The Paper's reporter Lu Linhan
"The wind is blowing and the clouds are flying, Wei Jia Hai is returning to his hometown, and and the Ander warriors are guarding in all directions." A big wind song by Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, sings the ancient wind and currents of the Han Dynasty, and also contains thousands of weather for more than four hundred years of the two Han Dynasties.
Since the birth of modern Chinese archaeology, archaeologists have discovered and excavated nearly 40 mausoleums of the princes of the two Han Dynasties in Xuzhou and surrounding areas, and unearthed a large number of exquisite cultural relics. This also makes today's Xuzhou have the reputation of "two Han cultures looking at Xuzhou". At the "Third Chinese Archaeological Conference" held recently, the "Tombs of King Chu of Xuzhou" was announced as one of the "Top 100 Archaeological Discoveries in a Hundred Years". The Paper, Ancient Art (www.thepaper.cn) recently visited the site and approached the tombs of the two Han And Chu kings dating back more than 2,000 years.
Liu Bang, who rose in Xuzhou, created a powerful Han Dynasty, which also established the status of the hometown of xuzhou emperors. Xuzhou was called Pengcheng in ancient times, because of the legend that Emperor Yao sealed the great Peng clan here, and the Book of Yugong records the nine prefectures under the heavens, and Xuzhou is one of them. After the fall of Qin in 206 BC, Xiang Yu established himself as the king of Western Chu, and after Liu Bang established Han, he first made Han Xin the King of Chu, and Liu Bang also made his half-brother Liu Jiao the King of Chu, du Pengcheng, and passed on to the chu king Liu Yanshou for his rebellion. In the third year of Ganlu (51 BC), Emperor Xuan of Han moved his son Liu Hu the Prince of Dingtao to the King of Chu, and passed on four more generations, and Wang Mang was extinct, so the Western Han Dynasty Liu surnamed King Chu was passed down for a total of twelve generations. The Han Dynasty had a system, and the king was buried in the fiefdom. Therefore, most of the tombs of the chu kings of the twelfth generation of the Western Han Dynasty are near Xuzhou.
Archaeological past and current situation of the tombs of the Chu kings in the Western Han Dynasty
The Han Cultural Scenic Spot, now located in Yunlong District, Xuzhou City, is an open large-scale park covering an area of 1,400 acres. Walking into it, there is no noisy car sound, but instead of a quiet and comfortable garden landscape, as well as an exhibition hall that tells the story of Han Dynasty culture, including the Han Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum, the Tomb of the Chu King of Lion Mountain, etc.
Xuzhou Han Cultural Scenic Spot, exterior view of the Chu King's Mausoleum
More than 30 years ago, the Han cultural scenic spot was still a number of hillsides and residential villages, and with the gradual development of a series of archaeological projects of wangling in the Han Dynasty, it has gradually undergone tremendous changes. Among the many tombs of the Chu kings in Xuzhou, the most famous archaeological excavation of the Chu King's Mausoleum in Lion Mountain came from here, and in 1995 it was awarded the "Top Ten New Archaeological Discoveries in China".
In 1984, archaeologists found a large-scale Western Han Terracotta Warriors and Horses Pit about 500 meters west of the Tomb of King Chu in Lion Mountain, and many funerary pits were scattered in the northeast, southeast, west and northwest directions of the mausoleum. The following year, the Xuzhou Han Figurine Museum was completed and opened to the public. Today, the remodeled Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum exhibits pits nos. 1, 2 and 3. The reporter saw at the scene that the eastern section of the First Pit and the Second Pit have been sorted out, the western section of the Second Pit has remained in the original state when it was excavated, and the Third Pit has not been excavated, and the audience can walk around the three tunnels to feel the archaeological state of "never excavated until the excavation is completed".
