There are tombs of princesses inhabited by living people
In 1998, Nanjing city originally wanted to build a new railway near Yuhuatai.
Unexpectedly, a large pit was dug, revealing some old buildings
You can also faintly hear the sound of running water.
Such a discovery startled the construction team and quickly reported the news.
Soon, an archaeological team arrived at the site, and after inspection and excavation, they judged that it was a place
Tombs of princesses in the early Ming Dynasty
, strangely enough,
At the entrance of her tomb is placed the "stone statue" that can only be used by the imperial mausoleum.
But when archaeologists are ready to open the coffin,
Suddenly, a tomb keeper came running to stop it.
Under the guidance of the tomb keeper, the archaeological team learned that
This princess tomb was inhabited by living people.
So, who is this Ming Dynasty princess?
What is the origin of the living people who live in the tomb of the princess?
An accidentally discovered tomb
In 1998, after a new municipal construction plan was carried out in Nanjing, it was decided to build a new railway in the Yuhuatai area.
When the construction team arrived at the planned area, work was soon carried out. But what everyone didn't expect was that they had just started digging for the new railway, and they had an accident when they used the excavator.
Part of the soil collapsed, revealing a large pit.
The workers driving the excavator were surprised and very curious, so they drove the excavator and continued to dig down a few times.
Suddenly, in front of his eyes, ancient buildings made of bluestone bricks appeared.
This startled the workers sitting in the cab.
As a native of Nanjing, he certainly knew that this place had been the ancient capital of many dynasties, and legend has it that there are many undiscovered tombs underground. The workers were worried that what they had dug out was an ancient tomb, and they were afraid that if they continued to operate, they would destroy the ancient tomb, so they quickly jumped off the excavator and ran to report the site leader's own discovery.
After hearing this, the person in charge was also frightened, did not dare to be sloppy, and hurriedly reported this discovery to the Nanjing Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau, and then ran over to fight with the workers to fight with the workers, guarding the edge of the big pit dug out, and no one was allowed to get close.
After hearing the news, the Cultural Relics Bureau immediately sent an archaeological team to the site to investigate.
After carefully inspecting the site, the archaeological team determined that it was an ancient tomb, but unfortunately, they found it too late.
This place has long been visited by tomb robbers, and the tomb is surrounded by large and small robbery holes.
Since the stolen tomb thieves have visited so many times, the precious cultural relics in the tomb have also been robbed almost completely, and the valuable antique cultural relics may have been stolen long ago, which makes the archaeological team feel very sorry.
However, in addition to the rare funerary items in the tomb, the tomb itself also has high research value, and the archaeological team has carried out protective excavations of this precarious ancient tomb.
After an initial investigation of the tomb, the archaeological team found that the scale of the tomb was somewhat beyond their expectations, and it seemed that the identity of the owner of the tomb was somewhat unusual.
Expanding the scope of excavations along the tomb, the archaeological team found that the tomb was relatively low in terrain, and there was a stone door above the burial chamber, on which some ancient characters were written, which seemed to belong to the Southern Dynasty period. Therefore, archaeologists first suspected that the tomb was built during the Southern Dynasty.
In addition, the archaeological team also found a lot of bluestone bricks piled up, with walls like walls, and neat stairs, and the place where the tomb was located was arched as a whole, which looked quite grand. As the excavations progressed, something happened that surprised the archaeological team even more.
Near the tomb, they found it
Two stone statues are born
。 The so-called "
Stone statues are born
", refers to the beginning of the Qin and Han dynasties,
Stone people and stone statues placed in front of the tombs of emperors of past dynasties
, sometimes referred to as "
Weng Zhong
", on behalf of the imperial guard, can show the noble status of the tomb owner, show extraordinary spirit.
Generally speaking, only the imperial tombs can use such stone statues, and sometimes some high-ranking ministers can also use them.
This tomb was able to use stone statues,
Could it be that it is an imperial tomb? Or does the owner of the tomb have anything to do with the royal family?
Princess Tomb with Tomb Keeper
After realizing that this tomb may be an imperial tomb or related to the royal family, and then thinking about the robbery holes found near the tomb before, the members of the archaeological team are very heavy-hearted.
However, when the archaeological team arrived at the tomb, the scene in front of them made everyone feel refreshed. The tomb was not as luxurious as expected, slightly ordinary, and the bluestone walls looked atmospheric and solemn in the dim light.
One thing is the same as the archaeologists have judged,
The size of this tomb is very large, and the interior has a rather complex structure.
The entire tomb is high above, with a niche (kān) on each side of the tomb,
The surrounding walls are full of inscriptions
, appears very high-end.
The tomb as a whole is rectangular, divided into an anterior and posterior chambers, and the original bluestone walls should still be coated with a layer of white lime, but because of their age and many thefts, they have long since fallen off.
Pictured: Text on the wall
In the center of the burial chamber is a sarcophagus bed, next to which is the coffin that collapsed at some point. The sarcophagus is covered with a layer of dust, but the intricate and exquisite pattern carved into it is still clearly visible. As the archaeological team walked and watched, the sound of admiration was incessant.
The research value of these burial chamber structures alone made them feel very happy.
