Sunday, October 23, 2005

Chinese tomb treasure update Tomb scan reveals buried treasure

A magnetic scan of the unopened tomb of China's first emperor has detected a large number of coins, suggesting Emperor Qin was buried with his state treasury, a news report said Thursday.

Qin, who ruled in 221-210 B.C., already is renowned for the thousands of terra cotta statues of soldiers found buried around his immense tomb outside the former imperial capital of Xi'an.

The latest finding was announced by Chinese and German archaeologists at a conference Wednesday in Xi'an, where the tomb was discovered in the 1970s, the official Xinhua News Agency said.