Timeless Mystery: How Could a Swiss Ring-Watch End up in a Sealed Ming Dynasty Tomb?

Did a time-traveler, a mouse, or a hoaxer involved in the dig leave this ring in the centuries-old tomb?

A mystery surrounds the curious excavation of a strange artifact and those who recovered it from the depths of an ancient tomb in China. When archaeologists reportedly recovered a modern-looking, mud-encrusted artifact from a 400-year-old sealed tomb in 2008, their astonishment was great. For some, this type of discovery could have only meant one thing—it was evidence of time travel. Was the discovery real? Was it a hoax? Could the find have been an intriguing artifact out of place and time?

Reports described the team as composed of archaeologists and journalists filming a documentary at a dig at a sealed tomb dating to the Ming Dynasty in Shangsi, southern China. As one of the coffins was being cleared of soil before being opened, a strange thing happened.

We picked up the object, and found it was a ring. After removing the covering soil and examining it further, we were shocked to see it was a watch.

— Jiang Yanyu, Guangxi Autonomous Region Museum