Since April 16, when the State Administration of Cultural Heritage released the progress of the major project of "Archaeological China" in Huainan, Anhui Province, this highest-level tomb of Chu State has been the focus of many parties. So, what is the progress of the excavation of the tomb of Wuwangdun? Who is the owner of the tomb? What secrets are hidden under the veil of mystery of the tomb of Wuwangdun? Let us find out.
One question:
What are the results of the archaeological excavations?
At present, more than 1,000 numbered cultural relics such as lacquered wood and bronze have been extracted, including precious cultural relics such as bronze ritual vessels, household utensils, lacquered wood ware, musical instruments, and figurines. Among them, the number and variety of lacquered wood ware are unprecedented. The relief lacquered wood components excavated from the North II Room are speculated to be bells or other pillars on both sides of the artifact. The humanoid tomb figurines unearthed in the West II Room are divided into two categories, standing figurines and seated figurines. Figurines are often associated with cabaret performances, and experts speculate that the Western Chamber may have involved the tomb owner's band. At present, more than 200 tomb figurines have been unearthed, which is a very large number. A tripod in the East I. room, which was unearthed with a lid, contains some contents, which may be the remains of cooking at that time, and at present, archaeologists are taking samples for testing. In addition, archaeologists have also found chestnuts, melon seeds and other fruits, due to corruption, charring and other reasons, berries only remain plum pits, melon seeds, etc., dried fruits have chestnuts.
It is worth mentioning that during the excavation layer by layer, the archaeological team found a layer of bamboo mats, bounded by bamboo mats, with filled soil on top and coffins below. After preliminary measurement, the bamboo mat area is more than 200 square meters, and the weaving process is similar to the weaving method of the Chu bamboo mat on the data, which is the herringbone pattern, which is the largest known area of the ancient bamboo mat. 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.
Second question:
What techniques have been used in archaeological excavations?
Zhang Zhiguo, a researcher at the Archaeological Research Center of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the person in charge of the cultural relics protection of the Wuwangdun archaeological project, introduced that a comprehensive archaeological management platform for Wuwangdun has been built to realize the digital recording and management of archaeological data, and widely use geographic information systems, three-dimensional scanning and other technologies.
When detecting the layout of the coffin chamber of Wuwangdun No. 1 Tomb, high-density resistivity was used; experts successfully applied menthol temporary solidification technology to the humid environment of Wuwangdun No. 1 Tomb and completed the extraction of ancient bamboo mats with the largest area at present; experts extracted thousands of ink characters on the coffin cover plate through infrared imaging technology, revealing important tomb construction information; they adopted scientific antibacterial, mildew, and moisturizing treatment for more than 400 coffin cover woods, so that the coffin cover plate was safely and stably protected; and used the low-oxygen archaeological laboratory to provide a good safe and stable temporary preservation place for a large number of organic matter cultural relicsThe carbon-14 dating of charcoal, bamboo mats and coffin cover timber in the fill of Wuwangdun No. 1 tomb provides scientific data for in-depth study of tomb construction, and the identification of tree species for coffin cover timber provides a scientific basis for tomb construction and related comparative research.
Researcher Zhang introduced that with the continuous deepening of archaeological excavations, more scientific and technological means will play an important role in the archaeology, research, protection and utilization of Wuwangdun No. 1 Tomb, so that the archaeological value of Wuwangdun No. 1 Tomb will be presented more clearly and comprehensively.
Three questions:
Why is it called Wuwangdun?
Wuwangdun is just a place name, which is a name that has been handed down. Some people guess that it may be that the people who guarded the tomb called the tomb owner my king, and over time he may have become the king of Wu, or it may be that after five years, the state of Chu was destroyed by Qin, and it was commemorated with the word "five", and then passed on as "Wu". Of course, these are just folk speculations, and there is no empirical evidence yet.
Four questions:
Who is the owner of the tomb of Wuwangdun?
As the last capital of the Chu State, Shouchun has gone through the four kings of Chu Kaolie, Chu You, Chu Ai, and Chu Wang. King Chu Ai was killed shortly after he ascended the throne, and the last king of Chu was captured by the King of Qin, so it is less likely that these two kings were buried according to the system. The tomb of King Chu You has been found to be located in Shuangmiao Village, Xie Jiaji District, Huainan City, and only the father of King Chu You, King Chu Kaolie, is left. However, Gong Xicheng, a researcher at the Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the head of the Wuwangdun archaeological project, said, "From the current excavation process, we are still far from being able to fully understand the content inside, and now the time and energy are mainly focused on being able to safely record the cultural relics on the site." Who exactly is the owner of this tomb, we have not yet obtained evidence. ”
Five questions:
Who is King Chukaoli?
King Chu Kaolie (290 BC - 238 BC), surnamed Mi, Xiong, Mingyuan, Xiong Yuan was the crown prince of King Qingxiang of Chu. In 272 BC, he went to Qin to work as a proton. In 263 BC, King Xiang of Chu Qingxiang was critically ill, and Xiong Yuan fled to Chu with the help of Huang Xie and inherited the throne as King Kaolie of Chu. In order to repay Huang Xie, after King Chu Kaolie ascended the throne, he took Huang Xie as the commander and gave the twelve counties of Huaibei to be called Chun Shenjun. In 241 B.C., Chu was the longitudinal commander and fought Qin with the princes, but returned in vain and moved the capital to Shouchun. In 238 BC, King Chu Kaoli died in Shouchun, a total of 25 years of reign. The idiom "Mao Sui self-recommended" is also related to King Chu Kaolie - Mao Sui went to Chu with the plain king of Zhao State, and it was King Chu Kaolie who met him.
