Liao Dynasty Double Lion Pattern Gold Flower Silver Box Inner Mongolia Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology Collection In 2003, the Liao Tomb of Turki Mountain in Horqin Left Banner of Tongliao City was excavated
In 2003, SARS pneumonia was raging, but archaeological work in Inner Mongolia continued.
At the foot of Mount Turki in Tongliao City, Inner Mongolia, an unstolen tomb of a liao dynasty aristocratic woman has been unearthed, and this tomb has been preserved intact and shining for more than 1,000 years, shocking the archaeological community.
The archaeological excavation project has been rated as "2003 National Top Ten New Archaeological Discoveries", "2003 China's Top Six Archaeological New Discoveries", and won the "2003-2004 Field Archaeology Award Third Prize".
The author of this article is the first archaeologist to arrive at the site, and has personally experienced the whole process of discovery, protection and excavation of the Liao Tomb in Turki Mountain. The archaeological experience is presented, first, to let people understand the discovery process of the Liao Tomb on Mount Turki; second, to let the reader understand the responsibilities and hardships of archaeologists.
Note: The author Hao Weibin is the director of the History Department (now renamed as the Research Department) of the Horqin Museum in Tongliao City, a librarian of cultural and museum research, a special commissioner of literature and history of the third and fourth sessions of the Tongliao Municipal CPPCC, and a specially invited professor of the School of Political Science and Law of Inner Mongolia University for Nationalities.
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Remains of the Liao Tomb in Tuerji Mountain, Tongliao, Inner Mongolia
Turki Mountain is a well-known mountain in Tongliao City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and now there are many wonderful legends about Turki Mountain in the local area, and the Mongolian folk song "Turki Mountain" is widely sung in the local area.
Beautiful scenery around Mount Turki. On the northeast and west sides are endless plains, with thousands of acres of farmland, and on the south side of the mountain is the Turki Mountain Reservoir (also known as the "Red Scarf Reservoir"). Later, with the development of the quarrying industry, this beautiful mountain shrank day by day and became today's "Turki Pit". Beautiful view no more. However, in the midst of this regret, something unexpected happened: at the foot of Mount Turki was buried the tomb of a large nobleman of the Liao Dynasty that shocked the world.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > ancient tombs appeared</h1>
Liao Toad turquoise gold ring
In the summer and autumn of 2002, when the workers of the Turki Mountain quarry were digging the tunnel with a bulldozer, in the eastern half of the tunnel, they found a three-meter-wide stone pile, which, like the stones of Mount Turki, did not see anything special, so it did not attract attention at that time. In the autumn, the tunnels were dug up, and no one remembered the stone piles anymore. At the beginning of the Spring Festival in 2003, in order to prepare enough stone before the construction site began, the quarry site began to produce fried stone again.
On the day of March 8th Festival in 2003, the workers continued to repeat the previous practice, digging and picking up stones in the "pile of rocks", and in the process of digging and picking up stones, they suddenly found reddish stones. According to their intuition, they felt that this stone was not the stone on Mount Turki, and after cutting down a few pieces, they found that the stones inside were artificially placed, and there was black glue between the stones and the stones, and further observation, some of the stones were also marked with ink, and some workers at that time wondered: Is this an explosives depot built here during the occupation of the Japanese devils?
Liao Capricorn-shaped gold earrings
By March 10, just over two days, the news that TurkiShan had discovered "something" spread quickly, and several groups of "treasure diggers" immediately came, all of whom had come to negotiate prices with the quarry director. The mine chief here is surnamed Liang, who is physically strong and is a standard Mongolian Hanzi. Some "treasure diggers" asked The director of the Liang mine: How much money can we give to dig? Some also have to be divided together with the liang mine chief.
In the early morning of March 10, before dawn, someone knocked on the door of the Liang Mine Chief's house, the Liang Mine Chief went out to take a look, there was a 2020 Jeep parked at the door, and the person who came to liang Mine Said: I heard that an ancient tomb was found here, let's take a look, see how much money you want to let us dig? At this time, The director of the Liang Mine felt the seriousness of the matter and thought that it could not be delayed any longer, so he immediately replied: "You cannot be allowed to dig." After sending these people away, Liang Minang picked up the phone and reported the situation to the public security bureau.
"Li family enshrines" flower and bird pattern copper mirror
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > site survey</h1>
On the afternoon of March 10, 2003, the sky was gray. I sat in the office of the History Department of the Tongliao City Museum as usual, reading a book, and at about 3 o'clock, the secretary of the Tongliao City Museum, Tai Xinhe, hurriedly walked in and said that someone had reported to the Tongliao City Public Security Bureau that something had been found in Turki Mountain, so let's take a look. I asked, "When are you going?" "Now." "How to get there?" I asked. He said: "Take the car of the heritage store. "I didn't have time to bring anything, so I hurried out of the office with him.
