There is a kind of pain called "the pain of Dingling", and there is a kind of loss called "the loss of Dingling".
In 1958, to date, china's only imperial tomb was planned by the state. However, this only development has brought great disasters to the archaeological community, and the excavation of Dingling has lost countless precious national treasures, which is a major tragedy in the history of archaeology. It is precisely because the lesson of this Dingling tomb is too painful, and after painfully thinking about it, the central government issued a red-headed document and explicitly prohibited the excavation of the imperial tomb.
Dingling was the resting place of the Wanli Emperor, but in 1958 a group of uninvited guests barbarically broke into the imperial tomb and carried out robbery in the name of archaeology. Although more than 3,000 Pieces of Ming Dynasty treasures have been unearthed in Dingling, of which there are hundreds of gold and silverware and 600 pieces of various costumes, which are the benefits of Dingling, but the lost treasures are even more deplorable. Counting some of the national treasures that turned into fly ash in the case of immature technology can only exist in the minds of archaeologists forever.
1. Precious as the dragon robe of the Wanli Emperor
The Twelve Chapters of Dragon Robes worn by the Wanli Emperor in Dingling, the exquisite patterns embroidered on the dragon robes, the intricate silk craftsmanship, and the precious materials are all works of art. It can be seen that the development of handicrafts at that time, the production of this dragon robe, the need for multiple textile experts to continuously weave for 10 years to have this dragon robe is exquisite, is the painstaking efforts of countless craftsmen.
However, due to insufficient preparation before excavation, and there was not enough technology to protect the anti-oxidation of silk fabrics, the dragon robe of the Wanli Emperor was oxidized like a flash in the pan, and the color was black and broken.
Second, exquisite as 69 precious silks
From ancient times to the present, due to the difficulty of preserving silk fabrics, there are very few ancient silks in existence. In the coffin of the Wanli Emperor, as many as 69 independent rolls of silk were found, and the fabrics on the silk were ingenious and skilled.
What is even more rare is that it is well preserved, colorful, and especially new in the past centuries. However, like the Wanli Dragon Robe, it was short-lived, from a peerless product to a broken and incomplete one today.
Third, rare as a golden silk nan wood coffin
Golden silk nan wood is a rare wood, even the ancient dignitaries and dignitaries scrambled to grab, the coffin made into the Wanli Emperor was all made of golden silk nan wood, not to mention that there is a special historical value, which shows its preciousness.
However, such a precious coffin was abandoned by the archaeologists at that time, thrown into the ditch like garbage, and could no longer be repaired.
Fourth, tragedy is like the corpse of Wanli
For the Wanli Emperor, the saddest thing was not to be disturbed to sleep peacefully after death, and even the whole body could not be saved. Because it was in the WG period at that time, in the name of sweeping away the remnants of feudalism, the body of the Wanli Emperor was burned cleanly, and even the two empresses who accompanied the burial were not spared. Digging people's graves and humiliating people's bones are not only technical reasons, but also ideological reasons.
All archaeological starting points should be rescue excavations, not active excavations. If there is no man-made damage to the tomb robbery, it should not be excavated on its own initiative, just as the mausoleum of the first emperor of Qin is still intact. In that particular era, out of explicit academic motives or voyeurism behind the scenes, curiosity was not limited, technology was not mature, and with a rash attitude to face the solemn archaeology, there was an irreparable disaster.