How was the Great Tomb of Xi'an Bailuyuan Jiangcun, which was finally identified as the tomb of Emperor Wen of Han, discovered?
The Gangchon Tomb does not have a tall sealed earth, and at the archaeological site, whether it is level viewed on the ground or from the air by drone, it is not visible that there is a large tomb here. It entered the eyes of archaeologists, starting from a tomb robbery many years ago.
In 2002, an auction in the United States pushed the Jiangcun Tomb to Chinese archaeologists for the first time. Six pieces of Black Pottery figurines of the Western Han Dynasty that were stolen from here appeared on the auction catalogue of Thesby Auction House in the United States and will be auctioned soon. Through diplomatic channels, my Government has made timely representations.
Before the auction, the 6 figurines were removed from the auction list. Archaeologist Jiao Nanfeng, commissioned by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, answered 11 questions posed by Sosby's auction house, including "Why is it Chinese?" "Why is it Shaanxi?" "Why is it said to be from the Western Han Dynasty?" and similar questions.
After many efforts, the six figurines returned to Xi'an in 2003. Subsequently, the relevant departments investigated the origin of the 6 pottery figurines, and finally determined that the tomb robbers excavated them from the Jiangcun Tomb.
Clothed pottery figurines unearthed from a pit outside the Jiangcun Tomb (photo taken on October 8) Xinhua News Agency
In 2006, archaeologists conducted an archaeological survey of the Gangchon Tomb. The results of the exploration surprised the archaeologists, and there was a hidden "Sub" shaped tomb with four burial passages. Who is the owner of this tomb?
Although some people speculated at that time that the Jiangcun Tomb may be the Hanwen Emperor's Tomb, the relevant records and references since the Yuan Dynasty generally believe that the Hanwen Emperor's Tomb is two kilometers north of the Jiangcun Tomb in the White Deer Plain Phoenix Mouth.
With the discovery of "ironclad evidence", the earth-shattering secrets hidden behind the Jiangcun Tomb have gradually come to light.
Evidence one Cemetery specifications
Clue 1: Gangchon Tomb is a very large "Ya" shaped vertical cave wooden tomb with four tomb passages, and the ground is not sealed. This is very consistent with the "Records of Filial Piety" recorded in the "Records of History and Filial Piety" that "all the tombs are ruled by clay, but not the graves".
Exterior view of Balingling District Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute
Clue 2: The "Ya" glyph was the top configuration in the Han Dynasty, and it was a tomb shape system that only emperors and empresses could use. The tombs of ordinary subjects, including princes, would not exceed this size.
Further archaeological exploration found that the edge of the Jiangcun Tomb is about 72 meters long and more than 30 meters deep, and the total length of the east-west tomb road is 250 meters. In addition to the emperor's tomb, the others include the princes, that is, the length of 30 meters to 50 or 60 meters.
Evidence 2 Seal
More than 110 outer pits were found around the burial chamber of the Gangchon Tomb. Since 2017, archaeologists have excavated 8 outer pits in the Jiangcun Tomb, unearthing more than 1,500 pieces of pottery figurines, copper seals, copper carriages and horses, iron tools, pottery, etc., and several of them are "inconspicuous" small seals, which have become reliable evidence to reveal the identity of the owner of the tomb.
Seals excavated from the Gangchon Tomb
Clue 1: These seals with a diameter of less than 1 centimeter are engraved with the words "Zhongsikong Seal", "Chefu", "Instrument House", "Riding Thousand People in The Middle Horse", "FuYin", "Cangyin", etc., which are symbols of the Ming Organ Seal, indicating that the outer pits around the Jiangcun Tomb should be built to imitate the actual official office and the treasury.
Clue two: The outer hidden pit circles around the Jiangcun Tomb, which is equivalent to more than 100 official agencies distributed around the tomb. This further confirms the identity of the owner of the tomb, who must be the person who led these official offices.
Evidence 3 Joint burial
The above archaeological findings seem to point to the identity of the owner of the Jiangcun Tomb to the Emperor of the Han Dynasty. Archaeologists set their sights on another "Ya" shaped tomb northeast of the Jiangcun Tomb, the mausoleum of Empress Dou, the grandmother of Emperor Wu of Han.
