Two colourful winged horses painted around 1,300 years ago have been uncovered in a Tang Dynasty tomb in northwestern China. The remarkable paintings are part of a much larger archaeological discovery that includes Byzantine and Persian coins, luxury objects and unusually well-preserved wooden tomb furnishings, offering new evidence for the connections that flourished along the Silk Road during the Middle Ages.
Altogether, archaeologists excavated 18 tombs dating to the Sixteen Kingdoms period and nine from the Tang Dynasty, recovering more than 600 objects or groups of objects. Researchers say the cemetery provides important evidence for understanding government administration, cultural interaction and Silk Road trade in the region.
The winged horses of Tomb M20
One of the most unusual discoveries came from Tomb M20, a high-status Tang burial excavated in 2025. Despite serious damage to the tomb, archaeologists were able to remove its principal remains in protective containers and transfer them to a laboratory for excavation and conservation under controlled conditions.
There they uncovered what CCTV News reports is the most complete painted wooden Tang-period coffin base yet found. Twelve arched panels along its sides contain brightly coloured images of winged mythical creatures, including winged horses, lions and tigers.
Two of the paintings depict particularly distinctive winged horses. One is predominantly blue, with a spotted body, wings extending from its shoulders and a flowing mane and tail. The other, which is predominantly green, is also covered with spots and has white wings, long legs and a flowing mane and tail. The surviving green and blue colours were produced using mineral pigments resembling malachite and azurite.
Winged horses were not unknown in Tang art and can also be seen in paintings at the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang. However, researchers say that winged horses with the distinctive spotted pattern seen on the Badam East examples have not previously been discovered.
The archaeological project report describes the twelve creatures as having fluid lines and powerful forms and considers the coffin base important evidence for understanding Tang burial practices.
M20 also preserved an exceptional collection of wooden furnishings. Along with the painted coffin were a wooden couch, frame, chest and remains of a wooden screen. On the couch were a small table, wooden tray, brush stand and ceramic inkstone. Archaeologists note that finding this arrangement preserved together provides a rare physical example of how the interior of a Tang tomb could have been furnished.
Byzantine gold and Persian silver
The cemetery has also produced striking evidence of Turpan’s place within the networks of the medieval Silk Road. Among the coins found in the tombs are Chinese Kaiyuan Tongbao and Qianyuan Zhongbao coins alongside foreign currency, including Türgesh coins, Persian silver coins and Byzantine gold coins. Archaeologists also recovered an extremely rare Kaiyuan Tongbao made from jade.
Other finds reveal a similar mixture of cultural influences. These include a three-handled green-glazed vessel displaying Byzantine and Persian stylistic elements, as well as luxury objects associated with Tang China, including a copper mirror decorated with gold and silver floral and bird designs, a silver-decorated lacquer box and a gilded silver container that once held musk.
Researchers see these objects and coins as evidence of the importance of Xizhou, the Tang administrative region centred on Turpan, as a hub for trade and cultural interaction along the Silk Road.
Forgotten Tang officials emerge from the cemetery
The excavations are also adding to historians’ knowledge of the people who governed this part of the Tang Empire. Two tombs contained epitaphs belonging to senior officials named Cheng Huan and Li Chonghui, neither of whom is recorded in surviving historical texts. Cheng served as deputy protector-general of Beiting, while Li held a senior position in the Xizhou administration.
Their epitaphs provide details about their careers and shed light on political and military conditions in the region after the An Lushan Rebellion, which began in 755. This was a particularly important period in the history of the western territories, as Tibetan expansion increasingly disrupted communications between the region and the Tang heartlands.
The burials also contain evidence of connections with funerary customs found farther east in China. Tang tombs at Badam East contained large numbers of painted clay figures, including male and female attendants as well as horses, cattle and camels. Coins were also placed in the mouths and hands of the dead, while wooden and iron documents associated with burial rituals were discovered.
The Badam East Cemetery preserves evidence of a society connected simultaneously with China, Central Asia and regions much farther west. The painted winged horses are among its most visually striking survivals, but the hundreds of objects found alongside them are allowing archaeologists to reconstruct a much broader picture of life, trade and cultural interaction on the western frontier of medieval China. To learn more about the excavations and see additional images of the discoveries, read the full archaeological report on the Badam East Cemetery.
Top Image: A green, spotted winged horse painted on the wooden coffin base of a Tang Dynasty tomb at the Badam East Cemetery near Turpan, Xinjiang. The painting is one of 12 winged mythical beasts discovered in Tomb M20. Photo: Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.
Two colourful winged horses painted around 1,300 years ago have been uncovered in a Tang Dynasty tomb in northwestern China. The remarkable paintings are part of a much larger archaeological discovery that includes Byzantine and Persian coins, luxury objects and unusually well-preserved wooden tomb furnishings, offering new evidence for the connections that flourished along the Silk Road during the Middle Ages.