Xuzhou Han Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum exhibition hall site
Han Terracotta Warriors
Looking back on the past, in order to confirm the funerary nature of the Xuzhou Han Terracotta Warriors and Horses Pit and the existence of the Western Han King Mausoleum site in the Lion Rock area, soon after the excavation of the figurine pit, the Han Warriors Museum shifted the focus of archaeological work to the exploration and investigation of the Tomb of the King of Chu. Because the tombs of the Chu kings of the Western Han Dynasty are cliff-cave tombs excavated in the mountain rock, it is impossible to use the traditional archaeological tool "Luoyang shovel" for drilling, so the Han Figurine Museum organized national geophysical exploration experts to conduct three large-scale scientific and technological archaeological surveys in the Lion Rock area from 1987 to 1990 using various geophysical exploration instruments. For various reasons it was unsuccessful. During this period, some medium-sized Han tombs have also been found here, but none of them correspond to the scale of the burial of the Han Terracotta Warriors and Horses Pit.
Since then, the archaeologists of the Han Warriors Pavilion have adopted the most primitive investigation methods to search and investigate every corner of the Shizishan Village, which is densely packed with houses, and in July 1991, they found a section of artificially excavated rock wall under a sweet potato cellar in a villager's courtyard on the south slope of the main peak of lion mountain east of the Terracotta Pit, thus exploring the exact location of the tomb of the King of Chu in the Western Han Dynasty. In November of the same year, a partial excavation of the external structure of the tomb was carried out, and a number of Chu official seals were unearthed, as well as Han Dynasty cultural relics such as jade, bronze, pottery and semi-two coins, proving that this tomb is the main tomb of the Han Terracotta Warriors that has been searching for many years. From December 1994 to March 1995, the Xuzhou Han Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum and the Nanjing Museum jointly formed the Lion Mountain Chu King Mausoleum Archaeological Team to conduct archaeological excavations of this large-scale Western Han Dynasty Chu King Mausoleum. The excavation of the Tomb of the King of Chu has also become a monument in the archaeological history of xuzhou.
The archaeological excavation site of the Chu King's Mausoleum in Lion Rock
The coffin room of the Tomb of king Chu of Lion Mountain
The tomb of King Chu is south-facing, and the entire tomb is composed of 11 burial chambers such as tomb passage, patio, Yongdao and ear chamber, front chamber and rear chamber, with a total length of 116.2 meters, the widest part of the east and west is 13.2 meters, the total use area is 851 square meters, and the total amount of excavated mountain rock is 5139 cubic meters. The mausoleum passage is divided into three parts, the outer section is 29 meters long and 9 meters wide, not carved into a regular slope, the bottom rock is undulating, in order to facilitate burial, the rammed earth on the remnants of the stone is used to make a ramp. The middle section of the tomb is 20 meters long and 3.5 meters wide, and the upper part of the inner tomb road has a huge patio with a length of 18.65 meters, a width of 13.2 meters, a depth of 8.45 meters at the southern end, and a depth of 10.9 meters at the north end, with an area of more than 240 square meters. At the end of the tomb passage is the main tomb door of the tomb, and the door is placed in each group of 4 pieces, a total of 16 giant sealing stones in four groups. Jia Fei, deputy director of the Han Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum, told reporters, "It is still undecided who the owner of the tomb is." In the early years, some people believed that the owner of the tomb was the third generation of Chu king Liu Peng, but after that, the tomb owner was the first generation of Chu king Liu Jiao or the second generation of Chu king Liu Ying's voice was also very high. ”
Although affected by the epidemic, the Tomb of the King of Chu has become a bustling tourist attraction, and many spectators have walked into the tomb road to feel the momentum of the princes of the Han Dynasty and the craftsmanship of ancient craftsmen.
Lion Mountain Chu King Mausoleum Hall
Zhai Xiaoyue, a librarian at the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum of the Han Dynasty, told the surging news that during the Han Dynasty, the main objects (mainly gold objects) in the rooms behind the main tomb door of the Chu King's Mausoleum were stolen. Although the main items in the rooms behind the main tomb door have been stolen, the three ear chambers (rooms W1, W2, and E1) in the inner burial passage under the patio and the burial tomb at the junction of the middle and inner tomb passages have not been robbed. Extrapolating from the relics left behind, Room W1 on the west side is the Imperial Treasury, Room W2 is the storage room, and Room E1 on the east side is the kitchen room. The owner of the funerary tomb is the "food official supervisor".
