Exterior view of the Hanwen Emperor Mausoleum Area, inside the circle is the excavation site of Jiangcun Tomb No. 1 Photo/CCTV
Pottery figurines unearthed from the outer pit of Empress Bo's Southern Tomb Xinhua News Agency
Seals unearthed from a pit outside the Jiangcun Tomb xinhua news agency
Yangcheng Evening News On the morning of the 14th, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage held an online meeting in Beijing to focus on three important archaeological discoveries and research results in Gansu, Henan and Shaanxi. At the meeting, it was announced that the tomb of Bailuyuan Jiangcun in Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, was the tomb of Emperor Wen of Han.
It is confirmed that the site of the "Phoenix Mouth" tomb is false rumors
After entering the 21st century, archaeologists carried out a large-scale archaeological survey in the western part of Bailuyuan in the eastern suburbs of Xi'an City, and carried out large-scale archaeological exploration of the "Phoenix Mouth" where the ancestral Tomb of Emperor Wen of Han was located, as well as the Mausoleum of Empress Dou and the Southern Tomb of Empress Bo, basically determined the approximate scope of the Mausoleum area of Emperor Wen of Han, the distribution of important sites and the layout of important sites, and newly discovered a "Ya" shaped tomb. The "Ya" glyph was the top configuration at that time, and it was a tomb shape system that only emperors and empresses could use. This newly discovered tomb is called the Jiangcun Tomb because it is located in Jiangcun, Baqiao District, Xi'an City.
More than 110 outer pits were found around the burial chamber. Since 2017, archaeologists have carried out rescue excavations of some of the outer pits of Jiangcun Tomb and Empress Bo's Southern Mausoleum. Archaeology has excavated 8 outer tibetan pits, unearthed more than 1500 pieces of pottery figurines, copper seals, copper carriages and horse ware, iron and pottery, etc., and the copper seals have "Chefu", "Instrument House", "Riding Thousand People in China", "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 specifications of the highest level of tombs in the Western Han Dynasty.
It has been reported that the discovery corrected a misconception about the tombs of the Western Han Emperors that had been circulating for nearly a thousand years. Since the Yuan Dynasty, relevant records and research have generally believed that the Tomb of Emperor Wen of Han is two kilometers north of the Jiangcun Tomb at the Mouth of the Phoenix. There are more than 10 sacrificial monuments from the Ming and Qing dynasties, and there is also a stone stele inscribed by Bi Yuan, the governor of Shaanxi during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, with the words "Han Wen Emperor's Tomb" written on it. It is understood that archaeologists have done a comprehensive and detailed archaeological exploration of the "Phoenix Mouth" area, and no artificially built or excavated remains have been found, and it can be basically determined that the "Phoenix Mouth" is just a naturally formed loess beam without any tombs.
"This archaeological discovery confirms that the Jiangcun Tomb Area is similar to the shape and system elements of the Western Han Emperor's Mausoleum such as the Han Gaozu Changling Tomb and the Hanjing Emperor Yang Mausoleum, the layout is similar, the overall scale is comparable, and there is a clear development and evolution trajectory, coupled with the distribution of empress Dou Mausoleum and Empress Bo Mausoleum around it, and combined with the literature, it is preliminarily inferred that the Jiangcun Tomb is the tomb of Emperor Wen of Han." Ma Yongying, a researcher at the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute who presided over the archaeological excavation, said.
Two Tang Dynasty sites are also of great significance
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. 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 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 of Xiwang is the only well-preserved Tomb of the Tuguhun Royal Family found at present, and the laboratory archaeology has cleaned and protected more than 800 pieces of various burial items such as textiles, painted pottery figurines, lacquered wood, etc., and the excavated Murong Zhi's epitaph mentioned the existence of the "Great Khan Mausoleum" in Tuguhun for the first time.
(Integrated CCTV, Xinhua News Agency, China News Agency)
Baling is indeed the site of the millennium
Yuan Dynasty
Nearly a thousand years ago, Luo Tianhua's "Class Editor Chang'an Zhi" recorded that the Han Wen Emperor's tomb was under the mouth of the phoenix in Xi'an Bailuyuan
During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty
Shaanxi Inspector Bi Yuan inscribed an inscription on the mouth of the phoenix: "Han Wen Emperor Baling"
1960s
Archaeological surveys and excavations of Baling began
2011-2013
The archaeological team repeatedly probed the phoenix mouth, found no remains of Han Dynasty mausoleums, and turned to investigate the Jiangcun Tomb
In 2017
Archaeologists excavated 8 outer pits in the Jiangcun Tomb and unearthed a large number of Han Dynasty cultural relics
In 2021
Archaeologists confirmed that the Jiangcun Tomb was the mausoleum of Emperor Wen of Han
Emperor Wen of Han
The discovery of Baling has reminded many people of Emperor Wen of Han and the "rule of Wenjing", which is a prosperous era in Chinese history.
The "Records of History" records that during his reign, Emperor Wen of Han was more frugal, and the palaces and gardens did not increase. "The tombs are all made of pottery, and must not be decorated with gold, silver, copper and tin, and do not rule the graves, but want to be a province, and do not bother the people." That is to say, to build this mausoleum, it is not allowed to use gold, silver, copper and tin as decorations, do not repair tall tombs, and try to save.
Emperor Wen of Han practiced frugality, and under the above rate, the society at that time formed a trend of frugality and honesty, and created the famous "rule of Wenjing", laying a material foundation for the prosperity of the Western Han Dynasty.
Source: Yangcheng Evening News