The tomb of Chu once appeared, and the whole world knew Wuwangdun. Recently, the important progress work conference of the major project "Wuwangdun" of "Archaeological China" was held in Anhui, and the phased excavation results of the main tomb of Wuwangdun (Tomb No. 1) were announced for the first time in the world. However, what few people know is that the excavation of the No. 1 tomb of Wuwangdun also involved Shandong archaeological forces. The team led by Lu Guoquan, a professor at the School of Archaeology of Shandong University, has joined the excavation of Wuwangdun since 2020 and personally excavated the largest Chu Ding, and the fate of ancient Qilu and Chu has continued after more than 2,000 years.
Lu Guoquan at the archaeological site
How did Professor Lu Guoquan's team join the Wuwangdun archaeological project? What kind of experience and feelings did he have during the excavation process? What kind of relationship did the owner of the tomb of Wuwangdun have with ancient Shandong? The reporter interviewed Professor Lu, who is still excavating at the Wuwangdun archaeological site, on these issues.
Participated in the excavation of Wuwangdun, and there was luck in chance
At the end of 2015, on an ordinary winter day, as the night grew thicker, the last light went out, and Xuwa Village, Sanhe Town, Huainan, Anhui Province sank into a dark and sweet dream. At this time, everything was silent, but on the country road, there was the sound of a group of people trampling on the dry grass. This is a group of experienced tomb robbers, and their target is the famous Wuwang Dun near the village.
There are two square robbery holes more than one meter long on the coffin cover
A few years later, when he saw the two dazzling, more than one-meter-long square robbery holes on the coffin cover at the excavation site, it was not difficult for Lu Guoquan to imagine the scene of tomb robbers stealing treasures. They "visited" Wuwangdun several times, stole a large number of bronzes and lacquered woodware, almost ransacked the two coffins in the north, and sawed large cultural relics that could not be taken out of the robbery hole into pieces. In fact, Wuwangdun has always been a provincial cultural relics protection unit in Anhui, as early as the 80s of the last century, some scholars speculated that it was a tomb of the king of Chu. Speaking of the past of Wuwangdun being stolen and excavated, Lu Guoquan could not hide his regret, "We have an unwritten rule - do not take the initiative to excavate the tombs of ancient emperors. Because the cultural relics in this type of mausoleum are usually rich, and there are more organic matter such as silk fabrics, excavation in the case of immature technology may affect the subsequent protection of cultural relics. ”
The lacquered wood tiger seat bird frame hanging drum is one of the national treasure-level cultural relics of Wuwangdun that was recovered
In 2019, the Huainan Public Security cracked the case of the theft and excavation of the ancient tomb of Wuwangdun, and recovered more than 70 pieces of precious cultural relics that were stolen and excavated. With the arrest of tomb robbers, it has become a fact that the burial environment of underground cultural relics has changed, and it is urgent to ensure the safety of cultural relics. The State Administration of Cultural Heritage made a quick decision and approved the Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology to carry out rescue archaeological excavations on Wuwangdun in November of that year.
Wuwangdun excavation area
At this time, the opportunity came to Lu Guoquan, who had a lot of roots in Huainan, Anhui. In 2018, they were invited to excavate during the construction of the Anhui River Diversion Project, which was also in Huainan at that time, and in 2019, they were invited to participate in the preliminary excavation of Wuwangdun again. "These two collaborations have allowed Shandong University's field excavation level and ability to be recognized by Anhui peers and the industry, and it has also become an opportunity for us to participate in the excavation of the Wuwangdun project. Lu Guoquan said.
Experienced the excavation of Chu Dading
"Its appearance is not good" Wuwang pier, from a distance seems to be just a tall mound, but if you look closely, you will find that it occupies all the shapes: the north is the beautiful Shungeng Mountain, the west side is the vast Wabu Lake, the tomb of Chunshenjun, Li San Gudui and many other Chu noble tombs are widely spread around, forming the trend of "stars and moons", which seems to imply to people that the identity of the tomb owner is extraordinary. The archaeological team carefully investigated here and found that there is an independent cemetery with an approximately square shape around the main tomb of Wuwangdun, and there are relics such as carriage and horse pits, burial tombs, sacrificial pits and other relics in the cemetery, and the total area of the cemetery is extensive, reaching an astonishing more than 2,100 acres. In Lu Guoquan's impression, such a grand scale of the Warring States Cemetery is really rare.
The original appearance of Wuwangdun before excavation
Lu Guoquan stayed in Huainan for four years. In these years, the archaeological team has carried out key excavations on the main tomb of Wuwangdun (Tomb No. 1). It is the largest tomb in the cemetery, located on the high ground raised in the north of the middle of the cemetery, sitting west and facing east, and there is a long slope tomb road with a length of 42 meters in the east. "This is a large A-shaped tomb with a towering seal on the surface. Viewed from the top, the mound is in the shape of a bucket and rises 16 meters above the surface. Lu Guoquan said, "Under the sealed soil is a huge burial chamber, and at the bottom of the burial chamber is a large coffin chamber built with fir wood. The structure of the coffin chamber is complex, in the shape of 'Asia', the center is the coffin chamber, there is a side chamber around each side, and the whole coffin chamber is divided into nine chambers. Such a structure is also jokingly called "eight rooms and one hall", which means that Wuwangdun will become the first time in China to see a nine-chamber Chu tomb with a clear structure, and it is also the Chu tomb with the most chambers seen so far.
