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Five farmers from northwest China's Shaanxi province have been commended and awarded 20,000 yuan (2,409 US dollars) each for relics protection by the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau and the local authorities.

The five farmers from Yangjia Village in Mei county dug up a cave containing numerous bronze wares while digging for earth in the village-run brickyard nearly two months ago.

The five, who have a strong sense of relics protection, immediately reported their find to the Cultural Relics Department of Baoji, a city of Shaanxi province.

A group of archaeologists headed by director of the department Zhang Rentang went to the site and confirmed the bronze wares contained in the cave dated back to the Xizhou Period (11 century B.C.-771 B.C.).

A total of 27 pieces of rare bronze ware were unearthed in the cave including a kettle, plate and pod, all of which are large in size and carved with delicate designs.

Among the relics, the largest bronze pod is 58 cm high, with a 50 cm diameter and a weight of 46 kg.

All of the 27 bronze wares have inscriptions engraved on them, the fewest being 11 and the most being 372 on each piece, reaching a total of 4,000 characters.

The rare wares belong to the later years of the Xizhou Period, about 2,780 years ago, according to the initial analysis by local experts.

It is the largest discovery in terms of the number, size and inscriptions of the bronze wares in the country's history of unearthing caved relics, the experts held, adding that all are well-preserved.