The reporter learned from the Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum Museum that through the archaeological excavation of the east gate site outside the qin shi huang emperor mausoleum, the scale, shape and basic structure of this site have been determined, and the process of construction and destruction has been clarified.
This is the mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin, which was photographed from the east gate of the outer city to the west. (Photo courtesy of Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum Museum)
The Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang Emperor is the mausoleum of qin shi huang, the first feudal emperor in Chinese history. The site of the East Gate of the Outer City of the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum is located about 200 meters east of the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum. Archaeologists have previously carried out archaeological investigation and exploration of this site, and have a preliminary understanding of its scale, roughly determining that the site plane is rectangular, 77 meters long from north to south, and 22.4 meters wide from east to west, but the number of doorways and the understanding of the building structure are not clear.
According to Shao Wenbin, the person in charge of this archaeological project, in 2021, the Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum Museum conducted archaeological excavations on the site of the east gate of the outer city of the Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum, with an actual excavation area of about 1,000 square meters, mainly finding the remains of rammed earth platforms and doorways at the east gate of the outer city, as well as tiles, braised earth and other buildings.
This is a panoramic view of the excavation of the site of the East Gate of the Outer City of the Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum. (Photo courtesy of Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum Museum)
Shao Wenbin said that this archaeological excavation has determined that the east gate of the outer city belongs to the rammed earth platform foundation building, which is a gate structure one by one, and the doorway has been smoothed by plastering mud and painted. At the same time, the construction and destruction process of the east gate of the outer city of the Qin Shi Huang Emperor's mausoleum can be determined by using the stratigraphic accumulation relationship: the site of the East Gate first excavates a large foundation pit, and then the pit is compacted, and the pit is filled with rough rammed between the thin rammer and the pit edge. On top of the rammed earth platform, the walls and outbuildings were built. Judging from the presence of braised earth and charcoal chips, the destruction of the city gate was related to fire, and then it was destroyed by flowing water to form a natural ditch.