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The discovery of a two-millennium-old tomb in Southwest China's Sichuan Province might shed new light on the mysterious ancient Ba people, archaeologists said.

Gao Dalun, director of the Sichuan Provincial Research Institute of Archaeology, said: "We hope the new discovery can provide some direct clues to explain the riddle of the Ba people."

Chinese scholars have been puzzled for centuries by the legendary Ba people, who emerged some 4,000 years ago. Historical documents provided few clues as to why the Ba people became extinct more than 2,000 years ago on the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

Some scholars held that the ancient kingdom was vanquished by Emperor Qinshihuang, who unified China for the first time more than 2,000 years ago.

Of particular interest is the riddle of how the Ba people built the boat-shaped coffins that still hang high up in the gorges of Yangtze tributaries, as well as the truth behind ancient legends that they sacrificed humans to tigers.

The discovery of the ancient tomb in Yihan County was sparked by the actions of two tomb thieves.

"The finding was purely accidental," said Chen Zujun, head of an archaeological rescue team.

Chen's team was sent to dig out the raided tomb after a case of theft was reported in the area in May.

Artefacts excavated from the tomb included three skeletons believed to have been human sacrifices. Seven bronze vessels were captured from the two thieves, while other items recovered included bronze weaponry such as spears, daggers and swords, pottery pieces and fragments of wild boar jawbones and teeth.

Gao Dalun, who is also deputy director of the Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics, said: "The tomb might belong to a Ba king dating back to between the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) and the Warring States Period (475-221 BC), judging from the high standard of the grave."

Archaeologists were intrigued by a number of bronze seals on which were carved pictures of the sun, birds and buildings.

On one of the seals, the Chinese character for "king" was distinctly inscribed, surrounded by pictures of flames and flowers. A butterfly-shaped seal that was found is believed to be the only one of its kind ever unearthed in China.

However, archaeologists so far know little about the exact meaning of such pictorial writing.

"We have never seen so many exquisite relics of the Ba people before," Gao said.

"What surprised us most was that exchanges were then very frequent between the Ba people and the outside world, judging from the sacrificial vessels, weapons, household goods and tools of production," he said.

Chinese archaeologists had been excavating historical sites related to the Ba people since the early 1950s to try to find a Ba king's tomb but they had had no success until this year's find.

More than 530 relics belonging to the Ba people have so far been unearthed from 32 tombs at the Luojiaba site, where the king's tomb was found.

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