01, looking for the tomb of the King of Chu for ten years
Late one night in 1995, surrounded by silence, the young man took a deep breath and slowly entered the gloomy ancient tomb that had been closed for more than 2,000 years!
His mission is somewhat "terrifying and weird" - to find the bones of the tomb owner!
This is a large Han tomb that has been found in 1984, and unfortunately, it took the archaeologists a full decade to finally find the location of its tomb crossing!
Just above this lion-shaped mountain peak 4 kilometers east of Xuzhou City, more than 4,000 terracotta warriors and horses have been found ten years ago! Everyone knows that the owner of the Terracotta Warriors is a "King of Chu"!
But where is the tomb of the King of Chu? But it has always been a "mystery"...
Generations of archaeologists have been searching for this mountain called "Lion Mountain", never imagining that it took ten years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to finally find the resting place of the mysterious owner!
02. Night visit ancient tombs
Receiving the task of "night exploration of the Tomb of the King of Chu" was 33-year-old Qiu Yongsheng. Although he has also experienced countless large and small tombs, he still has some trepidation in the face of such a gloomy ancient tomb that has been excavated from the mountains and has no bottom...
The narrow and long entrance of the tomb is in front of you, and four tens of tons of plug stones have been removed, forming a dark hole for one person to enter.
Qiu Yongsheng felt his heart beating like a drum, he took a deep breath, took a flashlight and slowly entered the space that had been sealed for more than two thousand years with a faint light...
The tomb mechanism that suddenly activates, the poisonous snake scorpion hidden in the dark corner, the tomb passage that may collapse at any time when eroded by flowing water... He has to face a lot of sudden crises! Everything seems to be all about luck...
Of course, Qiu Yongsheng came in with a "mission"! Speaking of which, this task is also very strange - to find the bones of the King of Chu!
Because the excavation of this tomb has been going on for some time, archaeologists have found countless precious burial items, including a golden jade robe made of 4248 pieces of Hetian jade!
However, none of the burial items recorded any information about this tomb owner, King Chu! The huge Lion Rock Tomb, which tomb of the King of Chu is it? Archaeologists hope to find some clues through the detection of the bones.
Qiu Yongsheng needed to walk through the dark, long tomb passage and front chamber to the deepest part of the main burial chamber! Because that's where the tomb owner's coffin is located.
However, something weird happens soon...
03, the coffin without a lid
Qiu Yongsheng had not yet reached the back room, and in a side room in the front, a coffin was found! Could it be... Is it a martyr's coffin?
Qiu Yongsheng was not mentally prepared to see a coffin so quickly, but he was still ready to take a closer look.
Through the faint flashlight light, he was shocked in his heart - this coffin actually had no lid!
this...... Qiu Yongsheng's scalp was a little tingly. The coffin in the tomb has no lid...
Although they are professionally trained professionals, in a cold, damp and dark space, no one can help but think a little!
However, he still needs to take a closer look, because this is the task of his trip!
It was a coffin with two sides that had collapsed, and it was visible that the walls were once covered with jade pieces. Qiu Yongsheng used a flashlight to illuminate the inside of the coffin, empty! This is actually a beautifully decorated jade coffin!
Of course, the experienced Qiu Yongsheng knew that the jade coffin in the tomb of the king of the Han Dynasty could only be enjoyed by the tomb owner! It can't be a coffin of a martyr...
Before I could think deeply, I stumbled upon something at my feet. He took a closer look, and it was actually a human mandible!
This mandible still has a row of teeth, and the mutilation is quite terrifying! Just around the mandible, he found a thigh bone and several vertebrae...
At this time, Qiu Yongsheng was almost certain: he had found it! These mutilated skeletons should be what he wanted to find when he visited the ancient tomb at night--the bones of the King of Chu!
According to the early excavations of the Lion Rock tombs, the archaeologists found thousands of pieces of jade scattered in the place at the entrance of the tomb. The tomb has obviously been excavated!
However, the tomb robbers were very strange, just stripped the gold wire on the jade pieces, looted all the gold, silver and bronze utensils, but turned a blind eye to all the jade objects such as jade bi, jade huang, and jade people in the upper jade layer!
What is even more strange is that the tomb robbers accurately found the location of the tomb entrance, did not know what method was used, pulled out a few tons of stuffed stones, and directly entered the tomb chamber for excavation...
All the clues illustrate one thing: the time of the theft of the Lion Mountain Han Tomb should be in the Han Dynasty! Moreover, this gang of tomb robbers is familiar with the specific structure of the tomb, so as to accurately find the tomb entrance that modern people spent 10 years to find...
The jade coffin that Qiu Yongsheng saw in the side room was the same one that the tomb robbers violently destroyed the coffin after entering the tomb chamber, dragged it to the side room, and looted the gold and silver inside the coffin.
Subsequently, the gang cruelly pulled out the body of the tomb owner dressed in golden jade. Perhaps, the body of the tomb owner at that time was not completely decomposed, but was discarded in the side chamber at random...
04. Who is the owner of the tomb?
The bones of the tomb owner have finally been found! So, who is the owner of the Lion Rock Han Tomb who can be clear?
With the assistance of Xuzhou Medical University, archaeologists conducted scientific tests on the remains of the King of Chu, who was about 1.73 meters tall, and was a tall and burly man in ancient times! He died at the age of about 35.
Then, people restored the appearance of the King of Chu according to the mandible! This was also a sensational event in the country at the time!
For the first time, modern people have truly seen the true appearance of a member of the Western Han Dynasty more than two thousand years ago!
There are two stages of discussion about who the owner of the tomb really is. At the beginning of the excavation of the tomb, experts once believed that the owner of the tomb may have been Liu Peng, the third generation of Chu king who participated in the "Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms"!
However, recent years of argument have shown that the owner of the tomb is more likely to be the second generation of Chu king Liu Yingke. His father, Liu Jiao, was the youngest brother of Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao! They and the Emperor of the Western Han Dynasty are the blood relatives of the closest relatives!