Over 2,000 ancient Buddha statues-China

More than 2,000 ancient Buddha statues have been unearthed by archaeologists in China’s Hebei province, highlighting the popularity of Buddhism in the country ever since it spread from India.

The 2,895 Buddha statues and fragments dating back to the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi period (534-577) were found in the historic site of Yecheng, Linzhang county.

The statues are made of white marble and blue stone and some are painted or gilded, according to archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage.

Zhang Wenrui, an official with the Hebei Provincial Bureau of Cultural Heritage, said the sizes of the statues range from 20 centimetres long to the size of an actual person, and the archaeologists are repairing the statues for protection and research, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Buddhism is supposed to have spread to China from India over 2,000 years ago.

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"Buddha's Skull Found In Nanjing

Chinese archaeologists have argued that the 1000-year-old miniature pagoda, unearthed in Nanjing has a piece of skull belonging to Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism.

Pagoda was wedged tightly inside the iron chest that was in the former site of the temple town in August.

The four-story pagoda, which is nearly four feet high and one and a half feet wide, is considered by archaeologists as one of the 84,000 pagodas commissioned by Ashoka the Great, in the second century BC to house the remains of the Buddha.

Ashoka, one of the greatest emperors of India, converted to Buddhism after a bloody war, are located in the eastern state of Orissa. He is widely credited with spreading Buddhism throughout Asia, and throughout his empire, which stretched from Pakistan through Afghanistan and Iran.

The pagoda found in Nanjing is made of wood, plated with silver and inlaid with gold, colored glass and amber. It is a description of another of Ashoka's pagodas which used to be housed in Changgan Buddhist temple in Nanjing.

A description of the contents of the pagoda were also found: one part gold coffin of Buddha's skull in a silver box. Although scans have confirmed that there are two small metal boxes inside the pagoda, experts have not looked inside. The pagoda is currently on display at the museum.



For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.