Hunan's Mawangdui Tombs provide massive bounty of artifacts

The Mawangdui Han Tombs in Hunan province have produced 26,937 artifacts after decades of excavation efforts, according to China Central Television, citing the Hunan Museum.

The tombs were initially excavated between 1972 and 1974, and they represent one of China's most significant archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.

The unearthed artifacts include Lady Xin Zhui's corpse, lacquerware, textiles, and bamboo and silk manuscripts.

The lacquerware unearthed from Mawangdui totals 1,017 pieces, 869 of which are intact. The textiles unearthed (mainly silk and hemp) total 24,490 pieces, including 212 intact pieces. The bamboo and silk manuscripts total 1,430 items, including silk books and paintings, wooden tablets, and bamboo slips.

Yu Yanjiao, director and researcher at the Hunan Museum's Mawangdui Han Tombs and Collection Research Exhibition Center, said the quantity of unearthed artifacts from the tombs could be described as massive, with a wide variety of categories and a broad interdisciplinary scope. She added that organizing and researching them is a gigantic systematic project.

Duan Xiaoming, the head of the museum, said most of the artifacts have been studied thoroughly, which has laid the foundation for their usage.

He added that the museum will establish a research database for Mawangdui to promote digital collection efforts of the artifacts.