January 30
The reporter learned from the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Zhou Ligang, associate researcher of the academy, presided over the National Social Science Foundation project
"Comprehensive Study of Cao Cao's Tomb and Mausoleum"
New research results were published
The foundation site of a Song and Yuan period building found on the west side of Cao Cao's Gaoling Tomb
It could be
The early years of the Northern Song Dynasty
The location of the tomb guard set up for Cao Cao Gaoling
Location of Cao Cao Gaoling and architectural remains excavation area
The excavation and identification of Cao Cao Gaoling attracted widespread attention, and the excavation investigation has been ongoing since then.
In the summer of 2010, the Henan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology carried out large-scale archaeological investigation and exploration work around the Gaoling Tomb of Cao Cao to find clues related to the Gaoling Mausoleum and the funerary tomb. In addition to the remains of the cemetery, hundreds of tombs and other remains from different eras were found in the surrounding area. Among them, the remains of a north-south long ditch and an abandoned building found about 200 meters west of the mausoleum attracted the attention of the archaeological team, and archaeologists speculated that it might be the western Zhaogou and related buildings in the western part of the mausoleum according to the location.
In order to confirm this judgment, in 2011-2012, archaeologists carried out partial excavations of these two ruins with the approval of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage. The excavation results confirmed that the two ruins date from the Song and Yuan dynasties and are not directly related to the layout of the Gaoling Mausoleum. However, the characteristics of the ruins and excavated relics provide very important clues to the search for the guards set up for Gaoling in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty.
gutter
The north-south ditch-like remains discovered by the exploration were confirmed by excavations to be a drainage ditch, which was gradually landfilled by household waste after being abandoned. The discovery of several brick drainage channels indicates that there was once a relatively sophisticated network of brick underground drainage facilities in the western part of this ditch, directing domestic wastewater or other wastewater into this ditch. Early exploration clues indicate that there are more remains of brick buildings in the western part of the ditch, arranged in a north-south direction, close to the direction of the ditch, and the brick drainage channel should be an accessory to these buildings. This kind of brick drainage facilities are stacked regularly, and the complete length may be tens of meters or more, forming a network of multiple crosses, unlike the auxiliary facilities of ordinary houses. Relics unearthed inside drains further confirm that these structures may have been special.
Drains
The relics unearthed in the ditch are very rich, including pottery, porcelain, bone ware, bronze and other materials. Among them, porcelain is the mainstay, and 899 pieces are complete or can be repaired. The sheer number and variety of relics unearthed is surprising. Most of the porcelain unearthed are bowls, plates, saucers, pillows, pots and other daily utensils, including white porcelain, black glazed porcelain, Jun porcelain, celadon, white ground black flowers, etc., including Ding kiln, Jun kiln and Cizhou kiln products, spanning the three periods of the Song and Jinyuan dynasties. In addition to the large number of porcelain, there are three types of utensils that deserve special attention. The first category is coins, and a total of 116 identifiable coins have been unearthed in the ditch, including 115 Northern Song coins. The second category is entertainment utensils, including 1 dice, 25 Go pieces, 4 ceramic balls of different sizes, 7 porcelain plates with a diameter of about 1 cm, in addition to several round porcelain pieces and multiple porcelain figurines. The third category is building components, including animal face pattern wadang, glazed ridge beast, gray pottery beast head base, glazed dragon head components, etc.
Excavated porcelain
Zhou Ligang said the discovery of a large number of Song Dynasty coins and entertainment utensils indicates that there was once public entertainment here. Combined with the characteristics of the architectural relics excavated in the ditch and the associated characteristics of the drainage facilities, we speculate that the buildings present here may not be ordinary dwellings, but probably have some official attributes. The chronological characteristics of the excavated porcelain suggest that these related buildings may have been built in the early Northern Song Dynasty and continued to be used until the Yuan Dynasty. The changes in the shape and craftsmanship characteristics indicate that the function of the building has obviously changed many times in the three different eras of the Song and Jinyuan dynasties. Most of the exquisite utensils and entertainment utensils are from the Jin Dynasty, reflecting the frequent public entertainment activities here during this period.
Unearthed entertainment supplies
Although there is no written material indicating the functional properties of these buildings in the excavated relics, other information is not provided by local history materials or preliminary exploration work. However, the unearthed architectural components, especially the glazed dragon head member, provide important clues for archaeologists. Similar relics have been found in the remains of sacrificial buildings in the Hanqi cemetery in Anyang and the Lü family cemetery in Lantian, Shaanxi, both of which were family burial sites of important figures in the Northern Song Dynasty, and similar architectural components were found in the remains of sacrificial buildings on the tombs. So, is the remains here also related to the tomb building of a famous figure in the Northern Song Dynasty?
Unfortunately, although hundreds of tombs of different ages were found in the surrounding area, there is not a particularly prominent Song Dynasty tomb near the building site that can be associated with it. Of all the surrounding tombs, the most prominent is the Cao Cao Gaoling in the east.
Building components
Since the destruction of the mausoleum buildings of Cao Cao Gaoling in the third year of the early Huang dynasty (222 AD), Cao Cao Gaoling has been rare in official historical documents. Emperor Taizong of Tang Li Shimin visited Gaoling on his way to Goguryeo, and Emperor Taizong of Song Zhao Kuangyin issued an edict in 963 AD to set up tomb guards for the tombs of famous emperors of the previous dynasty, including Gaoling, and set up three guarding households.
Zhou Ligang said that we believe that the architectural remains found on the west side of Gaoling are likely related to the guarding households set up in the Northern Song Dynasty. After the Northern Song Dynasty, Wang Ting moved south, and the Central Plains region was successively controlled by the Jin and Mongols, experiencing frequent wars. The Shoulinghu, the last witness of Cao Cao's high tomb, may have since been abandoned and the original building repurposed. As the last witnesses disappeared into history, the original function of these buildings, including the location of the high tomb, was gradually forgotten.
Glazed terracotta building components
After comprehensive research on literature and archaeology, Zhou Ligang believed that Li Shimin's visit to Gaoling and Zhao Kuangyin's edict to set up a tomb guard, etc., showed that the Northern Song Dynasty and previous dynasties had a high opinion of Cao Cao. During the Southern Song Dynasty, as Zhu Xi's ideas of honoring Shu and derogating Wei spread, Cao Cao's image gradually turned negative. The legend of the Seventy-two Tombs first appeared around the Yuan Dynasty, and with the circulation of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in the Ming Dynasty, this legend was also widely accepted. The transformation of Cao Cao's image in historical documents occurred after the Southern Song Dynasty, indicating that people's memories of Shouling and Gaoling had disappeared at this time. The changes in the characteristics of archaeological relics also indicate that the architectural functions of the suspected tomb guards here have changed greatly from the Northern Song Dynasty to the Jin Dynasty, and the Jin Dynasty may have been used as a place for public entertainment. (Photo courtesy of Henan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology)