In 2000, a Western Han tomb in Tianqi Mountain, Xuzhou, was excavated by archaeology. A glass seal of the tomb owner reveals his name - Liu Prisoner!
Unfortunately, this mysterious person who wore a jade covering and buried the "dragon-shaped gold buckle" was "found to be no one" in history.
01. Tianqi Mountain Han Tomb
This stone pit tomb at the top of Xuzhou Tianqi Mountain was included in the scope of archaeological excavations because it was found by local people to show signs of theft.
The tomb also has a circular mound of sealed earth, about 10 meters in diameter and about 1 meter high, and the surrounding area of the sealed soil has long been cultivated cropland.
If it were not for the occurrence of this "tomb robbery case", the nearby people still did not know that they had been living next to a large ancient tomb buried deep underground for many years!
The vertical pit of the tomb is 3.6 meters long, 2.4 meters wide and 4.7 meters deep, filled with red clay and compacted, and a layer of sealed stones is placed between the rammed earth about 4.3 meters from the tomb mouth, arranged from north to south.
In the middle of the bottom of the tomb, there are traces of a coffin that has decayed into ashes, which is presumed to be the burial place of the owner of the tomb.
According to the shape of this large tomb, archaeologists speculate that it is a Western Han tomb, which has been more than 2,000 years ago...
Above the coffin, the remains of the owner of the tomb have almost corroded, and only a few bones appear sporadically. However, according to these, it has been scientifically determined that the owner of this tomb is male. His head was facing south, and the burial items were mainly placed inside the coffin and at the east and south ends of the coffin.
As the tomb robbers discovered the tomb, but fortunately it was a step slower, and it was not really excavated to the core of the burial chamber, so some important artifacts at the coffin were preserved.
02, the tomb owner "Liu Criminal"
Among them, the two "glass seal" seals that appeared at the waist of the tomb owner were very exquisite, which amazed everyone at the scene. At the same time, the seal also reveals the real name of the owner of the tomb!
He was called "Liu Prisoner".
One of the seals has a length of 2.4 cm, a width of 2.4 cm, and a height of 1.8 cm, and the inscription uses the word "Liu Sin" in the bird and insect book, which is beautiful in handwriting, graceful and dexterous, and very beautiful!
In addition, 27 pieces of jade appeared in the head position of the tomb owner, which is not unfamiliar to archaeologists! Because, this is the burial tool that appeared in the tombs of high-ranking nobles in the early Western Han Dynasty - jade covering!
This jade cladding, woven from high-quality jade pieces on top of textiles, is draped over the face of the tomb owner when buried. Due to its age, the fabric has decayed, leaving only the smooth jade to accompany the owner to sleep...
Immediately after, more exquisite and luxurious objects were found in the coffin, such as a superbly carved "Flying Jade Dragon", although the size is not large, but the dragon's head looks back, and the hem of the dragon's tail is really vivid!
The tomb owner Liu Gang's waist should have also had a delicate belt, and these unearthed gold belt buckles carved with dragon patterns silently told the luxury of the tomb at that time...
Of course, there are also some things in Liu Gang's tomb that look interesting to modern people, such as this jade plug.
Jade plug is a type of nine tricks jade used in ancient funerals. It is vertebral-shaped, with different thicknesses at both ends.
The Nine Tips Jade is the 9 pieces of jade that blocked or covered the deceased's body: 2 eye plugs, 2 nasal plugs, 2 ear plugs, 1 mouth plug, 1 plug, and 1 genital plug.
The use of jade plugs in funeral customs stems from the belief that "gold and jade are immortal in the nine voids, then the dead are immortal", the ancients wanted immortality, especially the emperors and nobles...
Therefore, this small jade plug is a very flavorful cultural relic in Liu Sin's tomb...
03、 Historical "Invisible Man"
Seeing these excavated cultural relics, in fact, everyone has a question in their hearts: Who is Liu Criminal? What is the identity of the owner of this great tomb that can be qualified to be buried with dragon-patterned artifacts?
First of all, archaeologists can judge that this is an early Western Han Dynasty tomb, because there are many Western Han tombs of similar size unearthed in the Xuzhou area, so it is generally believed that the owners of these tombs are "members of the Chu Wang family".
The "Chu" here refers to the princely states that were divided into this area during the Western Han Dynasty, and the first king of Chu was Liu Jiao, the half-brother of Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao.
It is said that Liu Bang was very fond of the youngest brother in the family, because Liu Jiao's personality was most similar to his own, and the "level of education" was the highest, and in 201 BC, Liu Jiao was crowned the King of Chu, with the capital at Pengcheng (present-day Xuzhou, Jiangsu), and the royal family of Kaiji Chu.
In recent decades, a number of Chu royal tombs have been discovered in the Xuzhou area, and Liu Gang, the owner of the Han tomb in Tianqi Mountain, is also considered to be one of the members of the Chu royal family.
However, this famous and surnamed member of the Western Han Dynasty royal family, Liu Gang, became an "invisible man" in historical records!
He was born in the royal family of Liu, and he must have enjoyed great wealth before he died, and he could be buried with dragon-patterned artifacts! Somehow, Liu Criminal actually "found no such person" in history...
Was someone deliberately erasing his existence, or was he really unsatisfactory to deserve a history nomination? We don't know, and probably never will...