The discoveries come from the Badam East Cemetery near Turpan in China’s Xinjiang region, about five kilometres from the ancient city of Gaochang. Archaeologists from the Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Turfan Studies Research Institute carried out excavations there between 2022 and 2025. The site was selected by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences as one of its six “New Archaeological Discoveries in China” for 2025, which was announced earlier this year.
Altogether, archaeologists excavated 18 tombs dating to the Sixteen Kingdoms period and nine from the Tang Dynasty, recovering more than 600 objects or groups of objects. Researchers say the cemetery provides important evidence for understanding government administration, cultural interaction and Silk Road trade in the region.
The winged horses of Tomb M20
One of the most unusual discoveries came from Tomb M20, a high-status Tang burial excavated in 2025. Despite serious damage to the tomb, archaeologists were able to remove its principal remains in protective containers and transfer them to a laboratory for excavation and conservation under controlled conditions.
There they uncovered what CCTV News reports is the most complete painted wooden Tang-period coffin base yet found. Twelve arched panels along its sides contain brightly coloured images of winged mythical creatures, including winged horses, lions and tigers.
Two of the paintings depict particularly distinctive winged horses. One is predominantly blue, with a spotted body, wings extending from its shoulders and a flowing mane and tail. The other, which is predominantly green, is also covered with spots and has white wings, long legs and a flowing mane and tail. The surviving green and blue colours were produced using mineral pigments resembling malachite and azurite.
Winged horses were not unknown in Tang art and can also be seen in paintings at the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang. However, researchers say that winged horses with the distinctive spotted pattern seen on the Badam East examples have not previously been discovered.
The archaeological project report describes the twelve creatures as having fluid lines and powerful forms and considers the coffin base important evidence for understanding Tang burial practices.
M20 also preserved an exceptional collection of wooden furnishings. Along with the painted coffin were a wooden couch, frame, chest and remains of a wooden screen. On the couch were a small table, wooden tray, brush stand and ceramic inkstone. Archaeologists note that finding this arrangement preserved together provides a rare physical example of how the interior of a Tang tomb could have been furnished.
Byzantine gold and Persian silver
The cemetery has also produced striking evidence of Turpan’s place within the networks of the medieval Silk Road. Among the coins found in the tombs are Chinese Kaiyuan Tongbao and Qianyuan Zhongbao coins alongside foreign currency, including Türgesh coins, Persian silver coins and Byzantine gold coins. Archaeologists also recovered an extremely rare Kaiyuan Tongbao made from jade.
Other finds reveal a similar mixture of cultural influences. These include a three-handled green-glazed vessel displaying Byzantine and Persian stylistic elements, as well as luxury objects associated with Tang China, including a copper mirror decorated with gold and silver floral and bird designs, a silver-decorated lacquer box and a gilded silver container that once held musk.
Researchers see these objects and coins as evidence of the importance of Xizhou, the Tang administrative region centred on Turpan, as a hub for trade and cultural interaction along the Silk Road.
Forgotten Tang officials emerge from the cemetery
The excavations are also adding to historians’ knowledge of the people who governed this part of the Tang Empire. Two tombs contained epitaphs belonging to senior officials named Cheng Huan and Li Chonghui, neither of whom is recorded in surviving historical texts. Cheng served as deputy protector-general of Beiting, while Li held a senior position in the Xizhou administration.
Their epitaphs provide details about their careers and shed light on political and military conditions in the region after the An Lushan Rebellion, which began in 755. This was a particularly important period in the history of the western territories, as Tibetan expansion increasingly disrupted communications between the region and the Tang heartlands.
The burials also contain evidence of connections with funerary customs found farther east in China. Tang tombs at Badam East contained large numbers of painted clay figures, including male and female attendants as well as horses, cattle and camels. Coins were also placed in the mouths and hands of the dead, while wooden and iron documents associated with burial rituals were discovered.
The Badam East Cemetery preserves evidence of a society connected simultaneously with China, Central Asia and regions much farther west. The painted winged horses are among its most visually striking survivals, but the hundreds of objects found alongside them are allowing archaeologists to reconstruct a much broader picture of life, trade and cultural interaction on the western frontier of medieval China. To learn more about the excavations and see additional images of the discoveries, read the full archaeological report on the Badam East Cemetery.
Top Image: A green, spotted winged horse painted on the wooden coffin base of a Tang Dynasty tomb at the Badam East Cemetery near Turpan, Xinjiang. The painting is one of 12 winged mythical beasts discovered in Tomb M20. Photo: Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.
Subscribe to Medievalverse
Related Posts