The Jiangcun Tomb is related to the location of the "Phoenix Mouth", the Nanling Tomb and the Dou Empress Mausoleum, where the former state security unit Baling is located. Photo courtesy of CCTV News
On December 14, 2021, in Lantian, Shaanxi, the tomb pit of the No. 1 excavation site of the Han Emperor's Tomb was photographed. IC courtesy of the image
Seals unearthed from pits outside the Great Tomb of Gangchon. Xinhua News Agency
On December 14, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage held an important progress meeting on the major project of "Archaeological China" in Beijing, and informed that the tomb of Jiangcun in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, was confirmed as the tomb of Liu Heng, the emperor of the early Han Dynasty in the Western Han Dynasty. On the same day, the Nandu reporter learned from the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute that the archaeological work negated the traditional understanding that the "Phoenix Mouth" was the tomb of the Han Wen Emperor, determined the accurate location of the Han Wen Emperor's tomb, and solved the problem of the name of the Eleventh Tomb of the Western Han Dynasty.
At present, more than 1,500 pieces of pottery figurines, copper seals, copper carriages and horses, iron and pottery have been excavated from the 8 outer tibetan pits excavated from the Jiangcun Tomb. Some archaeologists introduced to the Nandu reporter that compared with the Nanling Tomb of Empress Bo, there are fewer gold and silver objects in the burial objects of the Jiangcun Tomb, which reflects the frugality and filial piety of Emperor Wen of Han from the side.
The real Baling
There are no tombs under the "Phoenix Mouth"
Where is the Tomb of Emperor Wen of Han? For a long time, the "Phoenix Mouth" on the north side of Bailuyuan in the eastern suburbs of Xi'an city has been considered the location of the Baling Tombs. Now, the Gangchon Tomb has been confirmed to be the real Baling, and the fallacy that has been circulating for nearly a thousand years has finally been corrected.
Nandu reporter learned from the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute that the Jiangcun Tomb is located at the western end of Bailuyuan in Xi'an City, about 2100 meters from the "Phoenix Mouth" in the north, 800 meters from the Mausoleum of Empress Dou in the east, and about 2000 meters from the Southern Tomb of Empress Bo in the south.
According to Ma Yongyi, a researcher at the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute and the project leader of the Hanling Archaeological Team, in 157 BC, Liu Heng, the third emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, died of illness and was buried in the Baling Tomb of Bailu Yuantou. Because Emperor Wen's will and testament required that the tombs could not afford to be sealed, after the Tang and Song Dynasties, Emperor Wen's tombs were already confused. Later generations speculated that it was located on the north side of Bailuyuan "Phoenix Mouth", that is, the loess beam in the south of the village of Maoyaoyuan in Xiwang Street, Baqiao District, Xi'an City.
"We have used a variety of technical means such as archaeological exploration and geological exploration to conduct extensive and meticulous exploration of them many times, but we have not found any artificial excavation and construction of remains." Except for more than 10 Tongming and Qing stele stones under the 'Phoenix Mouth', no tomb relics have been found. ”
The Gangchon Tomb is the Baling Tomb
Subsequently, archaeologists conducted archaeological exploration of the Tomb of Empress Dou, about 2,000 meters north of the "Phoenix Mouth", and found that there were rammed wall sites on all four sides of the Tomb of Empress Dou, and there was a rammed earth foundation site in the northwest corner - the tomb was shaped as a "Ya" shape, the surface was not sealed, the edge of the tomb was 73 meters long, more than 30 meters deep, and the east tomb road was the longest, about 135 meters. There are more than 100 external pits distributed in a centripetal manner around the burial chamber, and the plane is long and the scale is different. There is a pebble-paved cemetery facility (tentatively named "Stone Boundary") on the periphery of the mausoleum, with a side length of about 390 meters and a width of 1.5 meters, and there is a gate site on all four sides of the outer side of the stone boundary. Because it is located near Jiangcun in Baqiao District, Xi'an City, this high-grade Western Han Dynasty tomb is called "Jiangcun Tomb".
According to reports, archaeologists in the Jiangcun Tomb, Dou Empress Mausoleum outside also through exploration, test excavation found rammed wall sites, east and west remnants of more than 1200 meters, north and south width of 863 meters, wall width of about 3.5 meters, should be jiangcun tomb and Dou Empress Mausoleum outside the cemetery wall site, speculated that the two coexist in the same cemetery.
Because 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 empress Dou mausoleum and Bo Empress Mausoleum around it, experts finally confirmed that the Jiangcun tomb is the tomb of Emperor Wen of Han.
