Beijing, December 31 (Reporter Shangguan Yun) Recently, there have been new discoveries in the archaeology of the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin. On the 30th, according to the Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum Museum, the institute carried out detailed archaeological exploration work on the mausoleum area on the west side of the outer city of Qinling, and a number of Chinese-shaped tombs were newly discovered, and a tomb unearthed the earliest single golden camel seen in China.
After these archaeological results were announced, they quickly attracted widespread attention. Jiang Wenxiao, head of the archaeological project of the West Tomb of the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum, said in an interview with reporters that the golden camel belongs to the "Bactrian Camel" shape, and the craftsmanship is relatively exquisite, which is rare in the Central Plains at that time.
Data map: The picture shows the unearthed golden camel. Courtesy of the Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum Museum
Archaeological findings of the tomb on the west side of the mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin
Since 2011, the archaeologists of the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum Museum have carried out detailed archaeological investigation and exploration of the mausoleum area on the west side of the outer city of Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum, and found a planned high-grade funerary tomb area belonging to the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum, and the tombs are mostly surrounded by trenches and natural rivers to form a relatively independent cemetery.
In this archaeological work, the archaeological team found more than 20 ancient tombs, 120 ash pits, 4 pottery kilns, 4 ancient river beds, and found 14 tomb funerary pits.
Among the above more than 20 ancient tombs, there are 9 large tombs, 4 on the east side are "medium" glyphs, close to the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, and 5 on the west side are "A" glyphs, which are slightly far from the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang Emperor.
At the same time, a complete circle of trenches was found around the westernmost group of three zigzag tombs, in the shape of an "eye". According to reports, this is the unique, largest and most complete preserved tomb remains with trenches found in the Qinling area.
The remarkable "Golden Camel"
In order to clarify the connotation, nature and age of these tombs on the west side of the Qinling Tombs, the Qinling Museum has carried out continuous excavations of the First Tomb.
Infographic: The picture shows archaeologists cleaning up tombs. Courtesy of the Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum Museum
Tomb No. 1 of the West Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin Shi Huang has a "medium" shape in the plane, with a total area of about 1900 square meters. This is the largest, highest-grade and best-preserved large-scale tomb of the Qin Dynasty found so far, filling the gap of high-grade tombs in the Qin Dynasty.
In this tomb, the earliest single golden camel seen in China was unearthed. Jiang Wenxiao said that the golden camel was found on the south side of the tomb and was in the shape of a Bactrian camel, which was relatively rare in the Central Plains at that time, and it can also be inferred that it may be the product of cultural exchanges.
Combined with the pottery, chimes, bronze crossbows and other objects excavated from Tomb No. 1 in Lingxi, Jiang Wenxiao explained that these cultural relics are artifacts of the Qin period, which not only provides a basis for cultural exchanges between China and the West before the opening of the Silk Road in the Han Dynasty, but also is an important physical material for the study of politics, economy, military, science and technology, culture and so on in the Qin Dynasty.
The identity of the owner of the tomb of Lingxi No. 1 cannot be determined
It is understood that through archaeological exploration and excavation, it can be preliminarily determined that the tombs on the west side of the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum are closely related to the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum, and the era of Tomb No. 1 should belong to the Qin Dynasty tombs after the unification of Qin.
Data map: The picture shows the excavated cultural relics. Courtesy of the Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum Museum
However, on Tomb No. 1 in Lingxi, the archaeological team found five burglary holes, three of which led to the burial chamber. Some people worry that this will have a bad impact on the tomb?
"The damage to the tomb by the robbery cave is not very serious, and some have entered the tomb, but the degree is not deep, it has not expanded around, and the impact is not very large." Jiang Wenxiao introduced, but the central part of the tomb did collapse more seriously.
Jiang Wenxiao said that from the perspective of the location of the tomb and the layout of the tomb, the relationship between the owner of the tomb should be closer to Qin Shi Huang, "At present, we have not found valuable written information that can indicate the identity of the tomb owner." The identity of the tomb owner cannot be determined at this time. (End)