This week’s photo theme is, well, it’s death. Not because we’re trying to be overly morbid, but because Thursday 5 April is Qingming Festival in China, a day where families traditionally tend to the graves of their ancestors and an occasion often referred to as “Tomb Sweeping Day”.
Today’s image shows an ancient “boat tomb” which was unearthed in Sichuan province last month according to reports from Sina. Officials from the Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology believe the tombs – which were found just outside the Sichuan capital – date back to the Spring and Autumn period of the Warring States era (771-476 BC).
Around 180 of the boat-shaped coffins were found, along with a tranche of other burial items. Despite their appearance, it’s believed that the tombs were buried in the ground rather than placed upon rivers or other bodies of water, in the hope that they would carry important figures into the afterlife.