Although the number of cultural relics excavated from the Tomb of the Chu King of Lion Mountain and the completeness of preservation cannot be compared with the unturbed Han tombs such as the tomb of the King of Nanyue in Guangzhou, the tomb of the King of Jing in The Middle Of The City, and the Tomb of the Mawangdui Han in Changsha, there are more than 2,000 pieces (sets) of cultural relics excavated from the entire tomb, of which various types of jade are the bulk, and a total of more than 200 pieces (sets) have been unearthed, and many of them are called the heavy treasures of the country, the most famous of which is the "golden jade cloth".
Golden jade robes (replicas) and jade coffins (replicas) displayed in the tomb chamber of the Chu King of Lion Mountain
The golden jade robe of the Chu King's Mausoleum in Lion Mountain is displayed in the exhibition hall of xuzhou museum
In the tomb of the King of Chu, there is a golden jade robe (replica) on display, and on the side is the coffin (replica) of the King of Chu. The Han Dynasty people believed that gold and jade could make the dead immortal, so most of the high-level Han Dynasty tombs had jade burial jade such as the Nine Tricks, Jade Grip, and Jade Dragon. Among the many jade clothes, the Lion Mountain Chu Wang Jade Cloth is the most jade piece, the jade texture is the best, and the production process is the most refined. Because the tomb robbers extracted gold wire, the jade clothes had been scattered everywhere during the excavation, and have now been restored intact and displayed in the Xuzhou Museum. Zhai Xiaoyue said, "These jade materials are produced in Hetian, Xinjiang, and it is inferred from the chronology that before Zhang Qian left for the Western Regions, the Han Dynasty already had trade exchanges with the Western Regions. ”
The jade gold and bronze that have been preserved in the tomb for thousands of years are also available for the audience to enjoy in the Xuzhou Museum. Among these jade gold and bronze, especially jade is the most exquisite. Jia Fei said, "This batch of jade, whether it is ceremonial jade or decorative jade, whether in terms of quantity, grade, and exquisite degree, is really rare, and is the highest level of jade excavated in the Known Han Dynasty, providing precious physical materials for the study of Han Dynasty jade." ”
For more than 30 years, this magnificent Western Han Dynasty royal tomb has been under continuous investigation and discovery, and has successively discovered the tomb of The Chu Queen of Yangguishan Mountain, a number of tombs of the Chu royal family and nobles, and a large number of various burial pits.
The jade artifacts excavated from the Tomb of king Chu of Lion Mountain are displayed in the exhibition hall of Xuzhou Museum
Of course, the excavation and construction of the Western Han Dynasty tombs by archaeologists did not stop at the Lion Rock area. Today, the Guishan Han Tomb in the western foothills of Guishan Mountain in Gulou District, Xuzhou City, and its surroundings have also been built into a park, becoming one of the most recommended attractions in the local area.
The Guishan Han Tomb displays the joint burial tomb of Liu Zhu, the sixth king of Chu in the Western Han Dynasty. In 1981, the Guishan Han Tomb was discovered by local people when they were digging stones. In 1985, the bronze seal of Liu Zhu's turtle button unearthed from the tomb was collected in the cultural relics census, thus unveiling the mystery of the identity of the owner of the tomb. The Guishan Han Tomb is also the only tomb in the Xuzhou Han Tomb that has identified its owner.
Guishan Han Tomb Scenic Area
The audience walked into the Guishan Han Tomb Cemetery
Pottery figurines displayed in the Tomb of Guishan Han
This underground palace almost hollowed out the entire Turtle Mountain. The Han tomb has a total of 15 large and small suites, with the burial chamber where the coffin is placed as the core, supporting the living room, bedroom, kitchen, stables, etc., with a strict and orderly layout. The outer burial passage is trumpet-shaped, which is the entrance and exit for transporting coffins, and is connected to the burial chamber and the Yongdao. As you walk along the long, pitch-black corridor into the main tomb, the majestic boulders are filled with astonishing momentum. Entering the main tomb area along the Nanyong Road, you can see different burial chamber spaces such as stables and weapons depots, showing the living state of the King of Chu.
