That’s a lot of merit if they were reliquaries.
“On the outskirts of Beiwuzhuang village in northern China’s Hebei Province, someone started dredging a riverbed.”
"The burial pit contained no coffins or bones, but rather the largest cache of Buddhist sculptures ever discovered in China. Almost 3,000 (2,895, to be exact) were excavated at the site—some of white marble, others of limestone or ceramic—covering more than 500 years, from the Northern Wei Dynasty (a.d. 386–534/35) into the Tang Dynasty (a.d. 618–907). "
PS: CHECK THIS OUT TOO. Massive Buddhist complex found under Bodh-gaya!