introduction:
The shogunate mountains of Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, stretch for 5.5 kilometers from the Ming Dynasty City Gate shangyuan gate in the west to the Swallow Rock, the first of the three famous rocks of the Yangtze River in the east.
The Yangtze River rushes by on its side, and many celebrities and gentlemen sing songs about wine here, which can really be called "the common scenery of the rivers and mountains, the auspicious land of the six dynasties".
Perhaps it is precisely because it is a place of outstanding people and spirits, so it is regarded as a treasure land of feng shui, and the ancient magnates also hope that after a hundred years, they can rest here for a long time.
In 1965, seven luxurious family tombs were discovered here, and the owner of the tomb was really not small.
In the 1960s, a family tomb group was discovered, which turned out to be the first family in the Central Plains
On January 18, 1965, an ancient tomb was discovered at Elephant Mountain (also known as "Hitai Mountain") southwest of ShogunAte Mountain.
The tomb is located on the slope of the southern foothills in the middle of the mountain.
The tomb is 10 meters deep from the mountain, and before the formal cleaning, the sealing bricks and part of the yongdao had been exposed.
Door closure bricks are one of the most common anti-theft measures in tombs, which means that the tomb has not been infringed by tomb robbers.
After removing the sealed door bricks, enter the tomb and be greeted by a burial chamber that has not been disturbed for many years.
The walls of the burial chamber are intact, there are no robbery holes, and the number of funerary items is more than 20 pieces, most of which are exquisite utensils made of porcelain, copper and iron.
It can be seen from the epitaph that the name of the tomb owner is "Xingzhi", born in 310, died in 340, does not mention the surname, the Eastern Jin Dynasty, but there is no such person in the Eastern Jin Dynasty history books.
His wife's name was "Song He", and Song He's father, Song Zhe, served as an envoy to the Eastern Jin Dynasty, a servant, and a general in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
During the Western Jin Dynasty, it was the formation and development period of the door valve system, and by the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there were already strict regulations. Intermarriage is very particular about door-to-door pairs, and will not intermarry with other classes.
That is to say, the "Xingzhi" family must also be the same as the Song family, and there is a certain power in the government and the opposition.
So which family does Xingzhi come from?
In the epitaph, it is recorded that Xingzhi's father was named "Su", and in the Book of Jin, there were two people with the title of "Su", one of whom was the Yu wing of Yingchuan Yanling, but he was born in 304, only 6 years older than Xingzhi, and his place of origin did not match.
The other was wang bin, born in 278, and like Xingzhi, he was a "Langya Linyi person".
Behind Wang Bin, there was indeed a prominent family.
This is the most representative first and most representative family in the Central Plains - "Langya Wang Clan".
Ruins of the Langya Wang Clan
The Langya Wang clan developed in the Western Jin Dynasty and reached its peak in the early years of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, known in history as "the king and the horse, the world together".
Over the course of seven hundred years, his family's descendants have had a profound political, cultural, and social impact.
The "wang" in Liu Yuxi's "Wuyi Lane" in the "old Wang Xie Tang Qianyan" refers to the "Langya Wang Clan".
The most well-known representative figure of the Langya Wang clan is Wang Xizhi.
If Xingzhi is the son of Wang Bin, in order of generation, Wang Xingzhi and Wang Xizhi belong to the cousins of the same grandfather.
Later, archaeologists found 7 more ancient tombs next to the joint tomb of Wang Xingzhi and his wife Song He, all of which were from the Langya Wang clan.
Wang's tomb group distribution
Apparently, this is a family tomb complex.
But the tombs were not built around Wang Xingzhi.
After checking the identities of the owners of the seven tombs, it was found that the head of their family was Wang Bin, the father of Wang Xingzhi.
The head of the family was a high-ranking official of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, but there was a biological daughter buried next to his tomb
The miraculous thing is that Wang Bin's tomb has never been found, and it is rumored that because of the construction of large-scale construction in Xiangshan at that time, it may have been accidentally destroyed.
However, according to the epitaphs of the rest of the tomb owners, Wang Bin's tomb should be less than ten meters away from the tomb of his eldest daughter, Wang Danhu.
This was a very rare thing in ancient times.
In the feudal era, in most cases, a woman should be buried in the tomb of her husband after marriage.
But Wang Danhu was not only buried in the Wang family tomb group, but also buried next to his father's tomb.
This means that Wang Danhu is most likely not married. But even in modern times, older unmarried young women will attract more mouths, not to mention the ancient oppression of women?
Moreover, with Wang Danhu's family lineage, it is reasonable to say that there is no shortage of children of the family who are right in the door. The elders of her family must have found a way to marry her off.
