If memory serves, this is the 4th time in more than a year that Ashin sent Qin Shi Huang, and he really wants to write a vomit!
But this time, his old man actually appeared on "News Network" twice in 3 days...
Many enthusiastic readers urged Ashin to ask: What's the matter? Such a big hot spot, you don't come to one?
Well, today, Ashin will send it again.
In March, the third excavation of the Terracotta Army No. 1 pit announced a number of archaeological results.
CCTV News Client, People's Daily Client, Xinhuanet, Guangming Net, China Net, CCTV Net, Global Net, Phoenix Net and many other authoritative mainstream media focused on it.
On the evening of March 16, CCTV's "News Network" reported the results of the excavation:
From 2009 to 2022, the site excavation area of more than 400 square meters, more than 220 terracotta figurines, 16 pottery horses, and more than 1,000 sets of carriages and horses, weapons and other equipment were cleaned.
Unexpectedly, three days later, on the 19th, CCTV's "News Network" reported again the third excavation of the Terracotta Army No. 1 pit, believing that a number of new discoveries and new understandings have been made.
In fact, the archaeological excavations of the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin have not been news in recent years, from 1962 to 2023, the archaeological work of the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin has been going on for 61 years, and new discoveries are still coming, and the stories you read so far account for only a small part of it.
Today, Ashin invited Jiang Wenxiao, the leader of the archaeological excavation of the No. 1 tomb on the west side of the mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin, in the book "Archaeological China: 15 Archaeologists Say Five Thousand Years", he systematically sorted out the archaeological achievements of the mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin in the past 60 years.
Let's take a look at how many secrets we don't know about Qin Shi Huang, as the richest person in China's history.
From 2022 to 2023, how many new discoveries will there be in the mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin?
I really didn't expect that in recent years, Qin Shi Huang would actually become a fixed reserved program before the New Year.
First of all, at the end of January 2022, when the New Year was approaching, the Mausoleum Museum of the First Emperor of Qin released the archaeological results of the No. 1 pit and No. 2 pit of the Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang, the tomb M1 on the west side of the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin, and the site of the east gate of the outer city of the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin.
A general's figurine and a middle-level military figurine were unearthed, the color of a thousand years ago is still bright, and an object shaped like a deer was unearthed in the tomb M1 on the west side of the mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin:
Pictured: Mausoleum Museum of the First Emperor of Qin
In January this year, the mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin was "on time" on the hot search, once again detonating the topic that has been debated for more than two thousand years: Who ordered the mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin to be burned?
On January 12, the Qinling Museum released the results of the third excavation of the No. 1 pit of the Qin Terracotta Army, cleaning up more than 220 terracotta figurines and 16 pottery horses; 4 chariots, 2 drums, 1 drumstick, 1 lacquer shield, 3 cages; There are many weapons and crossbows; More than 1,000 pieces (groups) of horse and horse weapons, weapons, production tools, etc. were found.
The third archaeology also found purple Mitaru
Excavation indications show that the soil in the Yongdao of the Qin Terracotta Army has been dug up, and the soil is red, speculating that someone used the Yongdao to enter the pit and must have been someone who participated in the construction of the pit.
Lenovo surrendered Xiang Yu's Qin soldiers, if these people accepted Xiang Yu's orders to destroy, they must be familiar with the road, so the signs of Yongdao can provide a very strong evidence for Xiang Yu's destruction of Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum and terracotta pit.
There are obvious signs of overfire in the pit
As soon as the news came out, various jokes made by netizens also poured in. "Xiang Yu: It's over, the pot that Sima Qian gave me can no longer be shaken off. Netizen: It's okay, the statute of limitations has passed for thousands of years..."
The results of the third excavation of Terracotta Warriors and Horses No. 1 Pit, released in March, are more systematic than the news in January.
Third excavation site of Pit 1
Dozens of long weapons have been found, including beryllium and halberd.
beryllium
According to reports, beryllium is a short sword mounted on a long handle, similar to modern bayonets.
Long weapon combination
This discovery also corrected the previous mistake in treating beryllium as a short sword.
halberd
The halberd is a combination of the front spear and the back of the spear.
The photo above taken by archaeologists records the posture of the warriors holding long weapons.
After more than 2,200 years of burial, the wooden handle of the weapon has long been rotten, but the gesture of the soldier has not changed, and the sense of power is still full.
The short weapon records the initial posture of the Qin Warrior wearing a bronze sword.
The excavation unearthed a total of 5 complete swords, all used by soldiers, 88 cm to 91 cm long. When excavating, one of the swords was hanging on the figurine, and the original position was not moved, and the various accessories were there, which was very precious.
