A staff member at the local cultural department in Nanhe County, N China, carefully inspects the white pottery figurine from the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Dec. 17, 2019. (Xinhua/Du Yifang)
Three white pottery figurines of huren, or tribesmen from the north, have been discovered in north China's Hebei Province.
SHIJIAZHUANG, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- Three white pottery figurines of huren, or tribesmen from the north, have been discovered in north China's Hebei Province, local authorities said.
The figurines, dating back to the early Tang dynasty (618-907), were found on a construction site in Zhaopai Village in Nanhe County, according to the local cultural relics protection department.
The three lifelike figures, each about half a meter high, were designed with the likeness of a civil officer with a hood and a bun on top of his head, a warrior in armor with a long beard and a merchant with only his head left, sporting a handlebar mustache and high nose bridge.
Staff at the local cultural relics protection department in Nanhe County, N China, are studying the small sculptures discovered in the area, Dec. 17, 2019. (Xinhua/Du Yifang)
They were burial objects and belonged to an official at that time, said Xiao Zhonghuai, a local history expert.
Xiao added that the discovery of the figurines provides important materials for the study of socioeconomic development and funeral customs during the Tang Dynasty.
Salvage excavation is ongoing at the construction site. ■
