The picture shows the distribution map of the tombs of the Tuguhun royal family in the Tang Dynasty in wuwei area of Gansu. (Data map) Courtesy of Gansu Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau
The earliest white wine in The domestic era, the earliest and most complete "Hu Bed", the most complete set of iron armor weapons and equipment preserved, the largest and most complete preserved textiles in the Tang Dynasty, filling the regret of no Tang Dynasty brush in China... In recent years, Gansu has continued to carry out archaeological investigation, exploration, excavation and cultural relics protection and research on the Tuguhun royal tombs of the Tang Dynasty, and a number of achievements have created a "precedent" in domestic archaeology.
The Gansu Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics released the latest archaeological research results of the Tuguhun royal tomb group in the Tang Dynasty in the Wuwei area of the province on the 14th. According to reports, in recent years, the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and a number of scientific research units in the United Nations have set up a Tuguhun archaeological project team, which has further enriched the cultural connotation of the Tuguhun royal burial group and clarified the basic layout of the tomb group. The discovery of tombs and the relevant records of epitaphs are of great value to the study of a series of issues such as the history of Tuguhun, the history of the relationship between the Tang and ethnic minorities in the west, the military establishment of the Tang Dynasty, especially the Tang wars before and after the Anshi Rebellion, the Yanzhou (hé) gate government, and the source of the "Ansai Army".
The picture shows the three-dimensional image of Murong Zhi's tomb Yongdao and the tomb chamber of the Tuguhun royal family tomb group in the Tang Dynasty. (Data map) Courtesy of Gansu Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau
Chen Guoke, director of the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, told the China News Network reporter that more than 800 groups of cultural relics such as gold and silverware, lacquered woodware, leather and silk and linen fabrics have been excavated, such as wooden beds, large beds, six-curved screens, models of the Lieji House, complete sets of armaments based on iron armor, pen, ink and paper and other stationery supplies, and various types of silk fabrics, all of which are the first or rare discoveries of related cultural relics in China in the same period. An epitaph was unearthed, and the preliminary judgment was that it was the Tuguhun native ethnic script.
Located in the eastern part of the Hexi Corridor in Gansu Province, Wuwei has been an important area for ethnic minority activities and cultural exchanges since ancient times. The main archaeological cultures in the territory are Majiayao, Mid-Levels, Horse Factory, Xichengyi, Qijia, Shajing and so on. In the fourth year of the first month, the Han Dynasty initially established Wuwei County. During the Sixteen Kingdoms period of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there were successively Former Liang, Hou Liang, Southern Liang, Northern Liang, and The Great Liang of the early Tang Dynasty, all of which built capitals here. From the 4th century to the 10th century, Tuguhun also had a long period of activity here.
Since the discovery of the tombstone of Princess Honghua, daughter of Li Shimin, in 1915, a number of Tuguhun royal tombs and epitaphs have been discovered in the Nanshan area of Wuwei. In September 2019, the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology conducted rescue excavations of Murong Zhi's tomb in and around Tianzhu County, Wuwei City. As the only well-preserved Tomb of the Tuguhun Royal Family found so far, it was included in the "Archaeological China" project of that year by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.
The picture shows the tomb beast excavated from the tomb of Murong Zhi in the Tuguhun royal family tomb group in the Tang Dynasty. (Data map) Courtesy of Gansu Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau
"Through analysis and research, the white wine in the silver bottle is the earliest white wine in China." Chen Guoke analyzed that at the same time found the paper and pen in the four treasures of the study room, before the earliest discovery of the Tang Dynasty brush physical preservation in Japan, the country basically did not see the Tang Dynasty brush object, this time unearthed two brushes, detection and analysis of the pen tube is flax bamboo, the pen head is wool, which fills the domestic Tang Dynasty no brush regret.
Ma Yuping, director of the Gansu Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau, said that through continuous archaeological work, the tomb group of the Wuwei Tuguhun royal family can now be preliminarily divided into three major mausoleum areas, namely the "Great Khan Mausoleum" area represented by Murong Zhi's tomb, the "Yanghui Valley" mausoleum area represented by the tombs of Princess Honghua and Murong Zhong, and the "Baiyangshan" mausoleum area represented by the Dang's tomb. The tombs all have the basic characteristics of high-grade tombs in the early and middle Tang Dynasties, mainly based on the Tang Dynasty burial system, and have both Tuguhun culture, Tubo culture and northern grassland culture factors.
Ma Yuping said that the discovery of the tomb group allows us to glimpse the changes in the material life, ideological concepts, cultural identity and other historical details of the Tuguhun people in the Tang Dynasty from the literal and physical level, vividly revealing the historical facts of the Tuguhun people's gradual integration into the Chinese civilization system in the past hundred years since the return of the Tuguhun people to the Tang Dynasty, and providing a typical case for enhancing national cultural self-confidence and casting a solid sense of the Chinese national community.
Comprehensive: China News Network, CCTV News
Source: Daily Gansu