Source of this article: Time Weekly Author: Liu Wenjie
Sun Yat-sen University has dug up the ancient tomb again.
On December 13, news came from a construction site on the south campus of Sun Yat-sen University's Guangzhou campus that an ancient tomb had been excavated at the construction site. According to the Southern Daily, when the students who witnessed the scene passed through The Wise Hall to the Yifu Building, they saw that archaeological tools were inserted in the construction site of the sewer pipes, and the teachers and classmates of the Archaeology Department were busy excavating.
Li Xin (pseudonym), a student at Sun Yat-sen University, provided news to the Times Weekly reporter that the ancient tombs excavated on the south campus of CUHK are suspected of being Tang tombs, a total of three, but which specific time period the tomb belongs to, there is no way to be accurate. According to Li Xin, the relevant situation has been reported to the relevant agencies, and the follow-up will be backfilled.
Suspected Han Dynasty tombs found at the construction site of Sun Yat-sen University Source: Network
Li Xin said that the location of the ancient tomb was found on the central axis of the CuHK School, far from the dormitory, "not very afraid." Moreover, this is not the first time that CUHK has discovered an ancient tomb."
As early as the 1980s, Sun Yat-sen University had discovered an ancient tomb from the Western and Eastern Han Dynasties, and then successively excavated ancient tombs from the Three Kingdoms, Jin Southern Dynasty, Ming and Qing Dynasties, and some areas of the South Campus were even listed as "the first batch of underground cultural relics burial areas in Guangzhou".
Zhongda dug out the ancient tomb
According to media reports, the location of the excavation of the ancient tomb is located near the Huaishi Hall on the south campus of the Guangzhou Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, specifically at the corner of the school motto next to the school motto board leading to the school canteen.
Suspected Han Dynasty tombs were found at the construction site of Sun Yat-sen University Source: Nanfang Daily Weibo
According to a live video provided to the Times Weekly reporter by a student at Sun Yat-sen University, a ditch has been dug in the relevant area, and the depth is more than 1.6 meters. The site has been raised to a cordon, and teachers and students majoring in archaeology at the School of Sociology and Anthropology of Sun Yat-sen University are holding tools to investigate and make surveying and mapping records.
Guangdong Taiwan DV reported on the spot that according to CUHK students, the construction scope is only a ditch and will not continue to expand. Preliminary observations are of a brick chamber tomb with a vertical pit. The school has reported the matter to the Guangzhou Cultural Relics Department, and after completing the record cleaning and mapping, it will implement protective backfilling.
"Archaeologists will not take the initiative to dig a grave, which is also a respect for the tomb and its owner." An informed student at Sun Yat-sen University said that unless it has been destroyed or affected by construction, the tomb will remain in its original state under normal circumstances.
This is not the first time that Sun Yat-sen University has discovered ancient tombs.
As early as 1961, the archaeology teaching and research team of CUHK found a tomb from the Western Han Dynasty in the school. In November of the same year, another Eastern Han Dynasty brick chamber tomb was excavated at the former Gaogang Stadium on the campus. In 1981, another Eastern Han tomb was discovered at the infrastructure construction site of the Electronic Education Building in the southeast district of Sun Yat-sen University.
Chinese university students are talking about ancient tombs Image source: Weibo screenshot
At the beginning of 2016, the Guangzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology accidentally found 22 ancient tombs at the construction site of the Medical Science and Technology Complex Building of the North Campus of CUHK, including 8 Tombs of the Western Han Dynasty, 3 Brick Chamber Tombs of the Eastern Han Dynasty, 1 Brick Chamber Tomb of the Three Kingdoms Period, and 10 Brick Chamber Tombs of the Southern Jin Dynasty.
In 2014, the South Campus of CUHK was identified as the "First Batch of Underground Cultural Relics Burial Areas in Guangzhou" as part of the "Kangle Village - Xingang West Road Underground Cultural Relics Burial Area". In 2019, the South Campus of Sun Yat-sen University excavated a number of tombs from the Eastern Han And Ming Dynasties, as well as the remains of wells in the Qing Dynasty.
Ancient tombs have been excavated repeatedly on the Guangzhou campus
Not only Sun Yat-sen University, but also many schools in Guangzhou have also excavated tombs of archaeological value.
In 1986, Guangzhou University excavated three brick and stone tombs of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Three years later, the archaeological team of the Guangzhou Municipal Cultural Relics Management Committee cleared out a brick chamber tomb of the Eastern Jin Dynasty at Guangzhou University and unearthed a square epitaph brick.
On December 24, 2019, archaeologists excavated funerary artifacts in an ancient tomb of the Jin Dynasty at the construction site of the Yunshan Realm Area in the garden front area of Guangzhou
In 2003, two more mausoleums were excavated at the University Town Campus of South China Normal University, namely the Kang Mausoleum of Liu Yan of the Southern Han Dynasty and the Tomb of Liu Yin of the Southern Han Dynasty during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, which is more than 1,000 years old and is known as the "Second Tomb of the Southern Han Dynasty". The excavation of the Kangling Lamentation Tablets became one of the most important discoveries of southern Han archaeology.
Last year, 125 ancient tombs were also excavated in Guangya Middle School in Xicun, Liwan District, Guangzhou, and more than 470 pieces (sets) of various cultural relics such as ceramics, bronzes and stone tools were unearthed. According to the Guangzhou Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics, the tomb era is in the Warring States period. This is also the closest and most concentrated pre-Qin relics found to date from the ancient city of Guangzhou.
"Guangzhou is a historical and cultural city with overlapping ancient and modern times, and since it was built in 214 BC, the city center has not been displaced." Yi Xibing, president of the Guangzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, once said in an interview with the Beijing News that since more than 2000, the surrounding population has been dense, and residents of different periods have favored this kind of place with relatively high terrain and better environment when choosing burial sites.