Yesterday (16th), the State Administration of Cultural Heritage released the progress of the major project of "Archaeological China" in Huainan, Anhui Province - that is, the new archaeological discovery of the Wuwangdun tomb. The relevant person in charge said that the Wuwang Dun Tomb is the largest, highest-level, and most complex large-scale high-level tomb of the Chu State that has been scientifically excavated so far, and it is preliminarily inferred that the main tomb (Tomb No. 1) may be the king-level tomb of Chu after the Chu State moved its capital to Shouchun City in the late Warring States period. After nearly 5 years of archaeological excavation, the scale structure of the main tomb of Wuwangdun has been clear, in addition to the main coffin chamber has not been revealed, the cultural relics buried in the 8 side coffin chambers have been revealed, at present, the archaeological excavation has entered the excavation and cleaning stage inside the coffin.
The scale and structure of the main tomb have been clarified, and the cultural relics have been revealed
The main tomb of Wuwangdun (Tomb No. 1) in Huainan, Anhui Province, officially started archaeological excavation in 2020. The dismantling of the coffin covers began on March 7, 2024, and by March 27, the extraction of all four layers of coffin covers has been completed, with a total of 443 pieces and a total weight of about 153 tons.
Up to now, the core coffin of the main tomb of Wuwangdun has been revealed, and its structural layout has been clear:
The bottom of the tomb is close to the square, with a side length of about 22 meters, and the middle area is made of huge fang wood to build a wooden coffin room with a zigzag, 9 chambers, and multiple coffin structures. The tomb is basically due south and north, with a total of 8 side chambers in the east, south, west and north, which respectively contain cultural relics such as bronze ritual vessels, household utensils, wooden figurines, and musical instruments.
Zhang Wenjie, head of the archaeological group of the Wuwangdun archaeological excavation project: Through our archaeological excavation work, the entire buried nature of it is relatively clear. The east room is basically a ritual vessel for burying all kinds of bronze, including some utensils such as tripods and gui. This room on the north side, it is supposed to symbolize the music house, mainly with the funeral musical instruments. The south room is mainly used for the burial of various living utensils, including some lacquered wood utensils, and possibly some terracotta and horse utensils. The West Room creates a scene of music, dancing and carriage and horse travel.
The depth from the bottom of the tomb to the surface opening is 19 meters, and from the top of the coffin to the surface, it is 15 meters. In particular, the coffin cover plate is alternated with huge fir wood and thin plates in turn to form a multi-layer seal. The top of the coffin is covered with bamboo mats, and the bamboo mats are filled with soil. Scientific research has shown that the content of green plaster mud with strong viscosity and low water permeability decreases from the bottom to the top. The fill is also rammed layer by layer.
Zhang Zhiguo, person in charge of cultural relics protection of Wuwangdun archaeological excavation project: If it is rammed, it will be denser, so that it can isolate oxygen, and the more beneficial it is to the preservation of cultural relics.
On the surface, the opening of the Wuwangdun tomb is square, with a side length of about 51 meters. The enclosure above the surface is 14 meters high. In addition, on the east side of the burial chamber, there is a 42-meter-long ramp burial path. The four walls of the tomb have steps to adduct step by step, and the surface of the steps is reinforced with green plaster mud.
Gong Xicheng, leader of the Wuwangdun archaeological excavation project: We can basically determine that it is a tomb at the level of the king of Chu, which can reflect the economic level and political system of the entire Chu State at that time, including the manufacturing level of the craft, and is a very comprehensive information, so this is very rare.
The Wuwang dun tomb extracts the largest known area of ancient bamboo mats
The reporter learned from the archaeological team of Wuwangdun Tomb that during the excavation layer by layer, the archaeological team members found a layer of bamboo mats, bounded by bamboo mats, with soil filling on the top and coffin chambers below. According to preliminary measurements, the area of the bamboo mat is more than 200 square meters, which is the largest ancient bamboo mat known at present.
This is the part of the bamboo mat recently extracted from the tomb of King Wu. In the laboratory, after temporary reinforcement, pollutant cleaning, drying and shaping, etc., its preservation state is basically stabilized, which lays the foundation for the subsequent large-scale protection of bamboo mats.
Zhang Zhiguo, person in charge of cultural relics protection of Wuwangdun archaeological excavation project: The weaving process should be similar to the weaving method of the Chu bamboo mat released on the information, which is a herringbone pattern. The bamboo mat has four layers, but there is no weaving relationship between these four layers, and they are not connected together, it is equivalent to a single layer and then four layers are stacked together.
