Some of the 3,000-year-old relics from several large mound tombs in Qujiang district, Quzhou. [Photo/WeChat account: quzhoufb]

The Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Archaeological Research Institute has completed the excavation of several large mound tombs – located in the Qujiang district of Quzhou city in East China's Zhejiang province – and preliminarily findings have reportedly determined that they date to the Western Zhou Dynasty (c.11th century-771 BC).

To date, hundreds of precious cultural relics – such as jade, stone, porcelain and bronze items – have been unearthed. Mengjiang No 3 mound, the largest tomb with the most unearthed cultural relics, is about 14 meters long and 7.8 m wide.

According to Zhang Min, a researcher at the institute, the mound tombs were the highest grade of tomb in the ancient country of Gumie and are also known as the royal cemetery.