Human remains found in Mausoleum of Qingshihuang

Archaeologists said a five-year excavation of small burial pits inside the Mausoleum of Qinshihuang (259-210 BC) prove historical records that empresses and imperial concubines were immolated and buried in sacrificial burial pits with China's first emperor, CCTV reported on Monday.

After some 40 years of exploration and excavation, 188 burial pits were found around the Mausoleum of Qinshihuang, the founding emperor of China's first feudal Qin dynasty (221–206 BC), located in the Lintong district of Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province.

Archaeologists excavated 10 of the 99 small burial pits inside the imperial mausoleum during the latest project that just concluded after five years.

Zhang Weixing, deputy director of the archaeology department of the Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum, said human bones, mostly of young females, were found in the pits. According to him, the incomplete skeletons indicated the people were killed elsewhere and then buried in the pits rather than in formal coffin chambers.