Shen Maosheng, research librarian of the Mausoleum Museum of the First Emperor of Qin and leader of the excavation team of the No. 1 pit of the Qin Warrior, introduced that the discovery of the "Sword Warrior" also provided new clues for solving a historical puzzle.
The "History of the Assassins" records that in 227 BC, the crown prince of Yan State, Dan, instigated Jing Ke's assassination of Qin. "Wang bears the sword, then draws it to hit Jing Ke, and immediately cuts off his shares." The sharp Qin sword is therefore famous in history.
Wang negative sword, how did King Qin carry the sword? Some people say that you carry it on your back, otherwise how to carry a sword. We think this may not be right, and now after this artifact (sword figurine) comes out, it explains this problem very clearly, the sword is hanging from the waist, pushing the sword to the back and pulling it out from the back.
In this archaeological excavation, the true appearance of the "long-range weapon" of the Qin Dynasty has also become clear.
The first shield in the pit
A charred crossbow was dumped in the middle of the fragments of the soldiers
There is a new understanding of how the Qin army arranged its troops.
Previous archaeological research has shown that the Qin Warrior No. 1 pit is divided into 11 passage holes, and this excavation is concentrated in the middle and rear of the pit of the figurine pit, including 4 passage holes 8-11, 3 partition walls of No. 8-10, and the northern side wall of the pit of the warrior pit.
According to experts, through this archaeological excavation, it was further discovered that the partial arrangement of the Qin Warrior No. 1 pit military array was regular.
Excavation site of Pit 1
Shen Maosheng, the leader of the excavation of the No. 1 pit of the Qin Warriors, introduced that the front area is all battle robes and figurines, which are forward troops, and the two sides of the forward troops are Jie Qiao figurines, and the middle figurines are round hairs, and the back of the round bun figurines is found to be all flat bun figurines, and different hairstyles are in different positions, and may undertake different tasks during the battle.
According to the density calculation, there are more than 6,000 terracotta figurines and pottery horses in the No. 1 pit of the Qin Warriors, forming a large phalanx of vehicles and infantry, and then combining the infantry, cavalry, chariots and command organs of the No. 2 and No. 3 pits.
The underground corps of more than 2,200 years, with its immeasurable archaeological significance, is waiting for archaeologists to gradually uncover...
The Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin, one of the plans for the capital of the emperor
After the accession of Qin Wang Zheng to the throne, the construction of the mausoleum began. "Shiji Qin Shi Huang Benji": "The first emperor took the throne at the beginning of his reign and wore the rule of Yunshan... Wearing the three springs, the copper is lowered to the rafters..."The name of the mausoleum is "Lishan", and Prime Minister Li Si led a huge team to repair the mausoleum according to the plan.
When digging deeper, a new problem was encountered: "The 720,000 people who will be subordinate to the subordinates of the subordinate office to rule Lishan are already extremely deep, and they cannot penetrate it, but they will burn it otherwise, and they will knock on the emptiness, as follows the shape of heaven." After the truth was reflected, he received a reply: "It is 300 yards on the side." ”
You can't dig down, so you have to expand around. This account reflects the depth (penetrating multiple layers of groundwater) and breadth (300 zhang of sidewalks) of the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin, and is also the largest recorded project (720,000 people).
Early photograph of the sealing of the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor
The history books record that the Qinling Underground Palace "has hundreds of officials, strange and strange instruments, and is full of people." Let the craftsman make a crossbow arrow, and those who have some penetration will shoot it. With mercury as a hundred rivers and seas, machine phase instillation, astronomy on the top, geography on the bottom. With mermaid paste as a candle, he who will not die will endure for a long time."
It shows that the underground palace is richly buried, exquisitely designed and fully equipped. What is the authenticity of these records? Since there were no excavations, we do not know.
For more than half a century, using traditional archaeological exploration methods, coupled with modern archaeological remote sensing technology and geophysical archaeology, archaeologists have basically determined the layout of the mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin.
The overall layout of the mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin can be roughly divided into four levels: the sealing soil and underground palace in the core part, the inner city, between the inner and outer cities, and the areas outside the outer city, from near to far, the main and secondary are clearly distinguished.
Distribution map of the remains of the mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin
The sealed earth is located in the south of the central part of the inner city, in the shape of a covered bucket, with three steps, and is made of artificial ramming. The bottom is approximately square, and the original base area of the sealed soil is about 250,000 square meters, and the current bottom area is about 120,000 square meters.
The underground palace is located below the middle of the fiefdom and is about 170 meters long from east to west, 145 meters wide from north to south, and about 30 meters deep. In the center of the underground palace is the burial chamber, which is about 80 meters long from east to west, about 50 meters wide from north to south, and about 15 meters deep.