This is a scenic spot, a park, and a living area for citizens, and many tourists and citizens walk here. A citizen who has lived near Guishan since childhood told reporters, "In the 1980s, before the relevant units cleaned up this, my childhood playmates and I secretly went in to visit the tomb with flashlights and candles. At that time, many children in the surrounding area had such experiences. At that time, we could see the robbery caves in the past (Yuan Dynasty), and now as a scenic spot, the robber caves have been sealed. In the 1990s, after it was opened as a tourist attraction, I bought a ticket to see it. It's very different here than it used to be. ”
Unlike the above-mentioned situation of the Tombs of King Chu of Lion Mountain and Guishan Mountain, the tomb of King Chu of Beidong Mountain in Maocun Town, Tongshan District, located in the north of Xuzhou, has been excavated by archaeologists in the 1980s and is now rarely visited.
The tomb of the Chu king of Beidongshan is said to be the tomb of Liu Li, the fourth king of Chu in the Western Han Dynasty, which was excavated in a 15-meter hill and stolen in the early years, but many precious cultural relics were still cleaned up. Among them, the excavated painted figurines can be called the fine works of pottery figurine art in the Western Han Dynasty, and the color preservation is better.
Tomb of King Chu of Beidongshan
At the entrance of the Chu King's Tomb Scenic Area in Beidong mountain, it is written that "due to the water entering the tomb, it is temporarily closed"
Unfortunately, the tomb of King Chu of Beidongshan is located in a very inconspicuous village, and it is difficult to find it by car, which requires a narrow village road, and there is no clear sign in the village. When the surging news reporter came to the tomb of King Chu of Beidong Mountain, the scenic spot was already closed, and the notice at the door read, "Due to the water entering the tomb, it is temporarily closed." ”
The relevant person in charge told the surging news, "At present, the tomb of king Chu in The North Cave has been suspended from the outside world since 2019 due to internal water inflow, and the cultural security unit is still formulating a maintenance plan." It's a bit out of the way and very few tourists come. The taxi driver also confirmed that he had been renting a taxi for many years and had only carried passengers here twice.
Ongoing Archaeology of the Eastern Han Dynasty
In addition to the Western Han Dynasty, the two Han cultures also include the Eastern Han Culture. Yuan Feng, deputy director of the Xuzhou Museum, told the surging news, "In Xuzhou, there are more tombs of the Chu kings of the Western Han Dynasty, the archaeology is relatively well done, and there are more external displays. Relatively speaking, there are few Han tombs in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there are about 5 Eastern Han tombs in Xuzhou City, and the Tushan Han Tomb is the only One that is well preserved and has been excavated and displayed by archaeology. ”
The archaeological site of Tushan No. 2 Tomb is located in the "backyard" of Xuzhou Museum
Tushan is located in Yunlong District, Xuzhou, and is now home to the Xuzhou Museum. There used to be a factory and a village, and it was a place where families had lived together for generations. As for Tushan, xuzhou people can tell the beautiful story of "spreading false rumors", according to legend, in the last years of the Qin Dynasty, the strategist Fan Zeng helped Xiang Yu overthrow the Qin Dynasty, which was deeply loved by the soldiers, and after his death, the soldiers built tombs for their negative soil and formed tushan. The Wei Shu Topographical Chronicle, the Water Classics Notes, and the Fang Zhi even record that Tushan is takatsuka Shu, Yafuzu, and Fan Zeng's tomb, and people should no longer suspect that Tushan is Yazuka.
However, an archaeological discovery in the late 1960s overturned all this. In 1969, residents took soil to discover Tomb No. 1; in 1970, the Nanjing Museum organized the excavation of Tomb No. 1 of Tushan; in 1977, the Xuzhou Museum conducted a comprehensive drilling of Tushan, discovered Tomb No. 2, and cleaned its east ear chamber; in 2002, Xuzhou Museum excavated Tomb No. 3; in 2004, Xuzhou Museum began to excavate Tomb No. 2, and by 2007, the excavation of the sealed part was basically completed...
