Introduction: In 2007, on an infrastructure construction site in Hunan, a group of warring states tombs was inadvertently discovered. A bronze sword and more than 100 other precious burial items were unearthed from the tomb. Nearby villagers have been talking about it, and they all agree that the ancient tomb group of this size must be the ancient tomb of the Warring States nobles. However, the expert's answer was unexpected: this is actually just a civilian tomb.
A crisp sound
Back at the end of 2007, Chenzhou Nanta Park was undergoing infrastructure construction, with bulldozers shoveling layers of loess and workers meticulously trimming them with hoes, shovels and other tools.
Inadvertently, a worker went down with a hoe, and people heard a crunching sound, and at first everyone thought that they had touched the stone, but in the excavated dirt, a black thing was faintly revealed, which was very eye-catching in the red soil.
So the worker carefully dropped the second hoe, and with this digging, the body of a short sword appeared in front of the people.
The construction department immediately contacted the local cultural relics department, and after a period of excavation work, the archaeological team gradually revealed an ancient tomb from the Warring States period.
However, due to the poor sealing conditions, the coffin has completely decayed, and the bronze ceremonial vessels and pottery vessels in the funerary items have been completely crushed by the rammed earth that collapsed down, leaving only a bronze halberd and the bronze sword that has been broken.
It seems that this bronze sword, which was unfortunately broken from its scabbard, is still lucky, because it can even restore thousands of years of history and return to this long-lost world.
Archaeologists have excavated other ancient tombs, and after more than half a year, dozens of ancient tombs have reappeared in the sky, and Nanta Park has become a huge group of ancient tombs. Therefore, the nearby villagers have all discussed that this ancient tomb group must be the tomb of the ancient general Prince, otherwise who would have such financial resources?
However, the answer given by the experts was unexpected, and the owner of this ancient tomb group was actually a civilian.
Graves of civilians
As the excavation of the tomb is further carried out, a number of precious cultural relics have also been unearthed, including copper mirrors, talc walls, clay pots and other objects. However, there are not many well-preserved items, and the texture is average, which is a very common item in the Warring States period.
It can be said that among the many funerary items, this bronze sword is still slightly valuable.
The sword is about 40 centimeters long, and although the scabbard has been carbonized, the body of the sword is very well preserved and can meet the identification standards of national first-class cultural relics.
So what is the identity of the tomb owner? If it is the ancient prince and general, then why is the burial object so simple and shabby? If not, how can there be a tomb group of such a size? And why did you choose to build it in Chenzhou Nantaling?
Unexpectedly, archaeologists judged according to the excavated cultural relics and tomb specifications, the owner of the tomb was only an ordinary civilian in the Warring States period, and the reason for this conclusion was mainly for the following three reasons.
1. In the Warring States period, not only generals could wear swords, but many rangers, swordsmen and other civilians would also carry swords.
2. Wars in the Warring States period were very frequent, so many men would also wear swords to achieve the purpose of self-defense.
3. Although the tomb has unearthed more than 100 cultural relics, from the perspective of specifications and texture, it is a very ordinary item, and even the texture of this bronze sword is very ordinary.
This bronze sword is not only very thin, but also the sword body is covered with deadly bubble-like patina, and it grows from the inside of the sword body, that is to say, it looks nothing on the outside, but the inside has been corroded, and this copper rust will open the outer layer of copper, thus causing the sword body to be mottled.
If it is not a tomb of an aristocrat, why is it so large?
Experts judge through the tomb specifications and funerary products that this tomb group should be a tomb of an ordinary folk family, which may be due to years of war, and there are more people who have died in the family, which has gradually formed this large-scale tomb group.
The reason why Nantaling was chosen as the burial place is mainly because the geographical environment here is better.
Located at the southern end of Chenzhou City, Nantaling is a small hill with an altitude of 250 meters above sea level and slightly raised on the ground, which is not high and the slope is relatively gentle.
At the same time, Nantaling is particularly close to the old town of Chenzhou, which is conducive to the ancients to easily transport the coffin to this place, and it does not take much effort to carry the coffin up the mountain.
In addition, the soil quality of Nantaling is very good, it is a typical southern red clay, with good compactness and large viscosity, which is conducive to the preservation of coffins and other funerary products. One of the most important reasons is because the terrain of Nantaling is open, and from the ridge, the entire Chenzhou city can be seen, such a geographical location was a rare feng shui treasure in ancient times.
References: "History", "Excavation of the Ancient Tomb of Nantaling"