Why did the Han Wen Emperor Liu Heng's balustrade have a dispute between the Phoenix Mouth and the Jiangcun Tomb?
This stems from a document in the Yuan Dynasty.
Luo Tianjun, a scholar of the Yuan Dynasty, once visited Baling, and he thought that the phoenix mouth was high and domineering, so he took it for granted that the baling was located under the phoenix mouth and wrote it into a text.
This circulation has caused trouble for future generations. Ten to ten, ten to a hundred, everyone believes that the Baling is located under the mouth of the phoenix. The Inspector of Shaanxi in the Qing Dynasty also deliberately erected a stone stele in front of the phoenix mouth and engraved the words "Han Wen Emperor's Tomb", and posterity was even more confused.
As a result of the rumors, posterity mistakenly believes that the Phoenix Mouth is the location of the Tomb.
So when did archaeologists discover the Gangchon Tomb again?
This stems from advances in technology and a tomb robbery.
Archaeologists used a large number of geomagnetic radars and high-density resistance detection methods when investigating the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang (this method was later also used in the archaeology of Baling).
It turned out that under the mouth of the phoenix was solid, and there was no structure of the tomb.
Scientists concluded that Baling was not under the mouth of the phoenix. So where is it? There are both Houling and Nanling on this side, and Liu Heng's Baling Tomb will naturally not be too far away, just look for it in this piece.
It wasn't until 2002 that a tomb robbery caught the attention of archaeologists.
In 2002, six stolen Western Han pottery figurines appeared in Sotheby's auction catalogue. The Chinese government immediately suspended the auction through diplomatic channels, successfully recovered 6 cultural relics, and determined that they were stolen by tomb robbers from the area of Bailuyuan Jiangcun in Shaanxi Province.
Jiangcun is located near the mouth of the phoenix, 2000 meters away from the mouth of the phoenix, on the one hand is the Houling, on the other side is the Nanling. So, archaeologists locked the location of the Gangchon Tomb.
After the state administration of cultural heritage organized experts to investigate the scene, it was found that there was a large tomb under the jiangcun, which belonged to the standard of the imperial tomb, and it was likely that it was the location of Liu Heng's tomb. So the area was protected and named "Gangchon Tomb".
Since the location of the Jiangcun Tomb was locked as early as 2002, why did the State Administration of Cultural Heritage officially announce that the Jiangcun Tomb was the location of the Baling Tombs after nearly 20 years?
This is because the archaeological standard of our country is not excavation archaeology, but conservation archaeology and rescue archaeology. The protection of ancient tomb cultural relics is in the first place, so it is easy not to excavate the soil, for fear of causing secondary damage to the ancient tomb. The earth will only be moved if the tomb is in danger and has to be dug.
For nearly 20 years, archaeologists have been conducting conservation studies of the Gangchon Tombs. Through various cultural relics unearthed successively, it was determined whether this was Liu Heng's tomb or not.
According to Ma Yongying, a researcher at the Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute and the leader of the Hanling Archaeological Team, from the cultural relics that have been excavated so far, the funerary items in Baling are mainly pottery, almost no large bronzes and gold and silver jade, and the most valuable are some small bronze seal objects. This also shows that Emperor Wendi of Han's frugality is not a vain name, he is really frugal.
Instead, the nearby Houling and Nanling tombs excavated a batch of bronze and gold, silver and jade.
However, thanks to the frugality of Emperor Wen of Han, even the tomb robbers know that there is no oil and water in Baling, which allows Emperor Hanwen's tomb to escape a disaster, and it has not been excavated on a large scale, and most of the funerary cultural relics are still safe and sound underground.
These cultural relics will continue to lie quietly underground for a long time to come, becoming a valuable property for future generations.
Source: Northern Network