Seals unearthed from pits outside the Great Tomb of Gangchon
On December 14, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage reported three archaeological achievements, including the Great Tomb of Jiangcun in Xi'an, Shaanxi, the Zhengpingfang Site in Luoyang, Henan, and the Tuguhun Tomb Group in Wuwei, Gansu. Through archaeological research, it was basically confirmed that the Jiangcun Tomb was the tomb of Liu Heng, the Emperor of han Wen. Liu Heng was the third emperor of the Western Han Dynasty and the fourth son of Liu Bang, the Emperor of Han Gao.
archaeology
Jiangcun Tomb meets the specifications of the highest level of burial in the Western Han Dynasty
Jiangcun Tomb is located in Baqiao District, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province. In 2016, the outer pit of jiangcun tomb was disturbed, in order to confirm the preservation status of the tomb and the distribution of surrounding cultural relics, with the approval of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute and the Xi'an Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology conducted archaeological exploration on the Jiangcun tomb and its nearby tomb of Empress Dou (Empress Wen of Han), the southern tomb of Empress Bo (Liu Heng's biological mother) and the "Phoenix Mouth" that is said to be the tomb of Emperor Wen of Han, and carried out archaeological excavations of the hidden pit outside the cemetery.
Jiangcun tomb plane is "Ya" shape, the surface of the land is not sealed, the burial chamber side length of about 72 meters, more than 30 meters deep, more than 110 outer burial pits have been found around the burial chamber, the outer pit has a pebble paved stone boundary, the side length is about 390 meters, the stone boundary on all four sides of the front and outside there are gate sites, it is speculated that it may be an independent imperial mausoleum (Empress Dou's mausoleum also has an independent houling cemetery). The remains of the wall of the cemetery were found outside the Jiangcun Tomb and the Mausoleum of Empress Dou, and experts speculate that they coexist in the same mausoleum, which is about 1200 meters long from east to west and about 863 meters wide from north to south.
Through the excavation of the 8 outer pits of the Jiangcun Tomb, more than 1500 pieces of pottery figurines, copper seals, copper carriages and horse ware, ironware, pottery, etc. were unearthed, and the copper seal inscriptions include "Chefu", "Instrument House", "Riding Thousand People in the Middle", "Fuyin", "Cangyin", "ZhongsikongYin", etc., indicating that the outer Tibetan pits around the Jiangcun Tomb should be built to imitate the actual official office and the treasury. The shape and scale of the Jiangcun Tomb are in line with the highest level tomb specifications of the Western Han Dynasty, coupled with the distribution of the Tomb of Empress Dou and the Tomb of Empress Bo around it, experts confirm that the Tomb of Jiangcun is the Tomb of emperor Wen of Han.
academic
Deny the traditional understanding of "Phoenix Mouth" as a baling
Jiangcun Tomb is located at the western end of Bailuyuan in the eastern suburbs of Xi'an, about 800 meters northeast is the Mausoleum of Empress Dou, about 2000 meters southwest of the Southern Tomb of Empress Bo, and about 2100 meters north is the "Phoenix Mouth" location where the former state security unit Baling is located. Academically, this archaeology has determined the exact location of the Tomb of the Han Emperor, thus negating the traditional cognition of the "Phoenix Mouth" as the tomb of the Han Emperor, and providing detailed information for the study of the Western Han Emperor Mausoleum system.
In addition, the double mausoleum of Baling, the center of the imperial tomb, and the layout of the outer pit around the imperial tomb of the symbolic official office are the earliest appearances in the western Han emperor's mausoleum, indicating the initial establishment of the political concept of the emperor's exclusive dignity and centralized power; the "rule of inaction" of the Changling and Anling in the plane pattern of the Baling Tombs, and the "confucianism of the sole dignity" of the Lower Qiyang Mausoleum, Maoling, Pingling and Duling are the key links in the development and evolution of the Western Han Imperial Tomb system, reflecting the development and change of the political ideology and ideology of the Western Han Empire.
Among the large number of precious cultural relics unearthed from Baling, seals, seals and other cultural relics with characters confirm the construction concept of the imperial tomb "imitating the Western Han Empire in reality". The excavation of gold and silver ware with grassland style in the Outer Tibetan Pit of Nanling is direct evidence of the cultural exchange and integration of agriculture and animal husbandry in the pre-Qin and Han dynasties, and witnessed the historical development of Chinese civilization from "pluralism" to "integration".
memory
Baling archaeology has lasted for more than half a century
For more than half a century, archaeologists have conducted many explorations and excavations of the Tomb of emperor Wen of Han.