Tushan in the 1930s
Tushan in the 1980s
Tushan Han Tomb is a relatively complete preserved tomb of the princes of the Eastern Han Dynasty in China. Among them, the entire tomb of Tomb No. 2 is 36 meters long from north to south, and is composed of a tomb passage, an ear chamber, a Yongdao, an anterior chamber, a back chamber, a cloister, a yellow intestine stone wall and a sealed stone. A total of 40,000 cubic meters of sealing soil were cleaned up, more than 4,500 mud (mud balls used to seal official letters and seals) were found in the sealing soil, and more than 350 cultural relics (sets) were excavated in the 500 square meters tomb.
In 2014, after 30 years of thinking, Wang Kai, the first Xuzhou archaeologist to discover the tomb, believed that "from the inscription 'Guan Fourteen Years' on the seal of the Tushan Han Tomb, it is possible that the owner of the tomb is Liu Ying, the first generation of Chu king of the Eastern Han Dynasty." In this regard, Geng Jianjun, director of the Archaeology Department of Xuzhou Museum, also agreed with this view, "The owner of Tushan No. 2 Tomb is most likely to be Liu Ying. Liu Ying was the son of Emperor Guangwu, and after being crowned King of Chu, he did not immediately become a state, and the inscription of the 'Fourteen Years of The Official' found on the tombstone is exactly the year when Liu Ying arrived in Pengcheng. ”
Shallow niches on the walls of the tomb
Seal the mud
At the archaeological site, the staff is cleaning the passage of tomb No. 2 in Tushan
The archaeological site of Tushan Han Tomb is located in the "backyard" of Xuzhou Museum, which belongs to an important part of Xuzhou Museum and is also the only well-preserved and open tomb of the Eastern Han Princes in Xuzhou. The reporter learned at the archaeological site that the excavation of Tomb No. 2 has entered the final stage, and only the cleaning of the tomb is left.
Excavated artifacts are placed in the archaeological workshop
In the archaeological workshop, staff are working on the restoration and protection of the coffin of Tomb No. 2
When the reporter walked into the archaeological studio of xuzhou museum, he saw that the workers were sorting out the excavated cultural relics, including the restoration and protection of the coffin of Tomb No. 2. Geng Jianjun said, "The cultural relics excavated are currently being sorted out, and a briefing on the excavations will be published soon. We aim to publish the full archaeological report within three years. Among the excavated artifacts, what may be the earliest complete Chinese Go chess set was found, containing chess boards, glass and copper pieces. In addition, there are 6 iron mirrors, the largest of which is 35 cm. There is a 'drawer box', the specific use of this device is not yet known, and will wait for other experts to interpret it later. ”
"The museum exhibition hall displays the cultural relics of the Western Han Dynasty. The culture of the Eastern Han Dynasty can be seen at the archaeological site of the museum, which is also the greatest value of the Tushan Han Tomb. Yuan Feng said.
Exhibition and planning of archaeology in the Han Dynasty
The development of archaeology over the past hundred years has made people re-understand archaeology. The display and planning after archaeology has indeed become a topic of concern.
