Chinese and German archaeologists said here Wednesday they have detected a lot of coins under the Qinshihuang Mausoleum in their latest magnetic prospecting operation in northwest China.

The location might be the "state treasury" in the underground palace of Qinshihuang, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC), said Michael Petzet, president of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS).

Petzet declared the finding Wednesday evening at the 15th ICOMOS General Assembly, which started on Monday and will end on Friday in Xi'an, which served as national capital of several dynasties in Chinese history.

In most of the archeological work in the past, experts usually dug open the sites first and then try to figure out ways to protect the relics, which usually impaired the efficient protection of the relics, he said.

This time, experts first studied the Qinshihuang Mausoleum with magnetic appliances, which helped them know how to protect the relics better.

The prospecting yielded not only the underground structure basis, but also the remarkable amount of coins, he said.

But Petzet is against any excavation of the Qinshihuang Mausoleum.

"Excavation sometimes means destruction," he said, arguing the current techniques around the world could not ensure the underground palace could be protected well after excavation.

"Let them sleep underground. It's safer. No excavation should be done for fun or curiosity."

The core of the Qinshihuang Mausoleum is about 2.13 square kilometers wide. Together with about 181 accompanying tombs, the mausoleum covers about 60 square kilometers in Shaanxi Province, northwest China.

Qinshihuang moved into his underground palace at the age of 49 after ruling for 15 years and spending about 38 years building his mausoleum.

(Xinhua News Agency October 20, 2005)