about this discovery in the Chinese Cultural Relics journal.