CCTV news: The State Administration of Cultural Heritage held a press conference on "Archaeological China" online, announcing three major archaeological achievements during the Han and Tang dynasties, namely the Zhengpingfang site of Luoyang City in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the tuguhun royal tomb in the Tang Dynasty in Wuwei, Gansu, and the Jiangcun Tomb on the White Deer Plain in Xi'an, Shaanxi. After years of archaeological investigation and demonstration, the Jiangcun Tomb released this time has been identified as the tomb of emperor Wen of Han.
The Jiangcun Tomb, located on the east side of Jiangcun on the White Deer Plain in Xi'an, Shaanxi, was discovered in the early 2000s. At first, archaeologists thought that this was a noble tomb in the Western Han Dynasty, and with the deepening of archaeological work, it was found that the tomb was a very large "Ya" shape vertical cave earthen wooden tomb without sealing soil, and its scale and shape far exceeded that of ordinary aristocratic tombs.
Ma Yongying, researcher of the Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute: According to the tomb shape system, it is "Ya" type, which was the top configuration in the Han Dynasty, and only the emperor and empress could use the tomb shape system. In terms of scale, even the tomb road is counted, the east and west are 250 meters, the north and south are more than 140 meters, the tomb scale is very large, the length of the tomb is more than 70 meters, and the general subjects, including the tombs of the princes and kings, will not exceed this scale.
Archaeologists also found that there were 115 outer pits distributed around the Jiangcun Tomb, which were distributed radially. Since 2017, archaeologists have carried out archaeological excavations on 8 of the outer tibetan pits, unearthed a large number of Han Dynasty cultural relics such as pottery figurines, iron tools, bronze ware, official seals, etc. After expert demonstration, it was finally determined that the tomb was the tomb of emperor Wen of Han.
Since the Yuan Dynasty, the Tomb of Emperor Wen of Han has been believed to be two kilometers north of the Jiangcun Tomb at Fenghuangzui, where several stone stele from the Ming and Qing dynasties have stood. This archaeological work negates the traditional understanding that the "Phoenix Mouth" is the tomb of the Han Emperor, determines the exact location of the Tomb of the Han Emperor, and solves the problem of the name and location of the Tomb of the Eleventh Emperor of the Western Han Dynasty.
More than 800 cultural relics were excavated from the Tuguhun royal family tomb group
Located in the northern foothills of qilian mountain in the southwest of Wuwei City, Gansu Province, tuguhun tomb group is a tomb group of tuguhun royal families in the Tang Dynasty. At present, the tomb of Murong Zhi, the king of Tuguhun Xi near Chashan Village, and 3 tombs near Machangtan Village, have been excavated, and laboratory archaeological work has been carried out on the wooden coffin of Murong Zhi's tomb. Murong Zhi's tomb is the only well-preserved Tomb of the Tuguhun Royal Family found at present, with more than 800 pieces of burial items such as laboratory archaeological cleaning, protection of textiles, painted pottery figurines, lacquered wood and so on.
Luoyang City, sui and Tang dynasties, which is also an important site, was once the world's most prosperous international metropolis, and Zhengpingfang is an important Lifang site in the Guocheng chenglifang area of Luoyang City in the Tang Dynasty, and it is also the only Lifang uncovered by archaeology as a whole. At present, it has been discovered that the site of Zhengpingfang is nearly square in plane, with a length of 533.6 meters from north to south, a width of 464.6 meters from east to west, and only the foundation of the wall remains. The pattern of the T-shaped street connecting the north and south square gates, as well as the symmetrical and multi-progressive courtyard layout of the central axis, embodies the traditional urban planning ideas of ancient China and is an important example of the history of the development of ancient Chinese architecture.
Source: CCTV