A large-scale cemetery, dating back to the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C. - 25 A.D.), was discovered in north China's Shanxi Province,and experts say it may fill the blank in that province's known history regarding the area's king and prince.

Excavations, which started in 2015, showed that the cemetery is a rectangular structure, covering an area of about 64,000 square meters, or about the size of nine football fields, according to the provincial institute of archaeology and the cultural relics and archaeology institute of Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi.

There were two tombs unearthed at the site, spaced 163 meters apart. Tiles and fragments were also unearthed from between the two tombs. Experts said they might belong to a couple.

Outside the cemetery, there are 10-meter-wide paths on which traces of wheels were left.

"Although these two tombs have not yet been excavated, the layout of the tombs indicates that the owners could be nobility from the Han Dynasty," said Chang Yimin, a researcher from the cultural relics and archaeology institute of Taiyuan.

Archaeologists also excavated 11 tombs outside the cemetery, and found more than 66 sets of cultural relics, including musical instruments, lacquered boxes and bamboo slips. However, the relationship between the tomb owners outside and tomb owners inside the cemetery has not been confirmed.

With input from Xinhua News Agency

(Cover image: A bronze mirror discovered outside the cemetery.  /Photo courtesy of the cultural relics and archaeology institute of Taiyuan)