In 2020, the Tushan No. 2 Tomb Archaeological Project won the "Top Ten Archaeological Discoveries in 2020", and it is also the only archaeological project in Jiangsu Province to receive this honor. In this regard, Yuan Feng said, "In addition to the value of this Eastern Han Tomb itself, the concept of protection and display of this project is also relatively advanced. The protection display of the Tushan Han Tomb is not calculated from the end of the archaeology, and before the archaeology begins, we have planned the protection display plan. ”
Yuan Feng told reporters, "Around 2000 before the archaeological work, we planned to build the Tushan Han Tomb into a 'Tushan Archaeological Site Museum' (the name is tentative), and connect Tomb No. 1, Tomb No. 2, and Tomb No. 3 to display it." On the side, we will also build an exhibition hall to display the cultural relics of Tushan Mountain. This archaeological site museum will also be connected with the Xuzhou Museum building to form an area centered on the museum and surrounded by the archaeological site of han tombs, the Han Dynasty quarry, and the Qianlong Palace. After digging up the sealed soil, we built a greenhouse, which was not temporary, but a permanent building, to protect the Han tomb. After that, we began the archaeological excavation of the burial chamber stage, which was also opened while excavating, learning the model of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum of Qin Shi Huang, where the public could visit the archaeological site and understand what the archaeological site was like. In the archaeological process, this idea has been implemented all the time. ”
A greenhouse built for the archaeological site of Tomb No. 2 tushan
The site of a Han Dynasty quarry near the Xuzhou Museum
An iron mirror shot with X-rays
In Yuan Feng's view, the display of archaeological achievements cannot be limited to traditional cultural relics and picture displays. "In the future, we will present information obtained using multidisciplinary means in archaeological excavations. We plan to use virtual images to reconstruct the construction process of the tomb, so that the audience will have a deeper understanding of the tomb. The excavation of the Tushan Han Tomb is also based on catching up with the good times. We are glad that we have been able to continue to excavate in the backyard of the museum for so long, doing more detailed work and collecting a lot of data. ”
The planning concept of the Chu Wang Mausoleum in Lion Mountain and other places began in the 1990s, from the completion of the Han Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum to the construction of the Xuzhou Han Cultural Scenic Spot based on the Chu King's Mausoleum, the entire Han Cultural Scenic Spot has undergone many changes in the management mechanism and concept. Jia Fei told the surging news reporter, "The Han cultural scenic spot was built in accordance with the concept of tourist scenic spot at that time. Due to the limitations of the times, before 2013, this scenic spot did not make a conservation plan and archaeological work plan approved by the cultural relics department in advance. Since 2013, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage has begun to promote the construction of archaeological site parks. Therefore, we also began to develop the scenic spot in the direction of the archaeological site park. ”
Floor plan of Han cultural scenic spot tour
Han portrait stone in the exhibition hall of the Han portrait stone gallery
The reporter learned that the current Han cultural scenic spot is based on the Chu King's Mausoleum in Lion Mountain, and the Han Portrait Stone Corridor Exhibition Hall has been added to the original archaeological project, presenting a large number of Han portrait stones collected, in order to create a theme park that displays the "Three Gems of the Han Dynasty" - Han Tombs, Han Terracotta Warriors and Horses, and Han Portraits.
Lion Mountain Han Chu King Mausoleum Sheep Turtle Mountain Queen Mausoleum Ruins
For the follow-up of archaeological work in the area, Jia Fei told the surging news that from 2020 to 2021, in order to cooperate with the construction of municipal road sewage projects, the Xuzhou Han Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum and the Xuzhou City Museum jointly drilled and locally excavated the eastern area of the Chu King's Mausoleum site, and found a large-scale architectural remains, which was initially inferred to be the "East Sima Dao" of the cemetery. At present, this Western Han Dynasty tomb is still under continuous investigation, but the large-scale and richly buried Lion Mountain ChuWang Cemetery is gradually unveiling its mystery and presenting it to the world.
For the construction status of the Han cultural scenic spot, Jia Fei said, "Today, we have completed most of the construction work, have a relatively perfect greening and service facilities, and are currently supplementing the archaeological protection plan, thinking about the lack of construction work, and then will apply to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage for assessment and apply for archaeological site park." Our goal is to do a good job in cultural relics protection and display and tourist services based on the tombs of the princes of the Han Dynasty.
What exactly is archaeology? In Yuan Feng's view, "through archaeology, the characteristics of each city can be revealed." The Han culture in Xuzhou and the Culture of the Six Dynasties in Nanjing are all revealed through archaeology. Archaeology has also greatly enhanced a city's cultural brand. ”
Editor-in-Charge: Ruoxi Chen
Proofreader: Yan Zhang