On December 14, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage held a working meeting on the progress of the major project of "Archaeology in China", and announced that the location of the Tomb of Emperor Wen of Han was determined to be the Bailuyuan Jiangcun Tomb in Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, rather than the Phoenix Mouth recorded in historical records. This achievement solves the mystery of the location of the tomb of Emperor Wen of Han for thousands of years, and also makes the Han Tomb Archaeology Project attract much attention.
As the leader of the Hanling archaeological team, Ma Yongyin has been busy like a top in the past two days, and while completing daily archaeological work, he also has to face various concerns that suddenly come. "I didn't expect to receive so much attention this time, and all we saw was our highlight moment."
▲ Ma Yongyi (first from left) at the archaeological site. Source: Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology
"Our job is to make up history by searching for the earth." In Ma Yongyi's view, this is the significance of archaeological work, just like the carved stone standing in the courtyard of the Baling Archaeological Team - "Knocking Kun Supplement history".
From the mouth of the phoenix to the tomb of Jiangcun, how exactly is the thousand-year-old fallacy corrected step by step? On December 15, a reporter from the Beijing News chatted with Ma Yongyi about the past of Baling.
Why has the location of Baling become a mystery for eternity?
Beijing News: What may be the reason for the site selection of the HanWen Emperor's Tomb in Bailuyuan?
Ma Yongyi: Emperor Wen of Han has passed away, and he can no longer tell us accurate answers, everything can only be based on reasonable guessing.
I co-authored with Jiao Nanfeng the article "Research on the Site Selection of the Western Han Emperor's Mausoleum", which systematically analyzed the influence of many factors such as traditional burial customs, feng shui ideas, political situation and the emperor's personal likes and dislikes, etc. In our opinion, the Han Emperor's choice of the Tomb of emperor Bailuyuan mainly has three reasons: one is to solve the funeral etiquette problem of his mother Empress Bo; the second is political needs, in order to guard the main road of transportation, defending the eastern princes; third, the influence of Emperor Wen's personal emotional factors, limited to various reasons. He probably didn't want to be buried with his father.
Beijing News: Why is the Phoenix Mouth mistaken for the location of the Baling?
Ma Yongyi: There are many reasons for this fallacy.
Typical Western Han Dynasty emperor tomb sealing soil is generally more than 30 meters high, according to estimates, its earthwork volume can reach more than 300,000 cubic meters, requiring the use of a large number of labor. Emperor Wen of Han, considering the frugality of the people, left a testament on his deathbed: "Because of this reason, do not change the Baling Mountains and Rivers." What does this mean? He hoped that the mausoleum that would be buried would be what the original landform would be, and that no artificial soil would be sealed.
With the change of dynasties, the Tomb of Emperor Wen of Han did not have a fiefdom, and it was difficult for posterity to find it. However, Empress Dou's mausoleum has a sealed soil, the location is very clear, and some people speculate that emperor Wendi of Han's tomb is also nearby. At 2,000 meters to the north, there is just a phoenix mouth, which looks up from the Bahe River Valley. Later generations speculated that the tomb of Emperor Wen of Han was in the mouth of the phoenix.
▲ It is the phoenix mouth of the Han Emperor's tomb. Source: Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology
The Northern Wei geographer Li Daoyuan mentioned in the Notes on the Water Classics that the Baling tomb was above the White Deer Plain. Luo Tianjun of the Yuan Dynasty recorded in the compilation of the "Chronicle of Chang'an", "Emperor Wen's tomb was under the mouth of the Northern Phoenix of Bailuyuan, forty miles east of jingzhao tonghuamen. Therefore, later generations believe that the phoenix mouth is the sealing soil of the Han Wen Emperor's tomb.
How did the Han Wen Emperor's tomb come into being?
Beijing News: How was the Jiangcun Tomb discovered in the first place?
Ma Yongyi: First of all, we have consulted a large number of documents about Baling and found that the records about Baling in the mouth of the phoenix are not necessarily accurate. In addition, many archaeological work has been carried out before, in 1966 and 1975, Mr. Wang Xueli of the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Management Committee and others carried out rescue excavations from the burial pits of Baling and Nanling (Empress Bo); in the 1980s, Liu Qingzhu and Mr. Li Yufang conducted a comprehensive archaeological survey and survey of Baling and Nanling.
In 2006, the Xi'an Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology conducted rescue exploration and trial excavation in the BalingLing Area, and discovered the Jiangcun Tomb and its funerary pit, which provided important clues for determining the specific location of the Baling Tomb. At that time, we could only infer that this was a high-ranking mausoleum, but it was impossible to confirm who the owner of the tomb was.
▲The explorer took pictures. Source: Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology
From 2011 to 2013, according to the archaeological work plan of the Western Han Dynasty Emperor's Mausoleum, Jiao Nanfeng, a researcher at the Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute, led a team to carry out a large-scale archaeological investigation and exploration work on the Baling and Nanling mausoleum areas, roughly exploring the distribution range and morphological layout of the remains of the two mausoleums. However, we still lack direct evidence to prove that this is the tomb of emperor Wen of Han, such as the cultural relics with the word "Baling" written on it.
In 2017, key evidence emerged. We found that there are larger remains of the mausoleum wall on the outskirts of empress Dou and the tomb of Jiangcun, which indicates that the tomb of Jiangcun and the mausoleum of Empress Dou are in a large cemetery. The emperor and empress of the Western Han Dynasty were buried together using the burial system of "Tongmu Different Cave", and the same large cemetery embodied the "Tongmu".
Beijing News: How to prove that the Jiangcun Tomb is the tomb of emperor Wen of Han?
