A pile of human remains stacked layer upon layer was found in a cliff cross-section carved away after continued heavy rain caused a road to collapse in China's Shanxi Province.
According to combined reports from China's state-run Beijing News and Hong Kong's Sing Tao Daily on the 26th, the Cultural Relics Protection Center of Jishan County, Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province, explained that the densely stacked remains that emerged from the road collapse site were the joint burial of soldiers who died in the Battle of Yubi, where the Eastern Wei and Western Wei clashed during the Northern and Southern Dynasties period.
The Eastern Wei and Western Wei were states formed when the Northern Wei split apart, and they fought five times over control of North China. The last of these was the Battle of Yubi in 546, when the Eastern Wei attacked Yubi Castle, a strategic stronghold of the Western Wei.
The Eastern Wei army led by Gao Huan attacked the Western Wei for 50 days but failed to capture the castle, and more than 70,000 people died from combat and epidemic disease. As Gao Huan retreated, he had the war dead buried together in a pit, a site that has been passed down as the "Tomb of Ten Thousand People."
When Gao Huan died the following year, the Eastern Wei became the Northern Qi, and the Western Wei became the Northern Zhou. The Northern Zhou toppled the Northern Qi and reunified North China, and in 581 Yang Jian succeeded to the throne and founded the Sui Dynasty.
An official at the Cultural Relics Protection Center said, "For hundreds of years, remains would occasionally be exposed around the relic site whenever heavy rain fell, but this time a large-scale collapse occurred, bringing this tragic history buried for 1,480 years back into the world," adding, "It is a relic of immense historical value."
The Cultural Relics Protection Center decided to take emergency protective measures so the exposed remains would not be damaged by wind and rain, and to carry out reinforcement work to prevent the cliff from collapsing further.
"Meeting Your Ex the Day Before Your Wedding Is a Virtue"… China's 'Ethnic Group' With Only 40,000 Left
