Graves had already been dug into this hill at the beginning of our era. There are even Nestorian graves, in which the first Christians who set off to evangelise on the Silk Road were laid to rest. The thousands of tombs and mausoleums built over 2 000 years are in a pitiful state, the best preserved are buried underground, and a handful have retained their ceramic decoration. This only adds to the charm of the site, where you can wander about like an archaeologist discovering the necropolis for the first time.