The May/June issue of Archaeology Magazine has an interesting article on the tomb of "Lady Dai", wife of Li Cang, a second century BC nobleman. The unlooted burial at the Mawangdui site in Changsha, Hunan Province, contained over 1000 articles to ease her stay in the afterlife, all detailed in inventory lists on bamboo strips. The elaborate and very well sealed coffin yielded the best preserved body ever found from this era. Scientists have not yet discovered how she stayed in such good condition.

Entombed in Style