We read all the lead to present a different history.
Good evening friends! Ziyuan has previously introduced to you the excavation experience of many legendary tombs and their rare cultural relics, which has aroused the strong interest and heated discussion of readers, and today we will talk about the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng, who has unearthed many precious cultural relics. Regarding the appearance process of this Warring States era tomb, it is quite a bit of wild history.
▲Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng
In February 1978, the local troops in Suizhou, Hubei Province, received orders from their superiors to build a factory near the Drum Pier, about 2 kilometers northwest of the ancient city of Suizhou. In order to speed up the construction of the project, the troops applied to their superiors to call up explosives to blow up the mountain, so that they could use local materials. After receiving approval, the troops began to carry out the bombing project, but unexpectedly blew up a large amount of charcoal and some antique artifacts. Experts from the local cultural relics department rushed to explore the matter after learning about this. At this time, no one ever thought that the mysterious veil of the tomb of Marquis Zeng Yi of the Warring States, which has a history of more than two thousand years, was about to be lifted.
▲Experts inspected the scene of the old photos
After the archaeologists heard the news, they protected the site at the first time. After some on-site investigation, the experts unanimously concluded that there must be a princely tomb buried under the site, because there was a lot of charcoal buried here, and the amount of it was beyond the use of ordinary people. Later, after cleaning, people found that there were 120,000 catties of charcoal buried around this ancient tomb, which is one of the largest amounts of charcoal in the ancient tombs found in China so far. In the charcoal cleaning work, due to the heavy workload and a lot of time, coupled with so many charcoal burials in history is indeed unheard of, some experts have played a retreat drum, suspecting that the owner of the tomb is a joke to posterity, the tomb actually does not have many cultural relics worth excavating. In addition, the archaeologists have found many robbery holes, and for a while everyone is a little depressed.
▲ Tan Weisi old photo
However, the archeological team leader Tan Weisi never gave up on this work, insisting that there must be a large tomb under the charcoal. When the charcoal was cleaned up, the true appearance of the ancient tomb was displayed in front of everyone's eyes, and the truth did not disappoint Tan Weisi. This ancient tomb is the tomb of Marquis Zeng, the king of the early Warring States period. According to statistics, the tomb of Zeng Houyi has unearthed a total of about 15,404 pieces of various burial items, of which the most precious national first-class cultural relics Zeng Houyi chimes a set of 65 pieces, is the largest and most complete set of bronze chimes found in China so far. Chimes were first recorded in The Shang Dynasty literature, people according to the size, rhythm, pitch of the bell into groups, made into chimes, and then used it to play moving and pleasant music.
▲Old photos of the excavation of the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng
In fact, the Zenghou Yi chimes can be called the pinnacle of bronze musical instruments in China's pre-Qin period, and are known as "the treasures of the country". The total weight of the 65 chimes in the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng reached an appalling 3500 kilograms, of which the largest chimes were 153.4 centimeters long and weighed 203.6 kilograms, and the chimes were inscribed with seal inscriptions, which recorded: "Only Wang Zhengyue Ji Day Jia Noon, Zeng Hou Yi Yue: Bo Shi Shangtong, Left and Right Wen Wu; Tart Yin's Order, Fu Ding Tianxia; Wang Sent Nangong, Camp House Soil; Jun Huiyi, Linyou Jiangxia." Waiting for the golden text, the Yong Bell is engraved with the five characters of "Zeng Hou Yi Cha Shi".
▲Warring States bronze chimes excavated from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng
This inscription is very important and explains the origin of the Zeng state - the ancestor of Zeng Houyi was the founding general of the Zhou Dynasty, Nangong Shi , who was ordered by the King of Zhou to establish the Zeng state for the purpose of guarding the south. However, in history, Zeng Guo did not have much sense of existence during the Warring States period, and there was not even a record of Zeng Guo in the historical records. After the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng was excavated, the cultural relics unearthed in it told the world that there was a Zeng kingdom more than 2,000 years ago, and Zeng Houyi was a prince named Yi of zengguo. Later, historians speculated after many studies that Zeng Guo was actually the SuiGuo recorded in the historical books, and there were many records of Suiguo in the historical records, and the combination of the two unveiled the mystery of Zeng Guo.
Resources:
"The Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng (by Tan WeiSI)"