Archaeologists in southwest China's Yunnan province have unearthed over 1,000 funerary objects in a graveyard that houses a large group of tombs.

Excavation of the tombs in Qiaojia county, Zhaotong city, began in February and was completed last month. A total of 998 items, including pottery, stoneware and ancient shell coins, were discovered in 652 tombs.

The graveyard, covering approximately 6,000 square meters, is located beneath a huge hydropower station in the Jinsha River basin.

The tombs are believed to date back to some time between the early Bronze Age and the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 B.C.) and the Warring States period (475-221 B.C.), according to Kang Lihong, associate researcher with the Yunnan institute of cultural relics and archaeology.

The excavation provides rich materials for studies of burial customs and local culture, and is of great value to the burial culture in the Jinsha River basin, Kang said.