Schematic diagram of the underground palace of Qinling
Exploration has shown that there is a large obstruction drainage system in the perimeter of the burial chamber, and the burial chamber has not yet been flooded.
There are many burial pits around the sealed soil, and the copper carriage and horse pit on the west side have been excavated, 2 painted copper carts were unearthed, 4 horses each, 1 bronze imperial official figurine, and cars, people, and horses are all 1/2 the size of the real thing. Known as the "Crown of Bronze".
Original picture of the copper carriage horse
The western half of the north side is the ruins of ceremonial buildings such as the dormitory hall and the convenience hall, symbolizing the main hall, convenience hall and toilet room where the emperor lived during his lifetime, and the eastern half is 99 funerary tombs. Test excavations have shown that the tomb owners are mostly young women, possibly related to the harem.
Between the inner and outer cities, the archaeological remains are mainly located on the east and west sides, and on the west side there are the ruins of the garden temple official house that worships sacrifices and is in charge of the food of the tomb, the pit of rare birds and exotic beasts and the pit of curved ruler-shaped stables.
Unearthed copper fowl
On the east side, there are burial pits such as K9801, K9901, K9902, etc. K9801, commonly known as the Armor Pit, is the largest burial pit found within the walls of the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum, and is comparable in area to the Terracotta Army No. 1 Pit outside the outer city.
Buried in the pit are large stone armor and stone helmets interspersed with flat copper wire.
K9801 unearthed armor
Built for more than 30 years, the mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin is the largest and best-preserved mausoleum among the ancient Chinese imperial tombs.
The external system, the ambition of the First Emperor of Qin
If in 1962, the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Management Committee conducted the first archaeological survey and completed the first layout plan of the mausoleum, it was only a prelude to the scientific archaeological work of the mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin.
Then in 1974, with the discovery of the Terracotta Army pit, the archaeology of Qinling entered a new period.
Distribution map of important relics in Qinling District
But before we do that, we need to figure out a concept, that is, what is an external system?
The so-called "zhengzang" mainly includes facilities such as the Zi Palace, the toilet room, and the yellow intestine inscription in the tomb, as well as the equipment used to bury the body and all kinds of equipment related to the life of the tomb owner. The various facilities that live outside the "main collection" and are buried with the tomb owner are collectively referred to as "outer storage".
The external storage system of the mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin is the culmination of the ancient mausoleum system.
Among them, the representatives are various "pits of figurine".
From the discovery in 1974 to 2019, the Mausoleum Museum of the First Emperor of Qin continued to excavate pits No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3, and unearthed more than 1,900 painted terracotta figurines, which can be divided into two categories: military figurines and general infantry figurines.
Senior military officials were unearthed in pit No. 1
The establishment of the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin was designed according to the principle of "death is like life", simulating everything before death underground.
The Xianyang Palace and Xianyang City, where Emperor Qin Shi Huang lived, were guarded by troops. The three terracotta warriors and horse pits, located on the east side of the outer city wall of the mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin, that is, the north side of the East Sima Road outside the main gate of the mausoleum, are symbolizing the army stationed outside the capital, which is the tunwei army of the capital, the ancient name of the Suwei army.
Status of excavation of Pit No. 1
The Terracotta Army Pit of the First Emperor of Qin is a specimen reflecting the military history of Qin.
It is of great significance for studying the formation form of the Qin army, the command system of the Qin army, the pattern of the Qin army's formation, the equipment conditions of the Qin army, the operational characteristics of the Qin army, and the military appearance style of the Qin army, and is of great significance for understanding and understanding the military history of the Qin army.
The burial pit numbered K0006 was discovered in 2000 and is located in the southwest corner of the mausoleum seal within the inner city of the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin.
The front room mainly contains terracotta figurines, and the back room contains horse bones.
This pit is a rare unburned burial pit in the mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin.
K0006 Burial pit floor plan
K0006 There are 12 terracotta figurines unearthed in the burial pit, which are weaker than the samurai figurines unearthed in the No. 1 Terracotta Warriors and Horses Pit.
Because the knife on the waist of the sleeve figurine conforms to the image of the ancient "knife and pen official", it is also known as the civil official figurine.
The original red, green, black, pink and white painted on the terracotta figurines were only preserved on the face when they were excavated due to groundwater erosion and the collapse of the pit.
K0006 unearthed civil official figurines
These 12 terracotta figurines wear long crowns and hold certain knighthoods, which are part of the "hundred officials", symbolizing the centralized court lieutenant institution in charge of justice and prison management among the three princes and nine secretaries.