Five bamboo mats are spread on the five areas of the coffin
According to experts, from the overall layout, the 9 wooden coffin chambers of the Wuwang dun tomb are roughly divided into five areas: east, west, south, north and middle, and 5 bamboo mats are tiled on the five major areas respectively, and after the edge of the coffin chamber sags, it then extends to the fill. After more than 2,000 years of heavy pressure and degradation, the bamboo mat and the cover plate below are tightly combined. When the cover plate is deformed, the bamboo mat also cracks.
Zhang Zhiguo, the person in charge of the cultural relics protection of the Wuwangdun archaeological excavation project: Considering the actual situation of protection, preservation and display in the later period, the order of the coffin cover plate was adopted, and then extracted one by one.
The overall area of the bamboo mat is more than 200 square meters
So far, the archaeological team has extracted a total of 78 bamboo mats, each with a width of about 45 centimeters and a length of about 7.5 meters. The overall area of the bamboo mat is more than 200 square meters.
Zhang Zhiguo, the person in charge of cultural relics protection of the Wuwangdun archaeological excavation project: It may be the largest ancient bamboo mat at home and abroad that we have extracted at present. Because it covers the wooden coffin chamber and then extends down to the coffin chamber, but the specific area that extends to which area may still require follow-up archaeological excavations to determine the specific boundary of this bamboo mat.
At present, the extracted bamboo mats, soaked in the cultural relics warehouse, are still reinforced with gauze and menthol, and a set of technical methods for on-site reinforcement extraction, packaging and transportation of bamboo mats and laboratory stability protection have been formed. According to the "protection and restoration plan" of Wuwangdun-related cultural relics approved by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, archaeologists will gradually implement the protection and restoration of bamboo mats so that they can be displayed in museums in the future.
The ritual system and personality coexist in the Chu State rituals
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, ritual utensils still occupied an important position in the political life of various countries. As a large southern country far away from the Central Plains, the ritual vessels of the Chu State not only have their own unique shapes and combinations, but also deeply follow the internal logic of the Zhou rites of the Central Plains.
Ascension: A unique ritual vessel of the Chu State
Waist, flat bottom, outward skimming, introverted body, this unique tripod is the unique ritual of Chu - ascending tripod. In China, the tripod has a very long history, originally a cooking utensil, and became the core of ritual utensils during the Shang and Zhou dynasties, both as a symbol of state power and a symbol of aristocratic rank. Different from the tripod with a big belly and a round bottom in the Central Plains at that time, the ascension of the tripod of the Chu State showed a new technological image that was different from the traditional shape.
Yang Lisheng, director of the Academic Research Center of Hubei Provincial Museum: We all know that "Chu people have a good thin waist", so this aesthetic style of Chu people will be reflected in particularly important rituals, so we see that the ascension of the tripod is corseted, and the Chu people he borrowed from the Zhou ceremony, but in the process of this borrowing, he has a basic transformation of the shape of the tripod.
Kehuang Shengding: The earliest Chu-style Shengding is currently discovered
At present, the earliest archaeological discovery of the earliest Chu-style shengding, is unearthed in Nanyang City, Henan Province Kehuang Shengding, this bronze in the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period is 46 centimeters high, weighs 4.3 kilograms, although the ornamentation is simple, but has the basic characteristics of the later Chu State ascending Ding. This new image, which is different from the traditional modeling, is not only the result of the bold innovation of the wild and uninhibited Chu people, but also the product of the times when the Chu State sought its own cultural characteristics after the country became strong. In addition to being unconventional in the shape of individual utensils, the Chu people also developed their own unique set of ritual combinations.
Yang Lisheng, Director of the Academic Research Center of Hubei Provincial Museum: Zhou's combination of utensils is a tripod, 簋 (guǐ) combination is the main, but the Chu people in the Spring and Autumn Period he began to be different, he felt that I was not convinced by Zhou, I want to have a set of my own things, so the Chu people use 簠 (fǔ) instead of 簋, 簠 is the kind of utensils we see now, used to hold grain, it is actually the same thing up and down, it is this kind of combination of up and down, bottom up this combination of relationship, which reflects a kind of chaotic thinking in Lao Tzu's philosophy.
According to experts, after the Warring States period, the people of Chu also evolved a variety of ritual combinations such as Dingdun (duì) pots and Dingbox pots. Although the patterns are constantly renewed, in terms of arrangement, the Chu people still strictly abide by the rules of Zhou etiquette.
Yang Lisheng, director of the Academic Research Center of the Hubei Provincial Museum: For example, I want to match nine tripods and eight tripods (簠), I want to match seven tripods and six tripods (簠) and the like, this combination of utensils, the number of its tripods is relatively strict, and the high-level aristocratic tombs of Chu State, at least the high-level aristocratic tombs of the doctor, are also recognized by Zhou Li to a large extent.
(CCTV reporter Ada, Zhang Lilei, Wang Chen, Wang Shuai, Wang Ning)