A pit outside the Emura Tomb taken on December 16.
Cao Long, a researcher at the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute and deputy leader of the Hanling Archaeological Team, was interviewed by Nandu and N video reporters.
A few days ago, the news that the Jiangcun Tomb in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, was confirmed as the tomb of emperor Wen of Han, which aroused concern, and this conclusion negated the traditional understanding that the "phoenix mouth" was the tomb of emperor Wen of Han and corrected the fallacy that had been circulated for nearly a thousand years. The archaeological excavation site, which was originally hidden in the countryside, has also become a new stronghold for tourists to compete for "punching cards".
Recently, Cao Long, a researcher at the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute and deputy leader of the Hanling Archaeological Team, said in an interview with Nandu and N video reporters that the excavation of the pit outside the Jiangcun Tomb is still continuing, and in the future, on the basis of archaeological data research and summary of results, the preparation of the protection plan for the HanWen Emperor's Tomb will be improved, and the construction of the archaeological site park will be promoted, so that the public has the opportunity to share the latest archaeological results.
Why did Emperor Wen of Han choose to build the Tomb of Baluyuan in Bailuyuan, far from his father's mausoleum? What progress has been made in the archaeological excavations of the Gangchon Tombs? After the confirmation of the Tomb of emperor Wen of Han, how will the follow-up archaeological work of the Jiangcun Tomb be carried out? For various questions of public concern, Cao Long answered the Nandu reporters one by one.
"Setting up a mausoleum in Bailuyuan will help guard the main traffic road"
Nandu: Why did Emperor Wen of Han choose to build the Baling Tomb in Bailuyuan instead of the Xianyangyuan where his father and brother's mausoleum resided?
Cao Long: In summary, there are many factors such as emotion, politics, and personal preferences. Among them, the most important thing is to properly arrange the tomb specifications of her mother, Empress Bo. Emperor Wen of Han's mother, Bo Ji, was made empress dowager because her son succeeded her as emperor, but she never became empress. The Western Han Emperor's Mausoleum implemented the emperor's "tongmu different cave", Han Gaozu and Lü Hou had been buried together in Changling, if Empress Bo wanted to bury Changling, she could only be buried as a concubine, and the tomb regulations would be greatly reduced, which was unacceptable to Emperor Wen of Han. Therefore, he chose to abandon the ancestral tomb area and choose a new site to solve the problem of his mother's funeral rites.
Secondly, Professor Ma Yongyi (researcher of Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute and leader of the Hanling Archaeological Team) believes that the location of Baling in Bailuyuan is related to the political situation at that time. The construction of mausoleums and the setting up of mausoleums here can take into account the political needs of guarding the main roads of communication and defending the eastern princes. In addition, the personal emotional factors of Emperor Wendi of Han may also affect the location of Baling.
Nandu: How to determine that the Jiangcun Tomb is the tomb of Emperor Wen of Han?
Cao Long: There are four important pieces of evidence, first of all, we have used archaeological exploration, geological exploration and other technical means to conduct a large-scale and meticulous investigation of the "Phoenix Mouth" that is said to be the location of the Baling Tombs for many times, and no artificial excavations and construction remains have been found; second, the Jiangcun Tomb is shaped into the shape of a "sub" shape with four tomb passages, and its specifications and surrounding facilities are of the imperial level; third, in the jiangcun tomb and the outer area of the dou empress mausoleum, we have discovered the rammed wall ruins through exploration and test excavation. This enclosure encloses the Jiangcun Tomb and the Tomb of Empress Dou, which should be the outer cemetery shared by the two of them, which is also in line with the burial system of the Western Han Emperor's "Tongmu Different Cave"; finally, during the excavation of the pit outside the Jiangcun Tomb, we unearthed a number of Ming organ seals, indicating that these outer burial pits symbolize different official institutions and are a portrayal of the emperor's underground rule of the world.
"The excavated cultural relics have been taken to the Bailuyuan Archaeological Base for restoration and protection"
Nandu: What progress has been made in the archaeological excavations of the Gangchon Tombs so far?
Cao Long: Since 2017, the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute and the Xi'an Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology have jointly formed a team to carry out archaeological excavations on 8 outer pits of jiangcun tombs, and more than 1,500 pieces of pottery figurines, copper seals, copper carriage and horse ware, iron and pottery have been unearthed.
At present, the five outer pits of excavation site No. 2 in the southwest area of Jiangcun Tomb have completed excavation and cleaning work and have been backfilled. At excavation site No. 1 in the northeast region, two outer pits have been excavated and cleaned, and only the excavation of K15 continues. K15 is a long strip in the north-south direction, with a total length of 70 meters, and the excavated area at the southern end near the burial chamber is currently 39 meters long and about 8 meters deep, and dense pottery figurines have been cleared, and musical instrument relics such as stone chimes and gilded bronze chime fragments have also been found at the northern end of the excavation area, which should be buried with a woven chime. The uncovered area of the northern section of K15 is being built with a protective shed and will continue to be excavated later.
