These photos show the rare eye-catching clay ‘beasts’ unearthed at tombs dating back over two millennia.

The remarkable items of pottery were recently unearthed at the Kundui cultural site in Sun Dayuan, Heze City, in China’s eastern Shandong Province.

So far, 207 tombs have been discovered at the site, 187 from the Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD, 25 AD-220 AD), 11 from the Eastern Zhou dynasty (770-256 BC), and nine from the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1644 and 1636-1912 respectively).

The two striking ‘beasts’ were found in contiguous Eastern Zhou tombs, dating them back to over two millennia.

The pottery items, which have since been partially reconstructed, boast wings, with one of them also sporting devil-like horns and the other exhibiting a tail and wide open mouth.

Experts have said that the two ‘beasts’, which they believe were intentionally buried as grave goods, possibly to accompany their owners in the afterlife, are very rare archaeological finds.

The majority of the tombs at the 13,000-square-metre (139,931-square-foot) Kundui cultural site in Sun Dayuan belong to ordinary people, which the archaeological team in charge of excavations hopes will provide a unique insight into everyday life over the generations represented.

Other significant finds at the site include 203 ash pits, six wells, six houses, three stoves and a kiln.

Excavations at the site are ongoing.