Priceless Buddha statues unearthed in N. China

Beijing (CNS) -- During this year's Spring Festival, Chinese archaeologists excavated thousands of precious Buddhist statues in the ancient settlement of Yecheng, Hebei Province. The findings were made by the Institute of Archaeology (IA) under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), and unearthed with help from Hebei archaeologists, they announced on Monday.

About 2,895 pieces of numbered icons and thousands of unnumbered fragments in 78 packages have been catalogued. Procedures for color protection, consolidation, fragment assembly, and a series of preservation plans still amount to a massive undertaking.

More than a hundred pieces of the statues were accompanied by detailed descriptions. Most were made of white marble, and few of bluestone. Judging from the descriptions and characters, cache of relics was largely crafted during the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi Dynasties (534–577), with a small handful of bluestone pieces from the Northern Wei Dynasty (386–534), and only several fashioned in the Tang (618–907) style.

The extensive variety and number of these carefully logged, delicate statues is a huge contribution to the archaeological and historic Buddhist studies covering these periods of time, concluded Dr. Zhu Yanshi, head of the exploration team and point man for the press briefing.

The field work part has been basically accomplished, Zhu pointed out, and follow-up research on the history of the burial site and its relationship to ancient temples is required. The findings may also provide clues for other contemporary Yecheng studies.