Archaeological excavations of artifacts
The funeral objects can be seen in the frugal filial piety of Emperor Wen of Han
According to the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute, since 2017, archaeologists have carried out archaeological excavations of 8 outer pits in the northeast and southwest areas of jiangcun tombs. Among them, the two small outer pits located in the southwest corner are rectangular vertical pit earthen shapes, 3.5 meters long, 2 meters wide and 7.5-9 meters deep, and one horse bone is cleared out of the pit, and there is also a plastic clay figurine, clay pot, clay pot and so on. The rest of the pits are vertical burrows with ramps, ranging in length from 6.5 to 72 meters, 3-6 meters wide and 6-9 meters deep. There are zigzag steps on both sides of the pit wall, and there are wooden rafters at the bottom.
More than 1,500 pieces of clothed pottery figurines (individually worn with torture instruments), copper seals, bronze carriages and horses, iron and pottery, as well as remains of lacquered wood have been excavated from the 8 outer pits. It is worth mentioning that in the outer tibetan pit, many Ming organ seals such as "Zhongsikong Seal", "Zhongsikong Cheng", "Mountain Official", "Cangyin", and "Stable Seal" were also cleared.
Cao Long, an associate researcher at the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute, told Nandu reporters that the funerary objects of the Jiangcun Tomb are mainly pottery, and there are few gold and silver utensils, while the Nanling Tomb, where Empress Bo, the mother of Emperor Wen of Han, was buried, unearthed many gold ornaments and gold and silverware. On the one hand, it was because Emperor Liu Heng of the Han Dynasty preferred to be frugal, and on the other hand, it was also related to the theft of the pit outside the Jiangcun Tomb. "Although Emperor Wen of Han himself was frugal, he buried good things for his mother, which can also be seen from the side that he was a filial piety and respected Empress Bo very much."
Confirming that the imperial tomb "imitates the real Western Han Empire"
Among the large number of precious cultural relics unearthed from Baling, seals, seals and other cultural relics with characters, etc., confirm the construction concept of "Mausoleum Ruoduyi" and Imperial Tomb "imitating the western Han Empire in reality". "The outer pits around the Jiangcun Tomb were built to imitate the actual official office and the treasury, and each pit symbolizes an official office, and the overall imperial tomb constitutes a world ruled by the emperor underground." Cao Long told Nandu reporters.
In addition, the exploration results show that there are dozens of large Han tombs in the west and north of Jiangcun Tombs 3000-4000 meters, and more than 20 in 3 groups have been found, which should be Baling funerary tombs. From 2018 to 2019, archaeologists excavated 23 Han tombs about 3,900 meters southwest of the Jiangcun Tomb, of which 4 "A" shaped tombs were all vertical cave wooden rafter structures. Although the tomb was seriously stolen, more than 2,000 pieces of jade clothes were still excavated, as well as more than 200 precious cultural relics such as trick figurines, pottery chimes, and chimes. In addition, other tombs have unearthed cultural relics such as copper seals with the inscription "Xiangcheng Family".
The mystery of history is solved
The political concept of the centralized Western Han Empire was initially established
"Archaeologically speaking, as soon as the 'Ya' glyph tomb is found, we can infer that this is an imperial mausoleum, but to prove that it is a tomb, we need to do a series of work and come up with evidence." Cao Long told Nandu reporters.
Nandu reporter noted that in October 2019, the Jiangcun Tomb was incorporated into the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units of the Western Han Emperor Mausoleum.
The Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute said that this archaeological work negates the traditional understanding that the "Phoenix Mouth" is the tomb of the Han Emperor, determines the accurate location of the Tomb of the Han Emperor, and solves the problem of the name of the Eleventh Tomb of the Western Han Dynasty. The basic grasp of the scale, shape, layout and connotation of the Western Han Emperor's mausoleum, including the Han Dynasty Emperor's Mausoleum, provides detailed archaeological data for the study of the formation and development of the Western Han Emperor's mausoleum system, and lays the foundation for the in-depth study of the ancient Chinese imperial tomb system.
According to reports, the double mausoleum of Baling, the center of the imperial tomb, and the layout of the outer pits of the symbolic official offices around the imperial tombs are the earliest appearances in the western Han emperor's mausoleum, indicating the initial establishment of the political concept of the Western Han Empire in which the emperor is exclusive and centralized; 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 Mausoleum system, and at the same time, it also reflects the development and change of the political ideology and ideology of the Western Han Empire.
Version 09-11
Coordinator: Fang Jun
Written by: Nandu reporter Liu Miao
Information collation: Fang Jun