In 1970, when a construction team was digging the foundation in Hejia Village, Xi'an City, the workers inadvertently dug up an urn and a jar of gold and silver treasures, and when they saw this situation, no one dared to move, but chose to take the initiative to report it. After the cultural relics experts came to the scene, they received these cultural relics and explored the surrounding areas, and finally found more than 1,000 precious Tang Dynasty cultural relics, which is the famous "Tang Relics" - hejia village cellar excavated cultural relics, an archaeological discovery that shocked the world.
Why do experts call this batch of treasures "Datang Relics"? In fact, there is a story behind this "testament".
In October 1970, a construction team was building infrastructure in Hejia Village, Xi'an City, and a worker "clicked" to plane a hard object while digging the foundation, and he used a pickaxe to clean up the planed soil and found a blackened metal jar buried in the ground.
He shouted involuntarily, "Hey, what is this?" His shouts immediately attracted workers working nearby, and everyone talked about the half-cut metal jar that was exposed to the ground. Some say it's a piece of scrap iron, and some people think it might be a jar for treasure.
In order to find out what was buried in the ground, everyone brandished a shovel and dug out the dark metal jar. To everyone's surprise, when digging the black metal jar, a clay urn was dug next to the jar.
Everyone cleaned up the black metal jar and the dirt around the clay urn, and two workers tried to pull the metal jar to the ground, and unexpectedly, two strong construction workers pulled hard together, and the metal jar did not move.
So everyone decided to open the seal of the jar first and see what was inside. After the seal was opened, a worker put his hand into the jar and pulled out a handful of gold jewelry from inside. This discovery stunned several workers, who did not expect that what they had guessed had become a reality, and that the jar was actually filled with gold and silver treasures.
People in the 1970s were simple and collective. Seeing that the gold and silver treasure was pulled out of the jar, the workers did not rob it, and they discussed the decision: several people stayed behind to guard the treasure, and one person went to report to the person in charge of the construction site.
After inspecting the situation at the site, the experts of the Cultural Relics Bureau found that the workers had dug up a large pottery urn and a silver jar with beams, and the experts pulled out hundreds of precious cultural relics such as gold and silver utensils, ancient coins and precious medicinal materials in these two containers.
Subsequently, the Cultural Relics Bureau stopped the construction, and archaeologists conducted a detailed survey and investigation of the site and surroundings. On October 11, 1970, a crisp metallic echo came from under the probe, and archaeologists dug out a pottery urn not far from the spot where the treasure was first dug. After cleaning and sorting, a total of two pottery urns and a silver jar were unearthed in Hejia Village, and more than 1,000 precious cultural relics were unearthed from them, including gold and silver utensils, valuable medicinal materials, precious stones and pearls, and ancient Chinese and foreign coins.
Archaeologists have not found any other artifacts after several months of exploration, and based on the burial method of the excavated artifacts and the results of the exploration, experts have concluded that Hejia Village is a cellar site. Cellaring refers to the storage and storage of property in the cellar, and the cultural relics excavated in Hejia Village meet the characteristics of cellaring, which experts call "Datang Relics".
So, who hid the cultural relics in Hejia Village here? Why do experts call it "Datang Legacy"?
Experts have conducted a meticulous study of the cultural relics excavated in Hejia Village and found that most of these cultural relics are Sui and Tang Dynasty objects, and experts define the age of these cultural relics as the Tang Dynasty.
Hejia Village, known as Xinghuafang during the Tang Dynasty, was an area close to the imperial city. At that time, most of the people living in Xinghuafang were tang dynasty dignitaries. To span thousands of years, finding the owner of the treasure here is like finding a needle in a haystack. However, through unremitting efforts, experts eventually deduced that the owner of the treasure of Hejia Village, based on the written information on the cultural relics, was Liu Zhen, the Shang Shu tenant (official in charge of taxation) during the Tang Dynasty.
The experts believe that Liu Zhen is the owner of the treasure of He Jia Village for two reasons. First, according to historical records, the location of Hejia Village during the Tang Dynasty was Xinghuafang, and the location of the treasure excavation happened to be the residence of Liu Zhenjia, the envoy of Shangshu Renting Yong at that time. The second point is that the official style of the Tang Dynasty was clean and honest, and although the dignitaries and dignitaries lived a wealthy life, the average family rarely had such a large number and variety of treasures. As an official in charge of taxation, Liu Zhen's rare treasures collected from various taxes must be passed through his hands before they enter the national treasury, and he has the opportunity to occupy his favorite treasures, which appear in the underground of his mansion, which is very intriguing.
The reason why the treasure of Hejia Village is called "relic", this "relic" word is here to make the meaning of legacy and loss. The Taiping Wenji records that in 783 AD, the "Jingyuan Mutiny" occurred in Chang'an City, Tang Dezong abandoned the city and fled, and the rebels wantonly snatched gold, silver and treasure in Chang'an City. The situation was urgent, Liu Zhen and his family packed up the fine soft that was easy to carry and escaped from Chang'an, and the large treasures that could not be taken away at home could only be buried on the spot. According to common sense, after the counter-rebellion, Liu Zhen will take out these treasures after returning to Chang'an City, but the world is unpredictable, Liu Zhen lost his tracks after escaping from Chang'an City, and liu Zhen's whereabouts cannot be found in the history books, he may have encountered an accident, so the treasures he buried under the mansion became the real "relics".
Whether it is left behind or lost, a large number of treasures were left underground in Hejia Village, until the construction team dug the foundation, and this batch of treasures reappeared in the world.
The cellared cultural relics unearthed in Hejia Village are widely varied, exquisitely crafted and well-preserved, and are the most diverse and large-scale sui and Tang dynasty cultural relics unearthed in the twentieth century. The discovery of the relics of Hejia Village shocked the world, and these excavated cultural relics recorded the food, clothing, housing and transportation of the Tang Dynasty from different levels, providing an important basis for experts to study the production and living conditions of the Tang Dynasty.
At present, most of the cultural relics unearthed in Hejia Village are collected in the Shaanxi History Museum, and the Shaanxi History Museum has also opened a special exhibition hall of "Tang Relics - Exhibition of Cultural Relics Excavated from hejia Village Cellars" for people to enjoy.