Handan antiquarians have found the relic of "Ouche" in the accessory pits of the Zhao Mausoleums, which shows an earlier history of Ouche, according to China News Service, Handan.

“Ouche” is a 3:1 funeral model of a vehicle. Wang Xing, chief of the Handan Cultural Relics Bureau, said the accessory pits found this time are mostly on the east of the main grave, which house both practical objects and funeral objects. The antiquarians have found five accessory pits on both sides of the tomb passages east of the main grave according to the excavation of the No.2 tomb.

Among them, the 13 wood vehicle models found in the No.1 tomb are defined as “Ouche”. The four “Ouche” and the bones of 14 horses in No.5 tomb can still be made out after thousands of years. There are also several relics of “Ouche” in three more tombs.

Wang said that the occurrence of “Ouche” was once considered to have started in the Qin Dynasty because of the relic of “Ouche” in the Qin imperator mausoleum. But the relics found this time have show a new history of “Ouche”, suggesting that it existed hundreds of years earlier than previously believed.

Wang said funeral objects are an important part of the Chinese funeral culture and have existed since Qin imperator mausoleum. The unearthed funeral objects are important evidence for research and the current discovery provides rare objects for research into the history of Chinese funeral objects.