ZHENGZHOU, Jan 4, 2021 (BSS/XINHUA) – Archaeologists have discovered a
1,400-year-old tomb containing a white marble bed in central China’s Henan
Province, where elements of both Buddhism and a Persian religion have been
found.
The brick tomb dating back to the Sui Dynasty (581-618) was found in
Long’an District in the city of Anyang, said Jiao Peng, director of the
excavation department under the city’s research institute of cultural relics
and archaeology.
Images of the daily lives of the tomb owners and religious stories are
carved into the bed, with a religious figure on each end in the style of
Zoroastrianism, an ancient Persian religion. Lotus images in the Buddhist
style are also among the carvings.
The bed provides material information for the study of carving techniques
in the Sui Dynasty, and is of great significance to the study of the
development, the shape evolution and the hierarchical use of stone beds
inside tombs in China, said Jiao.
Kong Deming, head of the institute, said that a man named Qu Qing lay in
the bed together with his wife.
The epitaphs reveal the couple’s identity and details of their lives. The
inscriptions have provided new evidence for the study of the development of
Chinese characters as well as calligraphy in the Sui Dynasty, said Kong.
According to Kong, the Qu family lived in the Longxi region of what is now
Gansu Province. The region was an important section of the ancient Silk Road,
and was thus influenced by the cultures of Europe, western and central Asia.
“The bed and dozens of images related to Buddhism and Zoroastrianism are
evidence of the exchanges between the eastern and western civilizations,
which is significant for the study of ethnic and religious blending,” he
said.
The institute began excavating the tomb in April 2020, and more than 120
items including stoneware and earthenware have been uncovered.