Chao Lake is one of the five largest freshwater lakes in China, and during an underwater expedition in 2000, many strange buildings were found at the bottom of the silt-filled lake. Under the water of Chao Lake, what secrets are hidden?
Under the South Nest, the Kingdom of Eternity
Chao Lake, formerly known as Nanchao, Juchao Lake, is located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in the central region of Anhui Province, belonging to one of the five major freshwater lakes in China, a typical subtropical monsoon climate zone, low and flat terrain, 55 kilometers long from east to west, 21 kilometers wide from north to south, more than 170 kilometers long shoreline, and a lake area of more than 780 square kilometers. When the rainy season comes, the runoff flows into the lake from the north, south and west, and flows into the Yangtze River through the Yuxi estuary in the southeast of the Yuxi River.
Chaohu lake area has superior natural conditions, is the famous hometown of fish and rice, is an important domestic commodity grain base, but also rich in cotton, vegetables, poultry, aquatic products, etc., the famous Chaohu Lake three treasures (silver fish, white rice shrimp, crabs) in the country enjoy a high reputation, the historical Chao lake area is also a famous battlefield grass boat borrowing place.
On the eve of 2002, archaeologists found a large number of precious cultural relics in the area of Tang Tsui on the north shore of Chao Lake, and after investigation and demonstration, it was confirmed that there was an ancient city site under the water of Chao Lake, which was of great archaeological value. The news caused a huge sensation in the country, and some people associated it with the mysterious nest country in history. Experts have researched that juchaoguo was an important fang state in the Yin Zhou period, and there were very few documents available for examination, so it was overshadowed with a veil of mystery. Folk also have the legend of "Trapped ChaoZhou, Changlu Prefecture", saying that the waters of Chao Lake were a city in ancient times, and the residents of the city were retaliated by the Dragon King for mistakenly eating the son of the Dragon King of the East China Sea, "Little White Dragon", and the city sank to the bottom of the lake, except for jiaomu, who had good intentions, the whole city was buried in a raging lake. What is the connection between the ruins under Chao Lake and the ancient Chao country, which was once brilliant and mysteriously disappeared?
Because the water level of Chao Lake has been high, the silt is thicker, the archaeological work of underwater sites is difficult to carry out, after winter, Chao Lake enters a dry period, with the gradual decline of the lake, underwater ancient ruins began to reveal their mysterious faces little by little...
After careful and careful excavation by archaeologists, the ruins of the ancient city on the north side of Chao Lake were revealed, and ecstatic archaeologists expanded the scope of excavations, and found several wastewater wells with pottery well bars around the site, and there was an ancient tree root next to one of the wells that 2 people could not hold together. Next, a large number of utensils were found, including urns, pots, cylinders, jars, altars, kettles and other daily necessities, and the curvature of the mouth edge and the base were relatively large.
Qian Yuchun, deputy director of the Chaohu Cultural Relics Management Institute who participated in the excavation, was full of excitement, and with his rich archaeological experience and combined with the Chaohu Lake literature, Qian Yuchun deduced that this place was an ancient city site. What dynasty is this monument? And how did it sink into the water? Qian Yuchun led archaeologists to conduct in-depth excavations while visiting surrounding villagers. During the visit, it was found that many cultural relics were picked up in the villagers' homes, the earliest to the Neolithic period jade axe, the latest to the Wang Mang period coins, its coins from the Warring States period of the ant nose money, to the Qin Dynasty half two coins, Han Dynasty half two coins, five baht coins, etc. have been found, including pottery with high firing hardness, exquisite jade, silver seals, etc., the preservation is relatively complete, the quality is better, and it has a high historical and cultural value.
On November 30, 2002, after on-site investigation and study, it was finally determined that this place was a large ancient site of the Han Dynasty.
Mysterious nest country
The inscriptions of the bronze "Ban Gui" and "Ejun Qijie" record that the "Ban Gui" mentions: Only the beginning of August is auspicious, in the Zong Zhou, Jia Shu. Wang Ordered Mao Bo to serve in the imperial palace, screen the throne, make a four-sided pole, and bing fan Shu Nest Order. Among them, the Fang Guo Nest is most likely near Chao Lake, because there are very few documents, and then mysteriously disappeared, making the Chao Country covered with mystery. There is a saying in the "Shangshu Zhongyu Zhizhi" that Cheng Tang was released in Nanchao, which coincides with the legend that after Shang Tang destroyed Xia, Xia Jie was exiled to Nanchao. And people are most curious about why this huge ancient country is submerged in water. From the ancient legends, we can glimpse that the rise and fall of the lake is closely related to the flooding of the ancient country.
After geological investigation of the Chaohu lake area, it was found that the geological tectonic units of the Chaohu Lake basin are located at the confluence of the Tarim-China-North Korean Plate and the South China-Southeast Asian Plate. The Indochina movement at the end of the Triassic period formed the modern Anhui continent, and the Chaohu Lake Basin was exactly at the dividing part of these two major plates. From the beginning of the Tertiary Period, the area around Chaohu Lake was further broken, along a group of north-east directions and another group of north-west directions of the fault and break, so that the flow of water in the northern foothills of Dabie Mountain was blocked here, forming a fault lake. From the late Pleistocene to the Holocene, about 15,000 years ago to the present, a large amount of sediment continues to flow into the lake, and the area of the lake is constantly shrinking, eventually forming the modern Chao Lake.
In the archaeological community there is a law "underwater ruins, mountain faults", in order to verify the secrets of the fall of ancient countries. Geologists have investigated the mountains around Chao Lake, and found a huge fault on Guishan Mountain, and geologists have concluded that there was a serious earthquake on the east side of Chao Lake based on the investigation of the bottom layer of Chao Lake, resulting in the overall decline of the east side of Chao Lake. Through the excavation of the underwater kingdom, the urban buildings in the ancient city appear to be messy, what kind of turmoil has occurred in Chao Lake in history? And what is the connection with the nest country? No one dares to conclude that these mysteries will one day surface.