Cultural heritage workers in Henan Province have unearthed an ancient tomb featuring a stone coffin with carvings of peonies and figurines acting out tales of filial piety.

　　Experts say the tomb, located close to an emperor's mausoleum, probably belonged to a man of wealth of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127).

　　The tomb was discovered by local farmers who were digging in the village of Bai He, Mengjin County, about 20 kilometers southwest of the ancient imperial capital of Luoyang.

　　Experts said the 2.21-meter-long, 90-centimeter-wide stone coffin is all they discovered in the tomb, which they surmise was plundered by grave robbers centuries ago.

　　"The coffin itself is a rare and valuable find in Luoyang," said Yang Genyuan, deputy director of the county Cultural Heritage Bureau.

　　He said the person buried in the tomb was probably not an official, given the plain clothes that adorn the ingrained figurines on the stone coffin.

　　"Peonies etched on the coffin suggest he was probably a rich man because those flowers symbolize affluence in China," he said.

　　Some 800 meters north of the tomb is the Yuanling Mausoleum, the burial ground of Emperor Guangwu, or Liu Xiu, founder of the Eastern Han Dynasty (24-220 AD).

　　(Xinhua)