Source: Su Yi (苏艺), Anhui News (中安在线)
Villagers in Longzi Lake District (龙子湖区), Bengbu (蚌埠), Anhui Province, discovered the remains of an ancient tomb by pure accident last weekend when they drained a pond in their area for farming purposes. The local cultural heritage department recovered a number of grey bricks from the site but have so far been unable to determine the age of the tomb. Emergency conservation work has been carried out on the ruins and archaeologists from the cultural heritage department are currently devising an excavation strategy.
According to the Bengbu Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage (蚌埠市文物管理处), a group of villagers prepared to drain a pond for farming purposes on the afternoon of 24th February 2013. However, after they drained the pond, they noticed that there were a number of bricks lying partially buried in the silt, so they called the emergency services to report their discovery. Staff from the local cultural heritage department rushed to the scene and recovered a number of smooth-surfaced grey bricks from the drained pond. No decorative markings or engravings were found on the bricks, which has made it difficult to determine the exact age of the tomb or the bricks themselves. Archaeologists will conduct a formal excavation of the site once a suitable excavation strategy has been approved.
Author’s Note: This is a translation of the original article, which can be found here. Please note that I am not a professional translator or archaeologist so there may be errors in my translation.
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[...] Villagers Discover Ancient Tomb After Draining Pond for Farming Purposes - An ancient tomb was discovered when a group of Anhui villagers drained a pond for the purpose of growing crops. [...]