In the traditional culture of ancient China, the dragon and the phoenix are usually placed on a beautiful and grand artistic conception, and the two sacred beasts of the dragon and the phoenix appear at the same time, which also means that good things are in pairs. Because of this, when the ancients buried a husband and wife of a man and a woman, they often used the form of dragon and phoenix burial.
Figure 1
In an archaeological excavation in recent years, archaeologists have found a "different" dragon and phoenix burial tomb, this dragon and phoenix joint burial tomb is located in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, a Ming Dynasty tomb site, the reason is different is that most of the dragon and phoenix joint burial tombs are buried a man and a woman, and archaeologists have tested the body and found that the tomb is buried in this tomb is two men in their fifties!
If you put it in today's cultural tolerance and open thinking, it is not a very unusual thing for two big men to be together, and the use of dragon and phoenix patterns can also be accepted by the public, but in the ancient times of strict hierarchy and cultural preservation, it is indeed very rare for two big men to be buried together in a dragon and phoenix tomb.
Figure 2
In fact, the identities of the two men buried in the tomb are not the same as ordinary people, in our words today, they belonged to the ranks of eunuchs before they died, and their lifestyles and life development trajectories were also very different from those of ordinary people at that time. The reason why the two will choose to be buried together is two poignant lives behind them.
A group of tombs accidentally discovered during the construction of the subway
One day in August 2013, the construction of the subway line in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, was proceeding in an orderly manner as planned, and although the summer heat brought a lot of trouble to the construction personnel, the construction personnel still carried out the work meticulously, from detection to inspection to final excavation, every work procedure was indispensable to ensure the safety of the project.
Figure 3
Just when the construction personnel are excavating the soil layer, there are suddenly some hard objects that the machinery cannot dig, in the process of cleaning, the construction personnel not only dug out the stones, but also some bricks, stone slabs and other building materials, and found that this is likely to be a discovery of archaeological significance, so they contacted the archaeological team and let the professionals carry out further excavation.
After receiving the contact, the archaeologists quickly organized an archaeological team to rush to the scene, and after preliminary judgment, the archaeologists believed that it was an underground tomb-like building. Judging from previous archaeological experience, there will be a large number of funerary products in general tomb sites, and many valuable historical materials can be obtained through the study of funerary products, so archaeologists have great hopes for this accidentally discovered site.
The archaeological team immediately rolled out the excavation work, the original subway construction site has also become an archaeological excavation site, the original excavators, forklifts and other large machinery have also been replaced by more sophisticated archaeological equipment, as the archaeological work unfolds step by step, greater surprises are also waiting for the archaeologists.
Figure 4
Archaeologists have strong confidence in the results of this excavation
The original plan of the archaeological team was to excavate the entire outline of the underground chamber first, and then carry out a detailed excavation of the artifacts in the chamber, but as the outline of the entire underground chamber gradually appeared, the archaeologists found that the chamber was connected to another larger chamber.
So the excavation was immediately followed by excavations to the other end, and just after the excavation, a new chamber was found. The archaeological team was even more excited, indicating that the site was not a simple building, but a considerable complex.
In the end, after the archaeologists excavated all the buildings one by one, the number of underground chambers reached a staggering thirteen, coupled with the closed building structure and, the archaeologists concluded that this is a considerable group of catacombs, each burial chamber is arranged according to a certain law, which also reflects the social status of the buried person before his death, reflecting the ancient strict social hierarchy.
Figure 5
According to the ancient rules: "Etiquette cannot be lower than the common man, and punishment cannot be a doctor."
Such a hierarchical order of the tomb group must have buried the ancient scholar class or higher class figures, so that the funerary products and other cultural relics unearthed by them must be richer and more historical value.
After the overall arrangement of the leaders of the archaeological team, the next task of the archaeologists is to open each burial chamber one by one, and carry out meticulous excavation of the burial materials inside, and strive to restore their original appearance. When the archaeologists set out to act, the dragon and phoenix patterns that came into view gave the archaeologists another surprise.
