Beijing, April 24 (IANS) An unknown kingdom dating back to 1046 B.C. has been unearthed in north China, archaeologists said.

The kingdom is probably from the Xizhou dynasty (1046 to 771 B.C.), Xinhua reported.

Engraving on bronze wares found in tombs in Shanxi province's Linfen city indicate that the region was reigned by Ba Bo, or Count of the Ba kingdom, the archaeologists said.

The Ba kingdom had never been seen in any historical record before, they said.

"The tombs gave us a chance to see the Ba kingdom that had been forgotten by history. It also sheds light on the Xizhou dynasty's feudal system and technology as well as exchanges and integration of different ethnic groups of that time," said Wang Wei, head of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"Records of the kingdom might have been lost in history. It is also possible that Ba was among a cluster of small kingdoms and was neglected by ancient historians," said Xie Yaoting, deputy head of the Shanxi Institute of Archaeology.