In addition, from 2017 to 2018, in order to cooperate with the capital construction project, we excavated a group of pottery kiln sites located 1600 meters northwest of the Jiangcun Tomb; in 2018-2019, in order to cooperate with the capital construction, we also excavated 23 Han tombs about 3900 meters southwest of the Jiangcun Tomb, cleaned up more than 2,000 pieces of jade clothing pieces, and more than 200 precious cultural relics such as trick figurines, pottery chimes, and chimes.
According to the above archaeological investigation, exploration and excavation results, the Jiangcun Tomb and its surrounding remains have formed a relatively complete mausoleum area, which is similar to the shape and system elements of the Western Han Emperor Mausoleum such as the Han Gao Ancestral Mausoleum, the Han Jing Emperor Yang Mausoleum, and the Han Wudi Emperor Mao Mausoleum, with a similar layout, the overall scale is comparable, and there is an obvious development and evolution trajectory.
Nandu: How do we protect the excavated cultural relics?
Cao Long: At present, the cultural relics excavated from the 8 outer pits of jiangcun tomb and the three outer pits of empress dowager Bo's southern tomb have been extracted to the Bailuyuan archaeological base for restoration and protection. For organic matter cultural relics, such as wooden carriages and horses, lacquered wood, etc., if the relics are well preserved and the conditions permit, we will take the method of cutting and packing to extract them, strengthen them in the restoration room, prevent corrosion, and prevent mildew treatment, and strive to make them appear in front of the world in their original appearance; for pottery, iron, copper and other textured cultural relics, we will mainly take conventional measures to restore and protect them.
The focus of security will therefore be reset
Nandu: The confirmation of the Gangchon Tomb as a Baling, what impact will it have on the next archaeological work?
Cao Long: In fact, as archaeologists, we respect and revere every work object, and will seriously complete each work. Nowadays, the Jiangcun Tomb has been confirmed as an imperial tomb, and its archaeological data show different significance, which makes up an important part for the study of the formation and development of the Western Han Dynasty imperial mausoleum system. In addition, in the case of negating the traditional understanding of the "Phoenix Mouth" as the Han Wen Emperor's tomb, there is also a clear direction and pressure on the safety protection of field cultural relics, and the focus of security will be reset.
Nandu: Eight of the more than 110 outer pits of the Gangchon Tomb have been excavated, what are the next excavation plans?
Cao Long: In fact, cultural relics are relatively a stable environment underground. For archaeological research institutions, excavations are divided into active excavations and rescue excavations. The former is to solve academic problems, and the latter is due to natural factors, such as landslides, earthquakes and other threats to the safety of cultural relics, or human factors, such as infrastructure, excavation, etc., must be "rescued".
At present, we have excavated several outer pits, one is because the mausoleum area has been stolen and disturbed, and it is necessary to carry out rescue excavations of individual pits, and the other is to find evidence to confirm the owner of the Gangchon Tomb. From the academic significance, through the excavation of the foreign tibetan pit at this stage, we have learned the connotation and significance of the Jiangcun Tomb, the next step of excavation will follow our research on the Western Han Emperor Mausoleum system, the Study of the Jiangcun Tomb, the Tomb of Empress Dou, if we encounter difficult academic problems that need to be solved, we may choose the relevant area for excavation in a targeted manner, not that the more excavations are better.
As for the imperial tomb, it will not be excavated. After all, it is an imperial mausoleum, and the cultural relics buried below are very rich, limited by the current cultural relics protection technology, our work will be mainly based on protection. I believe that future generations will have more mature technology and smarter ways to accomplish what we cannot do now.
Archaeology is not "treasure digging" that many people understand, in fact, many excavations are passive in nature, and the purpose is still protection. Our job is to make the information solid, scientific and detailed. In the next step, we can do more on the basis of the results of archaeological excavations, promote the improvement of the protection environment of the surrounding sites, and further improve the preparation of the protection plan for the Tombs of the Han Emperor. In the longer term, it is necessary to promote the construction of the Baling Archaeological Site Park, so that the public has the opportunity to share the archaeological results.
background
The Western Han Dynasty experienced eleven emperors from Gaozu Liu Bang to Ping Emperor Liu Yan. Except for Emperor Wen and Emperor Xuan, who were buried in Bailuyuan and Dudongyuan, southeast of Chang'an City, respectively, the other nine emperors were buried on the Xianyang Plain north of Han Chang'an City.
Why weren't Baling and Duling built on the Xianyang Plain? Because Emperor Wen strived to be frugal, he chose to use the mountain as a mausoleum; and before Emperor Xuan became emperor, "Zhou Yan Sanfu", "between Yule Du and Yan, the rate was often in Xiadu", and his parents were buried in the southeast of Chang'an City, so Emperor Xuan built a mausoleum in Du Dongyuan.
Producer: Nandu Instant
Written by: Nandu reporter Liu Miao from Xi'an, Shaanxi
Image source: Xinhua News Agency