In the poems of Tang Dynasty poets, the Eastern Palace is often used to refer to the prince, the Fengge to refer to the Prime Minister, and the Dragon Tower to refer to the Heavenly Son, so it can be inferred that the Dragon and Phoenix were often borrowed from the central power represented by the Emperor and the Prime Minister during that period, but the dragon and phoenix patterns in this tomb appeared very frequently, and were used as decorative patterns to print on stone bricks, and the tombs of the Tang Emperors have been clearly recorded in Chengdu, so this tomb group is more likely to be of other dynasties.
Figure 6
Judging according to the historical development context, the Ming and Qing dynasties were a period of great admiration for dragons and phoenixes in history, and people at that time were very admiring of real dragons, so that many historical records recorded the phenomenon of "dragon seeing".
At that time, some people claimed to have seen the real dragon apparition, and the shape of the dragon and phoenix also became a very popular decoration in society as a pattern. But in any case, such a delicate and varied dragon and phoenix pattern shows that the specifications of the tomb group are not ordinary, and there must be a wealth of funerary products.
The actual situation is frustrating
Archaeologists carefully carried out further excavations of various tomb groups and found a large number of traces of damage such as prying and bumping.
Figure 7
This is a disappointing sign, because it proves that archaeologists are not the first to come to the tomb group, others have been there before to carry out excavations, and among the people who excavated the tomb, in addition to the professional archaeological team, the other is probably the tomb robbers.
Compared with the professional and meticulous excavation of the archaeological team, the tomb robbers excavate the ancient tomb for profit, and the means used are more crude, they do not think too much about the archaeological value of the tomb, more is a brain to take away valuable things, so after the tomb robbery will often be left with empty tombs and sites after destruction.
As archaeological excavations progressed, archaeologists found that the traces left by the tomb robbery varied in direction and intensity. Some traces are caused by straightforward tools such as hammers and crowbars, some traces are caused by sand and stone grinding and cutting, and even some traces are obviously left by modern electric equipment such as drilling rigs and chainsaws, and the traces left by tomb robbers are not the same on the timeline.
Figure 8
An even more depressing fact lies before archaeologists, whose tombs have suffered multiple groups of tomb robbers at different times, the most recent of which are even modern people who use power tools.
Since many batches of tomb robbers at different times have worked on this tomb group, it is presumable that the funerary objects in the tomb group must have been looted long ago, and the fact is indeed the same as the archaeologists speculate, although the whole tomb group is large in scale and exquisitely arranged, but the interior of the tomb is empty, and valuable cultural relics have not been excavated.
However, archaeological work can not be abandoned halfway, whether there are cultural relics unearthed, archaeological work must be carried out until the true face of the site is completely restored, so the archaeologists did not give up, the remaining burial chambers in the tomb group for excavation.
Figure 9
Although most of the valuable funerary objects were stolen by the tomb robbers, if some broken utensils, jewelry, etc. can be found in the dirt, they can also be used to unveil the mysterious veil of the ancient tomb and restore a real situation in history.
Good news came from Tomb Eight
After half a month of excavation, archaeologists finally excavated most of the burial chambers of the tomb group, unfortunately did not find many valuable cultural relics, and then excavated several collapsed burial chambers, and the archaeological work was nearing the end.
Among the collapsed burial chambers, one of them is particularly chaotic compared to other burial chambers, and archaeologists were surprised to find that there were no traces left by tomb robbers in this burial chamber, but all kinds of items in the tomb were very chaotic.
Figure 10
Archaeologists consulted more information to learn that there had been an earthquake in the local area, and the damage caused by the earthquake caused the main structure of the tomb to collapse to a certain extent, the entrance to the tomb was also destroyed, and the tomb robbers did not succeed in entering the eighth tomb. As a result, the artifacts in Tomb No. 8 have been preserved.
In order to protect the integrity of the burial chamber as much as possible, the staff came up with a suitable countermeasure after consultation, dismantling the roof beam structure above the burial chamber and entering the burial chamber from top to bottom. When the top beam structure above was removed, the staff found that Tomb No. 8 was structurally different from the others, which was a typical double burial chamber.