Then it must have been something that happened in her family that led to Wang Danhu not marrying for life.
The focus of attention was naturally placed on Wang Bin, who was buried closest to her.
As Wang Danhu's father, what role did Wang Bin play in Wang Danhu's growth process?
According to the Book of Jin, Wang Bin was a good official who was honest and honest.
Wang Bin was praised for his good character from an early age, and he began to serve at the age of 20, and was the cousin of Wang Dao, the founding father of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Wang Dun, a powerful minister of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, was also Wang Bin's cousin, and in 322 AD he launched the "Wang Dun Rebellion", which was so powerful that even Wang Dao did not pay attention to the tens of thousands of people under one person.
Wang Bin was often confronted by Wang Dun because he was not accustomed to Wang Dun's arbitrary behavior. Wang Dun made death threats to Wang Bin several times, and Wang Bin was not afraid, but instead rebuked Wang Dun: "You killed your cousin back then, and now you are going to kill your cousin again?" ”
Later, when Wang Dun fell, Wang Bin did not care about the previous suspicions, accepted his subordinate Wang Ying's father and son, and even prepared ships to meet him.
It can be said that Wang Binqi can be called a real gentleman.
With his upright personality, he will naturally not relax on the future of his children.
Wang Bin died in 336 AD, when Wang Danhu was 35 years old.
Logically, Wang Bin should have plenty of time when he was born to make a good family for his daughter.
If the reason is not in Wang Bin, then it is in Wang Danhu himself.
As a result, the focus of attention fell on Wang Danhu's funeral offerings.
The eldest daughter's funeral belongings are dazzling, including hundreds of red pills
From the funeral products, it can be seen that the Wang family attaches great importance to Wang Danhu, the eldest daughter.
Its luxury is not inferior to Wang Xingzhi's husband and wife tomb, and it can even be said to be even worse.
Wang Danhu's tomb unearthed thousands of shell-like objects, according to archaeology, this is most likely the ancient fashion of "beads", that is, the use of beads as a decoration of short clothes, in ancient times mostly worn by the royal family, and later there were nobles as clothes.
At the same time, there are eight gold rings decorated on clothes in his tomb, which was also a very popular ornament in the Jin Dynasty at that time. It can be seen that Wang Danhu and his people are very pursuing the trend.
In addition, the tomb has niches on both sides and more than a dozen exquisite objects made of porcelain, copper and iron are placed.
Inside Wang Danhu's coffin, there were thirteen gold noodles, four golden hairpins, and dozens of different pearl gems.
These gemstones are not ordinary gemstones, which contain micro-carving techniques, which can be said to be very precious works of art at that time, and have not been found in the tombs of other descendants of the Wang family, which shows the high status of Wang Danhu in the family.
Perhaps, because Wang Bin is an upright person and is mostly open-minded about his children, he does not force Wang Danhu to marry;
Wang Danhu, on the other hand, saw that he would not marry, would not be discriminated against in his family, and because his eldest daughter's status was more respected by his younger siblings, he simply did not marry.
However, the appearance of one object overturns all conclusions.
That is, in Wang Danhu's tomb, hundreds of red pills were found, about 200 of them.
Some people may think that these red pills, like those shells and pearls, are ornaments.
However, this red pill is placed in a circular lacquer box, while the other ornaments are placed directly in the coffin and are not contained in a container.
What exactly is this red pill? Experts perform the test at the first time.
In 1965, it was very difficult to draw conclusions quickly.
From the discovery of Wang Danhu's tomb in May 1965, it was not until July 1965 that the laboratory report was obtained.
The test results turned out to be this kind of thing, revealing the daily life of the Wang family
From the laboratory report, it was shown that the main component of the red pill was mercury sulfide.
In ancient times, it had another name, called "Tatsusa".
It is mainly used to make lacquer dyes.
But Wang Danhu, as an aristocrat, did not need to do the basic work of the bottom of society, and naturally did not need the raw materials for lacquerware.
Yes, this "Tatsu sand" will not be used as a dye.
Chensha is also a kind of painting pigment, maybe Wang Danhu likes painting, so he will bury the paint together? But if she really loves to paint, why doesn't a single painting appear in the funeral?
Since Tatsusha is not buried with raw materials for dyes and pigments, there is only one possibility, and it is also the last use of Tatsusha - medicine.
According to the Shennong Materia Medica, Tatsusha can "rejuvenate the spirit of the main body with five treasures and hundreds of diseases", that is to say, Tatsusha, as a Chinese medicinal material, has the use of calming, calming the spirit and sterilization, and is rumored to be able to treat hemorrhoids.