According to archaeological experts,
The burial chamber should have had a lot of funerary items
, but after being visited many times by the stolen tomb thieves,
The precious funerary goods in the burial chamber were also looted to the point of being almost looted.
However, the tomb robbers could not empty the entire tomb, and the archaeological team found a lot of funerary items after carefully cleaning the interior of the tomb.
In addition to these funerary items, the words seen on the walls were also of extraordinary value to the archaeological team. They took these texts down and brought them back to a professional for translation. According to the translated text, the archaeologists judge,
The mausoleum was supposed to have been built in the early Ming Dynasty, where a princess was buried.
However, the text content on the wall is limited, and archaeologists have studied it several times, but they have not been able to see which princess was sleeping in the tomb in the early Ming Dynasty. After discussion, archaeologists decided to find the answer from the coffin of the tomb owner.
Pictured: Sarcophagus bed
And just as they were about to open the tomb owner's coffin, suddenly a man came running and claimed to be
The keeper of this mausoleum
。
In the ancient tombs of the Ming Dynasty, there were still tomb keepers until now?
The archaeological team was suspicious and asked the tomb keeper to sit down and talk carefully.
The tomb keeper told the archaeological team not to rush to open the coffin, and then told them about the origin of the tomb.
It turned out that the owner of the tomb was the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty
Zhu Yuanzhang's most beloved daughter, Princess Fuqing
。 She was the 8th daughter of Zhu Yuanzhang, and her mother was Princess An Zheng.
According to historical records, this Princess of Fuqing was not only born with a beautiful appearance, but also quite talented, proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and a certain political talent for governing the country and the country.
He often advises Zhu Yuanzhang and is deeply liked by him
。 Because of this daughter, Zhu Yuanzhang's attitude towards Princess An was very good.
Pictured: Film and television drama image
Later, Princess Fuqing married a man named Zhang Lin and gave birth to two children.
However, due to illness, she died at the age of 48.
At that time, Zhu Di had already succeeded to the throne, and after hearing the news, he was very sad and ordered that Princess Fuqing be buried in this mausoleum. This is also the reason why there are stone statues outside her tomb.
This tomb keeper has been guarding here for generations, and now they have come to a new era, and their family has long changed to other industries to make a living, and they have lived well in the new era.
But the next words of the tomb keeper shocked the archaeological team.
The living people who live in the tomb of the princess
This tomb keeper will not stay here in the princess tomb all day, usually he will come to see it every once in a while, until the day when the archaeological team excavates the tomb.
He has been guarding the mausoleum for 37 years
Many of the robbery caves existed before he became a tomb keeper.
The tomb robbers are very cunning, and they specifically pick him to come and look for opportunities when he is not there, and this tomb keeper is weak and can't keep it if he wants to.
The Tomb Keeper told the Archaeology Squad that the last time he came over here,
Unexpectedly, it appears that someone in the mausoleum has encroached on the princess's mausoleum.
He also found a lot of flower quilts in it,
There was even a quilt spread over the coffin of Princess Fuqing
In addition, there are a lot of messy bottles and cans, which are obviously things that only exist in this era.
The tomb keepers thought they had encountered tomb robbers, after all, only the bold "outlaws" like them would not be afraid of things like graves and coffins. This made the tomb keepers not know what to do, and they were hesitating whether they should go to the police.
But on second thought, no matter how bold the tomb robber is, it is impossible for the tomb robber to stay here for a long time, and there is nothing related to the tomb robbery here, and even the best bed flower quilt looks very worn. The tomb keeper took advantage of the fact that no one was at the scene and cleaned up all the mess.
Despite this, his heart was still very unsteady, and he often opened his ears to collect news related to Princess Fuqing.
So when he heard that the ancient tomb was dug up when the Yuhuatai side was building the railway, he immediately thought of the tomb of Princess Fuqing, so he quickly took advantage of the free time and rushed over to find the archaeological team.
I hope they can come forward to investigate the people who dare to sleep in the princess mausoleum with a flower quilt.
The archaeological team listened to the narration of the tomb keeper and was also very curious about the gang. They informed the local police, and then during the police investigation, they officially opened the princess's coffin.
The coffin was also carved with exquisite patterns, but the coffin had long been opened, and only the bones of Princess Fuqing remained inside, and there were no other valuable cultural relics left. Despite the psychological preparations, the archaeological team was still very disappointed.
Later, with the help of the police, the archaeological team quickly found the gang.
They turned out to be migrant workers who had gone to the city to work
Because they wanted to save money, when they found a place to stay, they accidentally found this mausoleum, and they did not care about taboos and fears, so they went in, put their luggage here, and began to live here, and inadvertently deepened the destruction of this tomb.
This made the archaeological team feel very emotional. They helped the migrant workers find suitable jobs in the city, and the Nanjing municipal government also found a place for each of them to settle down, helping them gain a foothold in the city and never have to run to the coffin to sleep.
Although no too valuable cultural relics have been unearthed from the tomb of Princess Fuqing,
However, after excavating the tomb itself, the archaeological team also gained a lot.
Later, in 2006, the state officially included the tomb of Princess Fuqing into the scope of national cultural relics protection, and those lost cultural relics are also trying their best to track down, hoping to one day succeed.