Lu Guoquan, who is the leader of the second archaeological excavation team, is mainly responsible for the excavation of the east and north rooms. During the four-year excavation process, there were many surprises, but what excited him the most was of course the excavation of the largest Chuding he had ever experienced, and he still clearly remembers the scene at that time.
"Team leader, come and see, there is a particularly large bronze tripod here!" Not long ago, on April 9, the archaeological team led by Lu Guoquan discovered this important treasure of the country in the mud at the south end of the east 1st room! He and his team members immediately calmed down after being extremely excited, and he took matters into his own hands and carefully cleaned it up. Slowly, a heavy, atmospheric bronze tripod was finally cleaned out. Lu Guoquan said that he once lay on the ground excitedly and looked at Da Ding.
The large tripod placed at the south end of the east room 1
The measurement results show that the diameter of this tripod has reached 88.3 centimeters and the height is about 1.2 meters, which is larger than the treasure of the Anhui Museum and the most eye-catching unearthed cultural relics of Li Sangudui. "Ding symbolizes supreme power, and the state of Chu has always had the ambition to win the Central Plains. Lu Guoquan said, "Scholars generally believe that Li San Gudui is the tomb of King Chu You, and this tripod is larger than the big ding, indicating that the tomb owner of Wuwangdun is very likely to be a monarch-level figure." ”
Li San's lonely pile unearthed the cast copper tripod
Among the hundreds of bronze vessels excavated in the eastern chamber, there are not only important artifacts of the country, but also "daily eating vessels" containing animal bones and other items, as well as a large number of lacquered wood vessels. On some lacquered wood cases, the archaeological team found the "remains" of chestnuts, acorns, red date pits, melon seeds and other melons and fruits. "The ancients said that 'death is like life', and the Si man has passed away, but we still have to let him be full in another world. The meat in the ding and the fruit on the case are probably the foods that the tomb owner likes to eat on weekdays. In Lu Guoquan's view, the burial with melons shows that the time when the tomb owner is buried is very likely to be the harvest season of melons, that is, summer.
Why can perishable wood be immortal for thousands of years? Lu Guoquan said that this is mainly due to the humid climate of Huainan. "There is a saying in the archaeological community that 'dry for a thousand years, wet for a thousand years, not dry or wet for half a year', the cultural relics burial environment of Wuwangdun is a 'saturated' environment, so a relatively closed preservation space, inhibiting the rapid growth of wood rot fungi, reducing the corrosion rate of wood, is conducive to the preservation of wooden cultural relics. Lu Guoquan said, "In the tombs we excavated in the Yellow River basin in the past, we rarely saw such well-preserved lacquered wood. ”
Shandong elements were found in the tomb of King Chu
This noble tomb owner was followed by officials and supported by the people when he was alive, and after his death, he also had to enjoy fine wine and food, silk and bamboo music and dance. In the north room, bronze chimes, chimes, qin, se, zhu, sheng and other musical instruments make the archaeological team dizzying, full of romanticism, reflecting the brilliant achievements of the Chu State in music studies. However, it was not the exquisite bronzes that made Lu Guoquan particularly memorable, but a wooden-handled iron shovel that they stumbled upon in the sealed soil of the main tomb.
"I used to be on the portrait stone of Wuliang Temple in Jiaxiang County, Jining, Shandong, and saw Dayu holding a piece of such an artifact. The wooden-handled iron shovel unearthed this time turned out to be exactly the same as the tool held by Dayu. When he saw the real thing for the first time, Lu Guoquan felt both real and ethereal, and the legend and reality collided and merged strongly at this moment.
Wuwangdun unearthed wooden handle iron shovel (left) and Jiaxiang County, Shandong Province Wuliang Temple in the portrait of Yu water control (right)
The portrait of Dayu in the Wuliang Temple is considered to be the earliest existing portrait of Dayu in the mainland. In this portrait, Dayu is wearing a hat and a hat, his left hand is stretched forward, as if he is commanding, and his right hand is holding a tool. This tool is called "plow" and is a kind of agricultural tool. The wooden iron shovel excavated from the No. 1 tomb of Wuwangdun is the utensils used by people when casting the mausoleum at that time. It's just that for some reason, a strong worker left it on the site.
"It is conceivable that more than 2,000 years ago, an ordinary Chu worker was holding an iron shovel and struggling to dig up the soil under the scorching sun. After they worked sweatily for countless days and nights, the owner of the tomb finally had to sleep in the ground, and his soul was still listening to the voice of the bell chime...... "The people who cast the mausoleum at that time have long since disappeared in the long river of time, and there is not a word of them left in the history books." Now, this wooden-handled shovel has reappeared in the world for thousands of years, as if carrying the temperature of the palm of the hand, proving the traces of their existence.