K0006 The discovery of the burial pit is a reflection of the central government power in the underground, indicating that the ideological roots that dominated the setting of the external storage system of the mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin were not limited to the content of life such as clothing, food, housing and transportation, but also brought the centralized bureaucracy created by the emperor during his lifetime into the underground and continued to serve in the netherworld.
K0006 excavated terracotta figurines
This set a precedent for using funerary pits to represent the institutions of imperial power.
More than 10 robbery holes were drilled, and high-level burial tombs were almost excavated
Since 2011, the Mausoleum Museum of the First Emperor of Qin has carried out detailed archaeological investigation and exploration work on the west side of the outer city of Qinling, and found 9 large and medium-sized tombs, arranged along the western wall of the outer city to the west.
The easternmost "zigzag" tomb is only more than 100 meters away from the western wall of the outer city of the Qin Mausoleum, numbered M1, indicating that the tomb owner has a very close relationship with Qin Shi Huang.
This is the largest and most clearly planned group of high-grade tombs found in the Qinling area.
M1 burial chamber structure
In the process of downward excavation, archaeologists found many round and irregular square holes, about a dozen places, including 2 in the center of the burial chamber and 1 on the west edge of the burial chamber, which contained a large amount of black charcoal.
After careful identification, it was determined to be the robbery hole left by the tomb robbers.
Later, as the excavation deepened, most of the robbery holes gradually disappeared halfway, and only three or four robbery holes extended to the bottom of the tomb.
Among them, the robbery hole in the middle of the tomb, more than 4 meters near the bottom of the tomb, a complete human skeleton appeared. The human body is curled up, face down and back up.
In and around the skeleton, many relatively large stones were found, and archaeologists speculate that this person was framed to death by his accomplices.
The final excavation results were unexpected, and most of the tomb was well preserved, except for some of which were visited by tomb thieves.
M1 chimes with half two
The copper coins piled up in the tomb have been stuck together due to rust due to their age.
After preliminary identification, the number of copper coins is seven or eight thousand, and copper coins can be divided into 4 types, mostly from the late Warring States period to the unification of the First Emperor of Qin, which provides important clues for the era in which the tomb owner lived.
With the deepening of archaeological work, a series of major discoveries have refreshed people's imagination of that distant era, including a large number of daily pottery, sets of bronze ceremonial vessels (ding, bean, francium, pot, etc.), and a set of 15 chimes.
Status of the excavation of M1 bronze
Gold and silver figurines (camel figurines, dancing sleeve figurines, blowing figurines, hundred drama figurines, horse warriors, horse warriors, hunting dog figurines), copper flat pots, gold belt hooks, etc.
As well as practical iron armor, iron swords, copper ge, crossbow machines and other weapons, carefully crafted jade swords, jade ding, jade bi...
M1 jade excavation site
All of them are archaeological artifacts, they all tell the rich life of the pampered and well-treated, which is completely a vivid animation of the exquisite life of the aristocracy, and is the first-hand information for studying the daily life and funeral customs of the high-level nobles of the Qin Dynasty.
Of particular note is the golden camel unearthed in the tomb.
M1 Golden Camel
During this period, burial horses were more common in tombs, and camel images were very rare, and they were still gold (later found a silver camel of the same size), which is the earliest single gold and silver camel image seen in China.
Restored gold and silver camel, pictured: Mausoleum Museum of the First Emperor of Qin
It brings us a lot of cognitive difficulties, what is its source? Was it cast locally or shipped from the West? Where does its image imitate the image of a camel? These are all questions that archaeologists will focus on in the future.
But in any case, this was produced before the Western Han Dynasty and Zhang Qian connected to the Western Regions and opened up the Silk Road, indicating that there were cultural exchanges between the East and the West long before the Silk Road, which provided important physical materials for studying the cultural exchanges between the East and the West before the opening of the Silk Road.
Through more than 8 years of excavation, archaeologists have preliminarily determined that the M1 tomb has its own independent cemetery, with 3 burial pits, and the tomb was previously built with tall sealed soil, showing the noble status and honorable status of the tomb owner during his lifetime.
From the perspective of the external storage system, these burial tombs are all part of the external storage system of the mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin, which belongs to an innovation of the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin, and the tomb owner should be a high-ranking official who helps the First Emperor of Qin to realize the ideal of unifying the world, and enjoy the treatment of the tomb after death, which is also a very high honor.
This kind of funeral planning was the first time in the Qin Dynasty, setting a precedent for the burial of heavy ministers in the Qin Dynasty and even ancient China.
Tomb No. 1 is the largest, highest-grade and best-preserved large-scale tomb of the Qin Dynasty excavated so far, filling the gap in the archaeology of high-level aristocratic tombs in the Qin Dynasty and another major achievement in the archaeological work of the mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin.