"To the east of Shouchun (now Shou County, Huainan City, Anhui Province), there are ancient large and medium-sized burial areas, and the Wuwang Pier you see is the largest one of them. On the afternoon of April 16, in the southwest corner of the top of the ancient tomb, focusing on social concerns such as tomb excavation and value significance, Gong Xicheng, a researcher at the Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the leader of the archaeological excavation team of Wuwangdun Tomb, told reporters.
Q1: Why do you say "the highest grade"?
Wuwangdun Tomb is located in Xuwa Village, Sanhe Town, Huainan City, north of Shungeng Mountain, south of open flat land, west of Chu capital Shouchun City more than ten kilometers, is the highest level of archaeological excavation of Chu tomb.
In order to protect the historical and cultural heritage, in 2020, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage approved Anhui Province to carry out rescue archaeological excavations of the Wuwangdun Tomb.
The excavation site of the No. 1 tomb of Wuwangdun taken on April 16. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li He
It is not untrue to say that the tomb of King Wu is the highest-level tomb of the Chu State that has been excavated by archaeology so far.
The first is the large area of the ancient tomb. Standing on the top of the ancient tomb, Gong Xicheng introduced that there is an independent cemetery around the main tomb of Wuwangdun (No. 1 tomb), the plane is nearly square, surrounded by a ring moat, the circumference of the ring moat is about 5 kilometers, and the total area of the cemetery is about 1.5 square kilometers. There are relics such as carriage and horse pits, burial tombs, sacrificial pits and so on in the cemetery, among which the carriage and horse pit is about 148 meters long from north to south, which is the longest carriage and horse pit in the Chu tomb known at present.
The second is that there are many subdivisions. 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. That is to say, the entire coffin chamber is divided into nine chambers, which is the most subchambers of Chu tombs seen so far.
Finally, there 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.
On April 16, media reporters photographed a bronze tripod with ears unearthed from the tomb in the archaeological laboratory of Wuwangdun Tomb. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li He
Second question: Who will be the owner of the tomb?
Since the archaeological excavation of the tomb of King Wu, speculation about the identity of the owner of the tomb has never stopped. Among them, there are many voices pointing directly at King Chu Kaoli, and the basis is as follows.
The tomb of King Wu is of high grade, or it is the tomb of King Chu. As we all know, in 241 BC, King Chukaoli moved his capital to Shouchun. In the 18 years that followed, there were four Chu kings, including King Chu Kaolie, King Chu You, King Chu Ai and Cheng Yao.
From the point of view of the elimination method, Li Sangudui, who is also in Huainan, is the tomb of King You of Chu confirmed by the academic circles, which can be ruled out first; King Chu Ai was killed by the Negative Gate Guest after two months of reign, and the Negative Emperor was captured by the Qin State in 223 BC, and these two Chu kings will probably not leave a large tomb in the Huainan area. Well, all that remains is King Chukaoli.
King Chu Kaolie was once the "hostage" of the Qin State and the legitimate son-in-law of the King of Qin, and later fled to the Chu State with the help of Chunshenjun Huang Xie, inherited the throne, and became the 39th king of the Chu State. 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.
"Who is the owner of the tomb of King Wu, before the excavation and even now, we have an estimate and judgment, but this is not the final conclusion. In response to everyone's speculation, Gong Xicheng responded that to determine the owner of the tomb, it is necessary to find clear directional evidence, and the archaeological excavation of the Wuwangdun tomb is only one-third of the way now, and it is still far from a comprehensive understanding of the content of the ancient tomb.
The reporter learned that at present, the archaeological excavation team is mainly focusing on excavation and safely transporting cultural relics to the cultural relics protection laboratory, and interpreting cultural relics is an important part of the next step. Therefore, it is not possible to draw conclusions about the identity of the owner of the tomb.
Q3: What is the significance of archaeological excavations?
The significance of the archaeological excavation of Wuwangdun is significant. On the morning of April 16, the progress work meeting of the major project "Wuwangdun" of "Archaeological China" sponsored by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage was held in Huainan. At the meeting, Gong Xicheng interpreted the phased results and significance of archaeological excavations from three aspects.
First, 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, and burial customs.
Second, the tomb shape, construction technology, and unearthed cultural relics of the Wuwangdun Tomb represent the highest achievements of Chu culture, and more comprehensively reflect the political, economic, cultural, technological, and social picture of the Chu State 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.
Third, the ancient tomb was formed in the critical period when the great unified state was about to be born, which is of great significance for the study of the historical evolution of that period and the formation of the centralized unified state and culture of the Qin and Han dynasties.
Through this archaeological excavation, we can further understand the funeral system and official system of Chu State, which can be used to study the social life and historical and cultural picture of Chu State after its eastward migration.
On April 16, archaeologists carried out bronze protection work in the inorganic protection room of Wuwangdun Archaeological Laboratory. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li He
The greater significance lies in the fact that 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.
Q4: What's next?
Although it has been four years since the archaeological excavation, there is still a lot of work to be done.
"At present, the main tomb is being excavated in the coffin, and it is planned to complete the main field excavation work before the hot season. The protection of cultural relics was carried out at the same time, and the collation and research of excavation materials was started at the same time. Walking out of the operation area, Gong Xicheng revealed that he would strive to fully complete the archaeological excavation of the main tomb within this year.
It is also understood that Huainan City is actively promoting the planning and construction of the Wuwangdun Tomb Archaeological Site Park in combination with the progress of Wuwangdun archaeological excavation. The "Wuwangdun Archaeological Site Park Plan (2023-2035)" has been compiled, which plans to build a 5,600-acre archaeological site park integrating protection, display, leisure and other functions based on the Wuwangdun Tomb site itself and its historical environment.
"We strive to declare the Wuwangdun Tomb as a national key cultural relics protection unit and the Wuwangdun Tomb Archaeological Site Park as a national archaeological site park in about ten years. Wu Pingchuan, member of the Standing Committee of the Huainan Municipal Party Committee and Minister of the Propaganda Department, said.
Source/JAC Morning News, People's Daily client