In ancient times, people paid more attention to the concept of family, and couples in many families generally tended to be buried together if they had the conditions. Therefore, such joint burial tombs have appeared in the funeral arrangements of the ancients.
In addition to the joint burial tomb, archaeologists also found more sophisticated dragon and phoenix patterns in the burial chamber that were depicted in a conspicuous position, and their decorative materials were very exquisite, and it was difficult for ordinary families to bear such expenses.
Figure 11
Therefore, archaeologists deduced that the owner of this joint burial tomb must be a high-powered person, if not a royal family.
A large number of pottery figurines, jade, knights and other cultural relics have been unearthed
The archaeological team carried out key excavations for Tomb No. 8, and successively unearthed a variety of clay figurines, as many as more than 200, each of which is a delicate figure with different expressions, which shows its preciousness.
In the strict hierarchical system of ancient times, people of each rank should follow the corresponding etiquette of each grade, and when using tomb specifications, they should also follow the specifications of their own rank and cannot be trespassed. The use of pottery figurines for burial was a common practice among ancient nobles, and there was a famous "terracotta warrior" burial after the death of Qin Shi Huang.
Figure 12
The pottery figurines in this tomb are different from the pottery figurines used by the emperor in the form of civil and military officials, although they are also dressed in official clothes, it can be clearly seen that they are different from normal officials, and each pottery figurine has no beard, which has aroused the interest of archaeologists to discover the truth of the matter.
Archaeologists further excavated other cultural relics, found many gold-plated silver jue, jue is an ancient sacrificial artifact, in the Shang Dynasty and Zhou Dynasty, jue is a kind of drinking vessel commonly used by the nobility, with the development of the times, people more with porcelain cups, bowls instead of the role of the knight, the knight itself has become a symbol of honor.
In addition to the gilded gold and silver lords, other sacrificial jade, bronzes, etc. have also been discovered, which shows that the owner of the tomb is buried in accordance with the strict ritual sacrifice system, and each funerary product is extremely exquisite, in line with etiquette, and there is no ambiguity in the use of materials.
Figure 13
After the excavation of the cultural relics, the eyes of the archaeologists turned to the body lying quietly in the coffin, although it was moldy, but it could still be tested to obtain valuable information, and the final result surprised everyone.
Both bodies were identified as male
The test results given by professional testing agencies showed that both bodies were men over the age of fifty.
This surprised the archaeological team, because in ancient times, the custom of living and sleeping together and dying in the same cave was only recorded for the burial of husband and wife, and there was no custom of brotherly burial, and other relatives were not buried with each other.
Moreover, there is no precedent for same-sex marriage in the mainland so far, in the ancient times of cultural preservation, it is even more impossible for two men to get married, coupled with the funerary products unearthed, the two must be prominent officials and nobles, and their funeral arrangements must also consider social influences and will not be arranged arbitrarily.
This mystery plagued archaeologists, and soon spread among archaeologists, and the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics was very active in the matter, sending a team of experts to the field.
Figure 14
The experts arrived and began to work soon after, and based on past work experience, it is likely that funerals of this specification will be recorded in the historical records. So they decided to expand the scope of archaeology, looking up the historical data of the whole of Chengdu to find out which person was buried.
According to the style and process of the excavated cultural relics, experts roughly infer that the tomb should be from the Ming Dynasty, and then consulted a large number of relevant historical materials in Chengdu during the Ming Dynasty, and finally found reliable clues, speculating that this ancient tomb is most likely related to the Shu King of the Ming Dynasty.
In order to verify the conjecture, experts began to survey the surrounding area of the tomb group, found the ruins of the city wall and the river channel, and according to the location recorded in the historical materials, it was speculated that this place should belong to the residence of the Ming Dynasty Shu King, so will the owner of the eighth tomb be related to the Ming Dynasty Shu King?
