In October 1955, a report was rushed to the State Council office, and inside the office sat dozens of archaeologists and historians, staring at the documents without saying a word. Suddenly, a man stood up and shouted, "No, absolutely not digging!" "Okay, it must be dug, and it must be dug immediately!" Suddenly, the people present divided into two camps and fought for the red face, and the document placed in front of them was called "Report on the Excavation of the Ming Changling Tomb".
At this time, a person slowly stood up, and he said, "Don't fight, you have to dig." This person is the famous scholar Guo Moruo, because the reputation of the people present is not as good as him, so he can only silently close his mouth, but Guo Moruo also made a "concession", from digging the Ming Changling Tomb to digging the Dingling Tomb of the Wanli Emperor, and soon, an archaeological tragedy that shocked people at home and abroad was about to occur.
First photo: Preliminary excavation site
Ming Ding Mausoleum is the mausoleum of Zhu Yijun (Wan Li), the 13th emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Shenzong xian, and this tomb also buried his two empresses. Dingling is located at the foot of Dayu Mountain, southwest of Changling, covering an area of 180,000 square meters, quite luxurious. As can be seen from the photos, there were many people involved in the excavations that year.
Second photo: Entrance to the Underground Palace
The excavation work of that year was not achieved overnight, Guo Moruo and others spent nearly 1 year to find the entrance to the underground palace, during which many experts persuaded Guo Moruo with "the entrance is difficult to find, forget it", but all failed, and in the end, they still found the entrance and opened the gate of the underground palace.
Third photo: The antechamber of the underground palace
As can be seen from the photos of the front hall, the scale of the Dingling Tomb is very large and very exquisite, they can't wait to push open the door, and sure enough, countless treasures appear in front of them, the most precious of which is the blue and white porcelain on the ground, the bright blue and white flowers, which are extremely valuable, just a small chicken bowl cup that can be auctioned for 280 million yuan.
Fourth photo: Excited archaeologists looking at the funerary products
According to the data, more than 3,000 pieces of various utensils were excavated from the Dingling Underground Palace that year, including many exquisite gold, silver, jade, jewelry, etc., but unfortunately, because the protection measures were not in place during the excavation, such as calligraphy and paintings, silk fabrics and other objects, they quickly carbonized, and soon "disappeared" in front of everyone, becoming an eternal tragedy in archaeological history.
Fifth photo: The coffins of the Wanli Emperor and two empresses
Although it was very painful to watch the calligraphy and paintings and silk fabrics disappear from their eyes, the staff was quickly attracted by the 3 coffins in front of them, and the coffin of the empress must have treasures! They didn't care so much, they quickly opened their coffins, and then their eyes were shook by the golden funerary goods in front of them.
Sixth photo: The bones and funerary items of the Wanli Emperor
According to the sources of that year, "The body of [the Wanli Emperor] was decomposed, the skeleton was intact, the hair was soft and shiny, and the bones were stuffed with countless gold and silver jade objects and hundreds of horses of rosa brocade." These brocades have been around for more than three hundred years, and some of them are still shining with gold. But because of the entry of oxygen, the incomparably exquisite clothes, brocade quilts, and woven ornaments on the Wanli Emperor's body became tattered.
Seventh photo: The staff member holds the Wanli Crown directly in his bare hands
Although the picture is very blurry, it is not difficult to see the exquisite wanli crown, this golden silk wing good crown, a full 1 pound 6 two, using a thin gold wire knot, using traditional filigree, lace, code silk and other methods, the dragon head, dragon body, dragon claw, dorsal fin and other parts of the welding on the crown, exquisite, is a national treasure level cultural relics!
Eighth photo: Carbonized Wanli Dragon Robe
This is the silk twelve chapters of the dragon robe worn by Wanli, the technology of making it has been lost, it is reported that just to make a long silk fabric, it takes a skilled weaver to weave for 10 consecutive years, and then add peacock feathers, real gold thread and other processes to produce such a gorgeous dragon robe. But unfortunately, the protection is improper, and the dragon robe has been charred and is no longer gorgeous.
The most tragic was the corpse of the empress, who was busy cleaning up the funerary goods, and their bones were discarded after taking photos. Due to the extremely inadequate excavation work, hundreds of cultural relics in the underground palace have caused irreversible losses, so it has become the most painful thing in the history of Chinese archaeology. Subsequently, the state also issued a statement: from now on, the excavation of imperial tombs will be completely prohibited.