China - Mausoleum find rekindles ancient horse legend
Chinese
Society & Culture
Mausoleum find rekindles ancient horse legend
XI'AN - The bones of 80 horses unearthed from the mausoleum of a Chinese emperor who lived more than 2,000 years ago have rekindled an ancient legend about blood-sweating "heavenly" horses from central Asia.
The skeletons were found in two sacrificial pits within the mausoleum of Emperor Wudi of the Western Han Dynasty (202 BC-8 AD) in Xingping city, Northwest China's Shaanxi province, said Yang Wuzhan, a researcher with the provincial archeological institute.
Yang and his team began excavating the two pits in September 2009, but had published few of their findings until Monday.
Each of the two pits was a huge cavern containing 20 caves - each "guarded" by two stallions and a terracotta warrior, Yang said.
