In recent years, the popular online novels "Ghost Blowing Lights" and "Notes from the Tomb Robber" fictional "nine-story demon tower" exist in reality? In fact, there is really a "prototype".
In 1996, about 10 kilometers southeast of Chahan Wusu Town, Dulan County, Qinghai, the discovery of the "Blood Wei No. 1 Tomb" caused a sensation in the archaeological community at home and abroad. This large tomb is spectacular and full of mystery.
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The curtain is 33 meters high, 55 meters long from east to west, and 37 meters wide from north to south, and looks like a small hill in the shape of a gold figure, so it is also called the "Pyramid of the East".
The construction of the tomb was obviously pointed out by "Mr. Feng Shui", and the east and west sides of the tomb are connected to two rolling mountains, and the overall appearance constitutes the pattern of "two dragon play beads". Around the tomb, dozens of small tombs are densely distributed, such as the stars holding the moon.
Nine-story demon tower vista
After the tomb was excavated, the interior scene shocked all the archaeologists. Inside stood a wooden tower made of thousands of giant trees and rammed mud and stone. The wooden tower has a peculiar shape, from top to bottom every meter, there is a layer of cypress wood with a diameter of more than half a meter, arranged neatly, dividing the burial chamber into nine floors. Each piece of wood is engraved with mysterious ancient Tibetan characters. Therefore, the locals call it the "nine-story demon building".
The uniformly thick, 60-centimeter-diameter cypresses in the tombs take 200 years to grow, and the Qinghai region does not produce this wood. It is estimated that the construction of such a tomb would require at least 10,000 people to work continuously for more than a year. According to an authoritative archaeologist in Qinghai, the structure and style of the tomb are unique in archaeological history. This place was soon recognized by the state as a key cultural relics protection unit.
Close-up view before not being cleaned up
Researchers have tentatively determined that the "nine-story demon building" is the tomb of king Hun of Tugu (yù) during the Tang Dynasty. Tuguhun was a branch of the ancient Xianbei Murong Clan, who established power in Qinghai and Liangzhou, Gansu, from the Western Jin Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, which lasted for more than three hundred years. Because the name of the first lord of the country was Tuguhun, it became the name of this ancient country.
Tuguhun was destroyed by Tubo in the third year of Longshuo (663) of the Tang Dynasty, so there is still controversy over whether the hot water tomb is the tomb of Tuguhun or the Tubo royal family.
Murong Tuguhun
The mysterious legend of the tomb is spread among the local Tibetans, who believe that it is a tall building with a monster and stay away from it.
According to the ancient legend of the local Tibetans, the "Nine-Story Demon Tower" and the nearby ancient tomb were once caves where demons hid. Later, King Gesar of Tibetan mythology and legend came down here with his men, fought against the demons, and drove them away. The cave left countless treasures of gold and silver.
The legend of the "demon" certainly did not scare the archaeological team. Later, the archaeological team tried to excavate the "Nine-Story Demon Tower". On the first and second floors of the tomb, many precious cultural relics were excavated. Things like gold ornaments, carved wood birds and beasts, as well as some Eastern Roman gold coins, Persian silver coins, and plenty of well-preserved silk. After 1,500 to 600 years, the pattern and color of silk are still very distinct.
In addition, there are many wooden tablets and painted wood chips engraved in ancient Tibetan and ancient Mongolian in the burial items, most of which are related to religion. The remains of more than 700 cattle, horses, sheep and other livestock were also excavated from the tomb. Next to the tomb, five more "burial horse ditches" were found, and the outer layer was also surrounded by more than a dozen ditches, all of which were animal burial pits such as cattle and dogs, and the number of animal remains was amazing.
Inside the nine-story demon building
After digging the second floor of the "Nine-Story Demon Building", somehow the archaeological team gave up the excavation work. It is said that due to the backwardness of the cultural relics protection technology in the 1990s and the large scale of this tomb, in order to avoid the destruction of cultural relics, the relevant departments decided to stop excavation.
However, there is another saying circulating in the local area. Some people say that when the archaeological team excavated the tomb, several inexplicable strange things happened in succession, although they did not cause injuries, but for safety reasons, the archaeological team finally stopped working and withdrew. Of course, this may just be a rumor. What the truth is, I am afraid that only those who witnessed it at that time know.
Artifacts unearthed from the tomb
It is worth mentioning that due to the close trade between the Tang Dynasty and the countries in the West Asian region, in the exquisite silk fabrics unearthed from the "Nine-Story Demon Building", in addition to local manufacturing, there are more than a dozen kinds of silk produced in Central and West Asian countries, and the patterns or writings on them are unique. One of the brocades used by the Persians was rather shabby, and at first no one cared, but it was collected.
Unexpectedly, a few months later, the researchers used a magnifying glass to find a mystery on this "rag", which had some regular geometric clusters and a string of mysterious words. This immediately aroused the strong interest of archaeologists. But no one in the country's experts recognized the words. Later, a German archaeology professor was contacted, and it was identified that this was the ancient Persian Sassanid dynasty's Po Luo Po script.
Persian brocade
The words on the brocade translate to mean, "King of great kings." As for who the king of kings refers to, some people say that it is the tomb owner, and some people think that it is the Persian honorific title for the Tang Dynasty. This brocade is the only piece of Eighth-century Persian script brocade found in the world, which is extremely precious.
In recent years, tomb robbery in the hot water tomb area has been very rampant, and some tomb robbers have used large machinery such as bulldozers to bulldoze the sealing soil of ancient tombs, causing great damage. The "Nine-Story Demon Tower" has also been stolen and excavated more than once. The work of protecting cultural relics has a long way to go.