After a vast search of historical materials, experts got more information about the ancient tomb group, which once belonged to the back garden of the Palace of the Shu King of the Ming Dynasty, called Maha Pond. The back garden of the Shu king of the Ming Dynasty will also be open to the people regularly, and has the nature of a public place now, which shows that the local people are likely to remember the memories of the Maha Pond.
Figure 15
Sure enough, the local folks provided clues for the experts, which was called the "Gonggong Tomb" by the locals a long time ago, which gave the experts a great inspiration, and then thought that the pottery figurines unearthed in the tomb group have a common feature, that is, there is no beard.
The ancients emphasized the growth of hair and beards, in order to show filial piety to their parents, and the eunuch group because of some physical reasons, the body's male hormone secretion is very small, so it can not grow a beard, so most of the ancient eunuchs are no beard image, the pottery figurines unearthed in tomb eight are eunuch statues.
In addition to knowing the identity of the tomb owner's eunuch, experts also found the names of the two eunuchs through historical records: Wei Yu and Ruan Ying, and there is a poignant story behind why the two eunuchs chose to be buried together.
Figure 16
Two poor teenagers were forced into exile
Both Wei Yu and Ruan Ying came from poor peasant families in Tongzhou, Shaanxi during the Ming Dynasty. Parents have been very hard to support their children, and in the fourteenth year of Ming Chenghua (1478 AD), there was a drought in Tongzhou, and there was no harvest of crop pellets. At that time, the world was not at peace, earthquakes occurred in Guangxi and Sichuan, the Yellow River broke its banks and threatened Kaifeng, the Miao people in Sichuan revolted, and riots broke out in Liaodong.
The Ming court also failed to provide relief to Tongzhou, which plunged the people of Tongzhou into a deep and fiery situation.
Wei Yu and Ruan Ying's parents knew that they could not afford to raise their children, so they had to send their son to the palace as an internal servant in order to survive.
Once the children were sent to the palace, it was difficult for their parents to see them again, and Wei Yu and Ruan Ying, who had lost contact with their parents since childhood, gradually came together and became good friends, plus both were from Tongzhou, had similar experiences, and also had a feeling of pity for the same disease.
It is precisely because the relationship between the two is good, to some extent has risen to the level of affection, so there will be a situation of burial together, the eunuch is a rootless person, after death buried together is also easy to understand.
Figure 17
But why were the two not buried around Beijing, but in the far east of Chengdu?
This is related to the history of the Ming Dynasty, the middle and late Ming Dynasty government was abandoned, the relationship between the emperor and the ministers was very tense, but the emperor wanted to administer the affairs but could not do without the specific manager, so that the eunuch group replaced the role of the ministers to a certain extent, becoming a group dedicated to serving the emperor, and even the army went out, and there were eunuchs appointed by the emperor to follow.
Another system of the Ming Dynasty is the system of the king of the clan, the Ming Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang was born in cloth, in order to solve the problem of food and clothing, he once entered the temple as a monk, the family had no power, after becoming the emperor, in order to stabilize the rule, he sent his sons to all parts of the country to be the king of the clan, in order to defend the central government.
However, what the Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang did not expect was that after his death, the sons who were divided into feudal kings began to misbehave, and in order to prevent the local clan kings from threatening the central authority, the Ming Yongle Emperor Zhu Di created a system of sending eunuchs to the palaces of the local clan kings to monitor the every move of the clan kings.
Figure 18
Wei Yu and Ruan Ying were the eunuchs who were sent to Sichuan to supervise the King of Shu, and the sons of the two poor peasant families in Shaanxi came to Chengdu from Beijing in this way, but the two were not like the eunuchs in the film and television drama, but got along very well with the King of Shu, helping the King of Shu to build a lot of highways, water conservancy and other infrastructure, which can also be regarded as benefiting the people.
Although Wei Yu and Ruan Ying were reused by the emperor, they were essentially inseparable from the identity of eunuchs, and after death, they could only take away the huge savings of a lifetime in the form of a luxurious tomb, and the two friends who had walked together for many years finally broke the worldly restrictions and chose to bury together.