Empress Dou's mausoleum is covered with bucket-shaped sealing soil
The Great Tomb of Gangchon is located in the same cemetery as the Mausoleum of Empress Dou
Clue 1: The Mausoleum of Empress Dou is located in the northeast of Jiangcun Tomb, the ground has a bucket-shaped sealing soil, and the tomb is also a "Ya" shaped vertical cave wooden tomb.
According to historical records, Empress Dou and Emperor Wen of Han's daughter Dou Taizong were buried with Baling. Could it be that the Jiangcun Tomb is the tomb of Lord Dou?
However, the discovery of a circle of rammed earth walls has given rise to another speculation. There is a pebble-paved cemetery facility (tentatively named "Stone Enclosure") outside the pit outside the Jiangcun Tomb, with a side length of about 390 meters, and there are gate sites on the front and outside of the four sides of the stone enclosure, which is speculated to be an independent imperial mausoleum (Empress Dou's mausoleum also has an independent hou mausoleum).
Clue 2: After expanding the scope of exploration, archaeologists found that a rammed earth wall with an east-west length of about 1200 meters and a width of about 860 meters from north to south enclosed the Jiangcun Tomb and the Tomb of Empress Dou in a large cemetery.
The two large tombs are called tongmu in the same cemetery, and one person and one tomb are called different caves. This reflects the "tongzhi different caves" of the han dynasty emperors and queens.
★ Demystify
Why are the terracotta figurines unearthed from Baling naked and armless
At 3 sites in the Tomb Area of Emperor Wen of Han, archaeologists excavated 7 large burial pits and unearthed a large number of typical dressed pottery figurines of the Western Han Dynasty.
According to reports, in the outer pit of about 40 meters long, archaeologists found dense pottery figurines, according to the preliminary cleaning, the number of thousands of pieces, of which a large number of painted nude pottery figurines.
This kind of terracotta figurine is very different from the Terracotta Warriors of Qin Shi Huang, who have neither arms nor clothes and armor on their bodies. According to experts, this kind of pottery figurine is called a dressed clay figurine in archaeology. When Emperor Wendi of Han was buried more than 2,000 years ago, these funerary figurines were actually dressed in a variety of clothes, and the round holes in the shoulders of the figurines were mechanisms for installing wooden arms. Just buried in the ground for thousands of years, these woods and fabrics have been corrupted, taking on the appearance of what people see now.
Evidence 4 There is no grave under the mouth of the phoenix
Since the Yuan Dynasty, the literature records that the Han Wen Emperor's mausoleum was in the Phoenix Mouth of Bailuyuan, and it was also sacrificed many times during the Ming and Qing dynasties. If the jiangcun tomb is the tomb of Emperor Wen of Han, then who is hidden under the mouth of the phoenix?
In 2011, in the archaeological work of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of China, archaeologists from Shaanxi Province and Xi'an City conducted a "general physical examination" of Fenghuangzui.
Stone stele of the Ming and Qing dynasties at the mouth of the phoenix
Archaeologists launch a "general physical examination" of the phoenix mouth
Strange things happened, and after half a year of "physical examination", the conclusion was that the slope of Fenghuangzui, which had been considered an imperial mausoleum for thousands of years, had not found any tombs. There are only more than 10 stone tablets from the Ming and Qing dynasties here, and there is no trace of human intervention in the mountain, and no tomb remains have been found.
At this point, the idea that there is a tomb of the Han Wen Emperor under the mouth of the phoenix has officially withdrawn from the stage of history. With the successive discovery of various evidences, which lasted for more than ten years, it was finally confirmed that the Jiangcun Tomb was the real Tomb of the Han Emperor.
The names of the Eleventh Emperor Mausoleum of the Western Han Dynasty were all determined, making up for an important part of the study of the Western Han Emperor's Mausoleum. According to the data, the 11 emperors who reigned in the Western Han Dynasty were Liu Bang of han Gaozu, Liu Ying of Han Hui, Liu Heng of Han Wen, Liu Qi of Han Jing, Liu Che of Han Wu, Liu Fuling of Han Zhao, Liu Qing of Han Xuan, Liu Yi of Han Yuan, Liu Xiao of Han Cheng, Liu Xin of Han, and Liu Yan of Han Ping.
Follow-up research and discoveries may lead us to a deeper understanding of the real Western Han Dynasty in history.