However, if it is an ordinary medicine, it has not reached the point of giving Wang Danhu a funeral, it must have a special meaning. Based on Wang Danhu's life experience, it may not have a particularly large relationship with feelings.
In the "Shennong Materia Medica", there is another record about Chensha, that is, "long-serving the gods are not old".
This statement goes beyond the rational scope of medicine, and can even be associated with a social phenomenon in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, people loved alchemy and cultivation.
The famous alchemist Ge Hong, who was about the same age as Wang Bin, was in the same period as Wang Danhu.
At this stage, The alchemy of Taoism has been greatly developed, and taking Dan medicine is also a common social custom.
Tatsusha was the main material for refining Dan Medicine in that year.
Wang Bin's father, Wang Zheng, was very religious of Taoism, and his children and grandchildren were also deeply influenced by it.
Wang Xizhi is the most famous one.
Wang Xizhi and many Daoist leaders had close contacts and joined a sect of Taoism, the Wudou Rice Sect.
At the same time, he also had the experience of taking Dan medicine.
There are even rumors that the reason why Wang Xizhi died of illness has a lot to do with his taking Dan medicine, which is the cause of death.
It can be seen that in the Wang family, taking Dan medicine is not a rare and terrible thing, but an indispensable part of the daily life of the Wang family.
Thinking like this, Wang Danhu taking Dan Medicine seemed logical.
These tatsu sands are not only the elixirs that Wang Danhu likes to take every day, but also serve as a synonym for "immortality", expressing the mourning of the Wang family for Wang Danhu's death.
Perhaps, indulging in Dan Medicine is the main reason why Wang Danhu is reluctant to get married.
One possibility is that Wang Danhu believed in Taoism, had become a monk, and wanted to cultivate immortality and live forever.
But her epitaph does not mention her name
The Taoist-respected Wang family could not have missed such an important title as "Dao Number", only that she was not a monk. So the first possibility is overturned.
There is also a possibility that she is frail and sick and is not suitable for marrying and having children, so she will take the elixir and hope to prolong her life. However, according to the epitaph, Wang Danhu was born in 301 AD and died in 359 AD, at the age of 58.
In ancient times, this was not the lifespan of a frail person.
Then only one last possibility remains.
In a vain attempt to follow the trend against Qing Qing's life, the elixir of long life or the cause of short life
Wang Danhu has a dependence on Dan Yao.
He Yan, the first ancestor in Chinese history to take Dan medicine, once mentioned the feeling of "five stones scattered" with Chensha as a raw material: "The gods are enlightened and cheerful."
That is to say, the elixir has the effect of exciting the nerve center, and over time it will become addicted to drugs, and it is naturally difficult to pay attention to things outside the body, let alone get married.
It is well known that mercury sulfide is a heavy metal, and long-term use and precipitation in the body will form mercury sulfide poisoning and even lead to death.
Some people may say that this is caused by the family's longevity genes, Wang Danhu and her father Wang Bin, cousin Wang Xizhi have a similar life expectancy, and even Wang Xingzhi only lived for 30 years.
You know, whether in modern times or ancient times, the probability of women's longevity is always greater than that of men, which is determined by chromosomes.
That is to say, according to the general law, Wang Danhu should live longer than the male of the family, but this is not the case. Perhaps this is closely related to her love of taking Dan medicine.
The foreword mentioned that Wang Danhu liked to pursue the trend, and the funeral products were the most fashionable styles at that time, so taking Dan medicine was not only the popular social customs of the year, but also the daily life of the Wang family.
Wang Danhu's addiction to Dan medicine because of the trend may be the main cause of her short life expectancy.
Most of the people of the Eastern Jin Dynasty believed in the elixir and had expectations for immortality.
Wang Bin, as the father of Wang Danhu, has never stopped his daughter from taking Dan medicine, and it is very likely that he is supportive. This is obviously limited by the development of the times, thinking that this is for the good of the daughter.
But I never thought that the "long life" elixir would become a "short life" elixir.
Those who took the elixir and died violently were not a minority in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and Wang Danhu was most likely among them.
Since Wang Danhu's body was decomposed, it was difficult to obtain the cause of his death by testing him from it, which was difficult to achieve with today's scientific means.
And what his life experience is, can only be concluded through speculation.
There is no evidence to support the purpose for which she took the Dan medicine; but it is certain that Wang Danhu is the only woman in the current history who can be examined for taking the Dan medicine.
Wang Danhu's Dan Medicine provides very valuable information for the study of the history of China's chemical and medical development.
This is probably the most critical role of Tatsusha as a funerary object for archaeology.