Work was halted at a Beijing Olympic shooting venue

BEIJING, Oct 16: Work was halted at a Beijing Olympic shooting venue after workers unearthed an imperial-era tomb at the site, a Chinese newspaper reported today.

The tomb was located about 100 metres from the site of several Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) tombs unearthed during construction of the Beijing Shooting Range Hall in May, the Beijing Times said.

Workers laying pipe at the site on Saturday night had discovered a ''relatively large chamber with a structure'' and subsequently informed authorities, the paper said.

Heritage workers have since unearthed a metre-thick slab and could discern two finely-carved ''little roofs'' within the chamber, the paper said.

The age of the tomb and its relationship to the tombs discovered in May had not been verified and would require further examination, the paper said, citing a heritage expert.

The tomb's discovery is a rare hitch in Beijing's Olympic venue construction efforts, which have proceeded smoothly and are widely expected to be completed well before the Games' opening in August 2008.

Reuters