Ma Yongyi: There are four main aspects of evidence. First, the Gangchon Tomb has 4 tomb passages, in the shape of a "Ya" character. In the Han Dynasty, this was the highest level of tomb form, which only the emperor and empress could use; second, official seals were found in the outer tibetan pit, such as the "Zhongsikong Seal", which showed that the outer tibetan pit symbolized the underground official office, and the large number of outer tibetan pits surrounded the Jiangcun tomb, and its tomb owner was none other than the emperor; third, there was a larger range of cemetery wall remains on the periphery of the Tomb of Empress Dou and the Tomb of Jiangcun, which showed that the Tomb of Jiangcun and Empress Dou were in a large cemetery, reflecting the burial system of "homogeneity"; fourth, after the archaeological survey of the Phoenix Mouth No tombs and related artifacts have been found.
▲The seal excavated from the Emura Tomb. Source: Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology
Beijing News: What are the significance of these archaeological discoveries?
Ma Yongyi: It is determined that the Jiangcun Tomb is the tomb of emperor Wen of Han and has four levels of significance.
First, it has important academic significance. Emperor Wen of Han opened the "rule of Wenjing", which was a transitional period of transformation in the Western Han Dynasty, and the country's governance system and political thinking were changing, which would inevitably be reflected in the imperial tomb system. The determination of the location of the Tombs and the mastery of the shape system of the mausoleums have made up for the key links in the development and evolution of the Western Han Emperor's Mausoleum, and are of great significance to the archaeological research of the Western Han Imperial Mausoleum system.
Second, it is helpful to study the development and evolution of the political system in the Western Han Dynasty. The double mausoleum of Baling, the center of the imperial tomb, and the layout of the outer pit around the imperial tomb symbolizing the official office 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.
Third, from the perspective of cultural relics protection, we have found the real Baling, which is conducive to the subsequent protection of the site itself.
Fourth, nanling unearthed more gold and silver objects with animal images, including bears, wolves, leopards and so on. These gold and silverware have a typical grassland culture style, reflecting the exchange of Central Plains culture and grassland culture, which may also be related to the experience of Emperor Wen of Han who was once crowned as a king.
▲Small pieces of gold ornament unearthed from the Nanling Tomb. Source: Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology
"The tomb of Emperor Wen of Han will not be excavated for the time being"
Beijing News: What are the next plans of the archaeological team?
Ma Yongyi: First of all, we should continue to complete the archaeological excavation work that we have not completed, and in addition, the collation and research of archaeological data should also speed up the progress.
We also have a very important task, that is, to assist the local government to introduce the protection plan for Baling and Nanling as soon as possible, and effectively protect this precious cultural heritage.
▲Aerial panorama of BalingLing District. Source: Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology
Beijing News: Will the main tomb of Emperor Wen of Han continue to be excavated?
Ma Yongwei: No. There are two reasons, one is that the national cultural relics policy stipulates that the tombs of the emperor and empress cannot be excavated casually; the other is that our cultural relics protection work needs to be further improved, and a large number of fragile items may appear in these tombs, such as lacquer, wood, silk products, etc., and there is no effective protection technology.
Therefore, we leave this wealth to future generations and wait until the technology is mature and their research needs are needed, and then continue to explore. What needs to be done now is to protect these mausoleums well.
▲Part of the painted clothed pottery figurines excavated from the Emura Tomb. Source: Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology
Beijing News: How do you view the attention caused by this archaeological achievement?
Ma Yongyi: To be honest, I didn't expect the attention to be so high. Now, everyone is more and more concerned about traditional culture, and the quality of citizens is getting higher and higher. From the perspective of cultural relics protection, if more social forces want to participate in cultural relics protection, such attention is also needed.
"We make up history by searching for the earth"
Beijing News: What is the daily life of archaeologists like?
Ma Yongyi: We are an archaeological research project, but unlike other scientific research projects, we have to go to the field to do excavation work. We often joke that we are "digging pits." Archaeologists study history and culture through cultural relics and sites, and need to be studied in kind.
In the courtyard of our archaeological team, there is a stone, and the famous archaeologist Mr. Liu Qingzhu has inscribed us four words, "Percussion and Supplementary History", which highly summarizes the nature of our work - through the exploration of the earth, to supplement history.
▲The large stone engraved with the words "Kokun Supplementary History" in the courtyard of the Baling Archaeological Team. Beijing News reporter Wu Caiqian photographed
Beijing News: Why did you choose archaeology in the first place?
Ma Yongyi: I originally studied law, but after graduation, I was assigned to the archaeological unit. At first, I did administrative work, but I was very interested in history, so I applied to the business department with the leader and began to do archaeological work. In 1995, I began to study the tombs of the Western Han Emperors.
This release of archaeological results is our highlight moment. When the highlights dissipated, we returned to the fields and continued to work in the wind and rain, and when we came back at night, we had to consult historical materials and do research work, which was very hard. But whenever we make a discovery, or figure out a problem, there's a particular sense of accomplishment.
▲ Archaeologists excavating artifacts. Source: Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology
Taking this archaeological project as an example, when we carried out rescue excavations in Nanling, we found a robbery cave and did not hold out much hope. Unexpectedly, when I dug down, I saw densely painted clay figurines. It was so exciting, it felt like I had won the jackpot. Whenever we find something to gain, we feel a great sense of accomplishment.
Beijing News: What are your wishes for the future?
Ma Yongyi: I hope to promote the construction of a site museum here to protect and display the excavation results of Baling and Nanling, and also to let more people know about the excellent traditional Chinese culture.
Beijing News reporter Wu Caiqian intern Li Xinran Sun Qingyue
Edited by Binbin Li Proofreader Wei Zhuo