In 1966 and 1975, Mr. Wang Xueli and Mr. Wu Zhenfeng of the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Management Committee rescued and excavated the burial pits of Baling and Nanling; in the 1980s, Mr. Liu Qingzhu and Mr. Li Yufang of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences conducted archaeological surveys and surveys of Baling and Nanling, laying the foundation for subsequent archaeological work; in the early 21st century, the Xianyang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology conducted archaeological exploration of Baling and Nanling; from 2006 to 2009, Xi'an Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology conducted rescue exploration and trial excavation in BalingLing Area, and found the Jiangcun Tomb and its funerary pit, which provided important clues for determining the specific location of Baling; from 2011 to 2013, according to the archaeological work plan of the Western Han Dynasty Emperor's Mausoleum, Jiao Nanfeng led a team to carry out archaeological investigation and exploration of Baling and Nanlingling, and roughly explored the distribution range and shape layout of the two mausoleum areas.
This archaeological work has continued since 2017, and the exploration has discovered the "stone boundary" of jiangcun tomb and the outer cemetery wall of Baling, as well as architectural sites and pottery kilns, excavated the ruins of Jiangcun North pottery kiln, Jiangcun tomb outer hidden pit, South Tomb outer hidden pit, etc., unearthed more than 1,000 pieces of various types of pottery figurines, gold, silver, copper, iron, pottery cultural relics more than 3,000 pieces.
expand
The ruins of Zhengpingfang are a vivid example of the Lifang system in the Tang Dynasty
In addition to the Jiangcun Tomb in Xi'an, Shaanxi, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage also reported important archaeological achievements such as the Zhengpingfang Site in Luoyang, Henan, and the Tuguhun Tomb Group in Wuwei, Gansu, at a work meeting yesterday.
The ruins of Zhengpingfang in Luoyang, Henan, are one of the important Lifang ruins in the Guochenglifang area of Luoyang City in the Tang Dynasty, and are the location of the Tang Dynasty Confucius Temple, Guozijian, and Taiping Princess Residence (later changed to Anguo Female Taoist Temple). The site is rectangular in plan, with a length of 533.6 meters from north to south and a width of 464.6 meters from east to west. The square is divided into three parts by a "D" shaped road: the western half of the square, the southeast district and the northeast district. The western half of the house is a large mansion, the southern half of the house is speculated to be a garden area, and the northern part is a courtyard area. The courtyard is symmetrically arranged in the central axis, with three roads in the east and west, and a total of five entrances in the middle road. Five large rammed earth platforms are distributed from the central axis to the south to the north, and are surrounded by walls (or corridors), which are presumed to be the residences of the Taiping Princess. In the southeast area, three courtyards side by side with east and west were found, and there were north-south passages between the courtyards, and there were pavilions (or buildings) at the northern end of the passage. The east road and middle road of the courtyard are both three entrances, which are speculated to be the Confucius Temple and the Guozijian respectively.
The zhengpingfang site is a vivid example of the square system in the capital of the Tang Dynasty, and the pattern of the square connecting the north and south square gates of the T-shaped street seen by the excavation, as well as the symmetrical and multi-entry courtyard layout of the central axis, embodies the traditional urban planning ideas of ancient China and is of great value to the study of the history of the political system and social life history of the Tang Dynasty. Gansu Wuwei Tuguhun Tomb Group is a Tang Dynasty Tuguhun royal family tomb group. Among them, the tomb of Murong Zhi, the xiwang king, is the only well-preserved tomb of the Tuguhun royal family found at present, and the laboratory archaeology has cleaned up and protected more than 800 pieces of various burial items such as textiles, painted pottery figurines, lacquered wood, etc., of which the wooden bed, the large bed, the six-curved screen, the model of the Lieji house, the complete set of armaments based on iron armor, pen, ink and paper, etc., are the first or rare discoveries of similar cultural relics in China in the same period, and the excavated Murong Zhi's epitaph mentions the existence of Tuguhun's "Great Khan's Mausoleum" for the first time.
Machangtan M1, M2 and Changling M1 are all single-room brick chamber tombs of the long slope tomb, and the burial custom of the whole horse was found in the tomb road, and the "Tombstone of Mrs. Dang of Feng Yi County" was unearthed to record that the tomb group was the Tugu Hun Pengzi family cemetery. The tombs all have the basic characteristics of the tombs of high-ranking nobles in the Central Plains in the early and middle Tang Dynasty, and at the same time have the characteristics of Tuguhun culture, Tubo culture and northern grassland culture, which shows the historical process of exchanges, exchanges and integration of various ethnic groups along the ancient Silk Road in China, and is an important empirical evidence of the pattern of pluralism and integration of the Chinese nation.
Cui Yifei, reporter of this group, Qu Chang
Photo courtesy of Xinhua News Agency