¡¡¡¡GUANGZHOU, July 24 (Xinhuanet) -- A well-preserved ancient corpse of a woman
was discovered Tuesday in the center of Guangzhou City,capital of south China's
Guangdong Province.
¡¡¡¡Experts excavated two coffins from a family tomb from the Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644) on the eastern ring road and found that they held a married couple.
The corpse of the wife remains intact from its appearance, while the husband's
body has decomposed into bones.
¡¡¡¡The experts attributed the different conditions of the bodies to the
different wooden materials of the coffins. The wife's coffin is better made than
the husband's.
¡¡¡¡The size of the woman's body is 1.52 meters, which indicates that she was
1.55 to 1.57 meters tall before her death, the experts said. They believe the
woman died at the age of about 60, according to studies of her teeth and bones.
¡¡¡¡The experts did not find many belongings buried with the coffins. People of
the Ming Dynasty were not buried with many valuable items because they had come
to know that valuables in tombs attracted thieves, said the experts.
¡¡¡¡The tomb was built with a mixture of sand and sticky rice, which was widely
used in the area since the Ming Dynasty and couldpreserve bodies in the humid
conditions of Guangdong, according tothe experts. Enditem