Around 1,500-year-old skeleton found buried in golden jewelry and beads (China)

Around 1,500 years ago, a woman named Farong – the wife of a Chinese magistrate – was laid to rest in all her finery.

The skeleton was in a coffin with the skull resting on a pillow of lime. The remains of her skeleton – still draped in her exquisite jewellery – have now been unearthed in a tomb in China. The necklace was made with around 5,000 beads, including 10 gold beads, 9 gold pieces, 2 crystals, 42 pearls, and over 4,800 glass beads archeologists have reported.

On her epitaph found by the tomb entrance, is written: ‘Han Farong, the wife of Magistrate Cui Zhen’. A stone lamp was also found in Farong’s tomb.

Farong Tomb

Datong-map

The tomb was discovered in Datong City, China, in 2011 and dates back to 1,500 years ago – a few decades before the collapse of the Northern Wei dynasty in 534 AD. Datong City was founded in 200BC and located near the Great Wall Pass to Inner Mongolia.

• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3749148/Ancient-Chinese-BLING-1-500-year-old-skeleton-buried-golden-jewellery-5-000-beads.html#ixzz4HuEzPwaV
• http://www.livescience.com/55790-ancient-bling-found-in-chinese-tomb.html