The New Xian Tombs Lie In The Middle Of A Construction Site The city of Xian was home to 13 royal dynasties and remained the capital of ancient China for 1,100 years. Late in 2001 Chinese scientists announced they had found the tomb of Li Chi, a princess from the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907 AD) and only one year later the same team of researchers unearthed the tomb of Zhang Tang, a top judicial official of the Han dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD). Now, the Bureau say more than “4,600 items of archaeological significance have been identified by workers, including 3,500 tombs.” The vast number of artifacts being recovered, and the sheer scale of the site is being described as “a huge workload.” Further exemplifying the size of the operation, the Bureau added in their press release that “the archaeological excavation is enormous.”