Six questions:
How to confirm that the tomb of King Wudun is the highest level Chu tomb?
First, the scale is large. There is an independent cemetery around the main tomb of Wuwangdun (No. 1 tomb). The plan of the cemetery is nearly square, with an area of nearly 1.5 million square meters. In the cemetery, there are relics such as carriage and horse pits, burial tombs, and sacrificial pits. Among them, the carriage and horse pit is the longest of the carriage and horse pits that have been excavated and proved to be in the Chu tomb. The main tomb of Wuwangdun (No. 1 tomb) is a large "A-shaped" vertical pit tomb. The sealing mound is in the shape of a covered bucket as a whole, with a total area of about 12,000 square meters. The grave pit is nearly square, with a side length of about 50 meters, and there is a slope on the east side of the tomb that is about 42 meters long. This is also the largest among the Chu tombs excavated so far.
Second, there are many sub-rooms. It can be seen at the scene that the bottom of the tomb is square, with a side length of about 22 meters, and the center is made of huge fir wood to build a coffin. The plane of the coffin chamber is in the shape of "Ya" as a whole, the center is the coffin chamber, and there is a side chamber around each side, and the inside of the side chamber is divided into two with a wall of fang wood. The whole coffin chamber is divided into nine chambers, which is the largest number of Chu tomb chambers seen so far.
The third is the essence of cultural relics. "Among the cultural relics that have been extracted, the number and types of lacquered wood are unprecedented. The coarse diameter of the large tripod placed at the south end of the east I room of the main tomb is more than 88 centimeters, which is larger than the Chu Dading (Casting Ke Dading) unearthed from the largest known Li San solitary pile. Gong Xicheng said.
Seven questions:
Why is the tomb of the State of Chu in Anhui?
When it comes to the state of Chu, everyone will think of the "land of Jing and Chu," but why is the tomb of King Wudun in the "Jianghuai region"? It is understood that the state of Chu is an ancient country that existed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River on the mainland, and has a unique cultural tradition that is different from that of the Central Plains. The state of Chu already existed as early as the Shang Dynasty; in the Western Zhou Dynasty, the state of Chu established itself as the king and became the fierce rival of the Zhou Dynasty; in the Spring and Autumn Period, it was the overlord of the Central Plains; in the Warring States Period, due to the abandonment of the Wu Qi Reform, the state of Chu gradually declined.
In 279 BC, the Qin army, led by Bai Qi, invaded the Jianghan Plain, the core area of the Chu state, and the Chu state suffered a great loss of strength and had to repeatedly move the capital eastward. In 241 BC, Huang Xie, one of the "Four Princes of the Warring States", organized the last joint attack on Qin in the history of the Warring States Period, but it ended in failure. Fearing retribution from the Qin State, King Chu Kaolie moved the capital to Shouchun, Huainan, which is now Shou County, Huainan City, Anhui Province. In 223 BC, the Qin army broke through Shouchun and captured the last king of Chu, ending the history of Chu for more than 800 years, and the "afterglow" of Chu fell on Shouchun.
Eight questions:
What is the significance of archaeological excavation of Wuwangdun tomb?
The state of Chu was one of the most developed and powerful countries at that time, and it was the first to produce the county system, which had a profound impact on the great unification. The tomb owner lived on the "eve" of the formal establishment of a unified state in China, and provided systematic scientific and archaeological data for the study of the historical evolution of the Zhou, Qin, Chu, and Han dynasties, as well as the formation of the centralized unified state and culture of the Qin and Han dynasties.
In addition, the Chu people have an extremely rich spiritual world, they believe in witches and ghosts, like sacrifices, singing and dancing, and drinking. The Chu people are very rich in artistic cells, and the bronzes, lacquerware, silk paintings, and bamboo calligraphy unearthed in Chu have artistic characteristics that are very different from those of the Central Plains. Since the founders of the Western Han Dynasty were Chu people, Chu culture has been inherited and carried forward, and has become an important part of the pluralistic and integrated Chinese culture. The cultural relics and written materials unearthed from the Chu tomb of Wuwangdun this time will surely refresh people's understanding of Chu culture.
According to researcher Gong Xicheng, "the main tomb is huge in scale, complex in structure, and rich in connotation, which provides an example for the study of the high-level mausoleum system and cemetery design and planning of the Chu State, burial customs, and other issues." The tomb shape, construction technology, and unearthed cultural relics of Wuwangdun Tomb represent the highest achievements of Chu culture, and comprehensively reflect the political, economic, cultural, technological, and social picture of Chu during the Warring States Period. The various important signs that have been discovered have refreshed the understanding of the academic community and have great academic value. ”
The upstream news is synthesized from the Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, People's Daily Online, CCTV News, Anhui Museum WeChat public account, etc