ARCHAEOLOGISTS have started excavating tombs believed to be more than 1,200 years old in North China’s Hebei Province after they were exposed by a storm and discovered by a villager.

    Zhang Jinqiang, a resident of Zhengkou Village in Huanghua City, noticed black bricks in a drainage canal to the east of the village after heavy rains washed away dirt there last month. The bricks were clearly different from those used nowadays in the area.

    “I thought there might be something under the bricks,” Zhang said. He took a shovel to dig nearby and found a green-glazed bowl and a broken jar.

    Zhang Baogang, curator of Huanghua’s museum, said that archaeologists have already found two small burial chambers and are expecting to find a whole cluster of tombs that should provide useful information about local customs in ancient times.

    “The bricks, bowl and jar indicate the tombs may date back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907),” the curator said.

    Provincial authorities said large-scale excavation of the site would start soon.