More broadly, he says, they testify to the state's royal funerary system, hierarchical etiquette and cultural exchanges during the Warring States Period — shedding light on the transitional era between the Zhou and Western Han (206 BC-AD 24) dynasties.

The excavation, though, had not been planned.

Shortly after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, people identified an area to the east of the relic site of Shouchun as a burial ground of Chu's high society. One tomb, later designated Wuwangdun Tomb No 1, was believed to be exceptionally large.

Between 2015 and 2018, the site was looted three times. Authorities recovered 76 stolen artifacts, prompting the approval and launch of a full-scale archaeological excavation by the National Cultural Heritage Administration.