Society
Chinese archeologists unveil 1,000-year-old frescoes
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-06-05 11:54
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CHANGSHA -- Cultural experts in central China's Hunan Province have revamped a group of 1,000-year-old frescoes and unveiled the ancient artwork to the public for the first time.
On the revamped frescoes, now kept at Yuelu Academy in the provincial capital Changsha, were the personified images of the 12 animals representing China's birth signs, namely, rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.
"Each of the animals wore a long robe, the typical apparel for ancient Chinese," said Prof. Zhu Hanmin, president of the academy.
On the frescoes were also 12 warriors, four men and five women, he said.
The content on the frescoes was hardly recognizable when they were found in 2006 in a tomb that had been robbed and was full of garbage in a mountain in Xinhua County, said Zhao Xichen, a researcher from Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archeology.
"Judging from the tomb structure and the theme of the frescoes, they should date back about 1,000 years," said Zhao.
The frescoes were revamped by experts from Hunan and Shaanxi Province, home of the famous terracotta army.