The "tomb owner" once destroyed the country of Lu?
Wuwangdun has attracted wide attention since the archaeological excavation, and speculation about the identity of the tomb owner has not been broken. Who is this nobleman of the Chu State?" "Wuwangdun is the largest and most complex tomb of the Chu State discovered so far, with very high specifications and extremely rich connotations. Lu Guoquan said, "We tend to think that the owner of its tomb is a Chu king, specifically the king of Chu Kaolie." ”
Time turned back to the Warring States Period, it was an era of Jin Ge Iron Horse and the Heroes Competing for Hegemony, and the Chu State, which was dominant in the Jianghan Dynasty, was one of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period. In the war-torn era, "if you can't fight, you can run" is the norm, and the Chu State, which "loves and kills" with the Qin State, especially likes to move the capital.
In 278 BC, the Qin general Bai Qi attacked the capital of Chu Yingcheng (present-day Jingzhou, Hubei), and King Qingxiang of Chu was forced to move his capital to Chen (present-day Huaiyang, Henan). In 263 BC, his son, King Xiong Yuan, of Chukaolie, ascended the throne. The fate of this king of Chu can be described as magnificent: he went to Qin as a "hostage" when he was young, and was the "legitimate son-in-law" of King Zhaoxiang of Qin, and later escaped to Chu with the help of Huang Xie, one of the "Four Princes of the Warring States", and became the 39th king of Chu. During the reign of King Chu Kaolie, Chun Shenjun was reused, and Zhao and Wei were united to fight against Qin, and the state of Chu was revived for a time. However, the good times did not last long, and in 241 BC, Chun Shenjun organized the last joint attack on Qin in the history of the Warring States Period, but it ended in failure. Fearing retaliation from Qin, Chu moved its capital further east to Shouchun, which is now Shou County, Huainan City, Anhui Province. After King Chu Kaolie moved his capital to Shouchun, he named it Ying, indicating that he was determined to take root in the East and not think about recovering his homeland for the time being.
Statue of Chunshenjun in Shou County, Anhui Province (picture from the Internet)
As the last capital of the Chu State, Shouchun has gone through the four kings of Chu Kaolie, Chu You, Chu Ai, and Chu. In 238 BC, King Kaoli of Chu, who ruled the state of Chu for 25 years, was succeeded by his son King Youyou. Since then, the national strength of Chu has been declining. King Chu You died after only 10 years of reign, and King Chu Ai, another youngest son of King Chu Kaolie, was executed by the last king of Chu after only two months on the throne. Five years later, the king of Chu was captured by the Qin army. At this time, the Qin State was in full swing under the rule of Yingzheng, and the trend of the times of great unification was unstoppable.
King Chu Kaoli in the TV series "Da Qin Fu".
King Chu Ai and King Chu were killed, one was captured, and the possibility of burial according to the system is very small, and the tomb owner of Li San Gudui pointed directly at King Chu You, and the "candidate" of the tomb owner of Wuwangdun seems to be the only one left King Chu Kaolie. However, these are still speculations, and no empirical evidence has been found yet. "According to the principles of science, we cannot be completely sure of the identity of underground artifacts until the name of their owner appears. Lu Guoquan said, "Considering the rigor of the naming, now we can only say that Wuwangdun is the highest-level tomb in the Chu State. The so-called 'highest rank' refers to the king or queen of Chu. Some experts also said that the next archaeological excavations will be committed to finding key evidence such as Chu Jian and large bronze inscriptions as the identification of the tomb owner.
If it can really be confirmed that the owner of the tomb is King Chu Kaolie, then the "origin" between Wuwangdun and Shandong will be even deeper. As we all know, in ancient Shandong, there were mainly two large countries in the pre-Qin period, Qi and Lu, and today's Shandong is also called "Qilu Land", and the abbreviation is "Lu". As everyone knows, the state of Lu was destroyed by King Chu Kaolie. In 255 B.C., King Chu Kaolie sent Chun Shenjun to attack the state of Lu, and moved the last monarch of the state of Lu, Lu Qinggong, from the capital and sealed it in Judi (now Ju County, Shandong). Six years later (249 BC), Lu Qinggong died in Ke (now Dong'a, Shandong), and the state of Chu did not allow the Lu people to attack the feudal, and the state of Lu was completely destroyed.
Lu Guoquan, who grew up and worked in Shandong, feels that there seems to be fate in the dark. Now, the archaeological excavation of Wuwangdun has only been carried out for a third of the time, and the work of Lu Guoquan is far from over. "In the east room, where I am in charge, the bronzes are densely piled up in five or six layers, and we are now extracting them layer by layer. Lu Guoquan said, "After the excavation of the east chamber is completed, we are going to carry out the whole box of the middle chamber, transport it to the laboratory, and carry out fine excavation in a constant temperature environment." He believes that as the excavation progresses, more and more "historical witnesses" will appear in front of him, revealing the mystery of the identity of the tomb's owner. (Qilu One Point)