When we arrived at the Public Security Bureau, there were already snowflakes in the sky, and the Public Security Bureau arranged for a police car and two cadres and policemen to go with us. We set off quickly, it was raining and snowing outside, and a thin layer of ice had formed on the road, but our car did not slow down and sped forward in the wind and snow.
Gold flower dragon pattern silver box
At about 5 p.m., we arrived at the police station of Dalin Town, Horqin District, and the comrades of the town police station already knew about this matter and immediately sent a policeman to guide us. Around 5.30pm, when we arrived, it was already dark and the snow was getting heavier. The director of the quarry, Liang Mine, had been waiting for us in the shed for a long time, and this straightforward Mongolian man, after seeing us, did not have time to say anything, so he took us to the scene of the "rock pile".
In the north of March, the days are short and the nights are long, a little more than 5:30, and the sky is already completely dark, when the snow is getting heavier and heavier. There was no other lighting at the site, so I took a flashlight used by the miners and took advantage of the faint light of the flashlight to conduct a preliminary survey of the site.
Gilded silver pot
According to the on-site observation, the traces of the burial path left on the east side of the tunnel are clear, and with past experience, I preliminarily concluded that this is a Liao Dynasty tomb, which was visually measured (because there was no leather ruler at that time), the tomb was more than 30 meters long, the burial depth was more than 10 meters, the red sand and rock strips on the west wall of the tomb were exposed, and the stone strips were bonded with black glue between the stone strips. Part of the stone wall at the patio is exposed, like a pile of rocks, only a small part of the north side of the west wall of the cemetery remains with the stone wall, and most of the south side has been dug up by bulldozers, and only the backfill soil in the cemetery can be seen.
Judging from various indications, the tomb has not been stolen recently. However, people who have engaged in Liao Dynasty archaeology know that the Liao tomb is ten tombs and nine empty, and whether this tomb was stolen in the early days was still impossible to judge at that time. Extrapolating from the signs of the tomb being exposed, this tomb is a large noble tomb of the Liao Dynasty, the owner of the tomb has a higher status, if it was not stolen in the early days, in this tomb, there will be precious cultural relics unearthed...
Liao character pattern eight-edged gold cup
The snow was getting heavier, the quarry roads were muddy, our shoes were covered with mud, and our clothes were soaked with rain and snow. When I returned to the shed after surveying the site, it was already more than 6 p.m. At this time, the deputy director of the Cultural Bureau of Kezuohouqi and bao Xiangdong, director of the Bowangfu Museum, led the cadres and policemen of the Kezuohouqi Public Security Bureau to arrive by car.
Peony-pattern gilded gold and silver plaque
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > emergency deployment</h1>
After returning to the shed, we immediately held a work meeting, first of all, the director of the Liang mine gave a brief introduction to the discovery process, and then we also gave a more detailed introduction to the director of the Liang mine, the public security cadres and policemen, and the comrades of the Kezuo Houqi Museum, and particularly emphasized the importance of this tomb.
The two police officers who went with us (I still don't know what their names are) were very capable and worked vigorously. After listening to the opinions on the on-site investigation, the two of them felt that the responsibility was heavy and did not dare to slacken off, and immediately arranged for the security work, that is, to let the police officers of the Public Security Police of Kezuohouqi, a deputy director of the Houqi Cultural Bureau, and Bao Xiangdong, director of the Bowangfu Museum, who had just arrived, stay at the scene, and asked the comrades in the mine to cooperate, and if a situation occurred, they quickly contacted the Dalin Town Police Station and the Municipal Public Security Bureau, and instructed the people's police of the Dalin Town Police Station (who did not know their names) to give us guidance and asked the Dalin Town Police Station to cooperate He also informed all the cadres and policemen of the Dalin Town Police Station: "Don't sleep tonight, prepare your weapons, be on standby at any time, and as soon as there is a situation, immediately dispatch the police." ”
High glass
In order to be foolproof, on the way back to Tongliao City, he specially went to the Dalin Town Police Station, and once again gave instructions to the leaders and policemen of the police station who were on duty, and only after all the arrangements were made were in place did they drive back to Tongliao City.
By this time it was pitch black, the snow was getting heavier, and the roads were covered with thick snow, snowflakes, and extremely low visibility. When we returned to Tongliao City, it was already more than ten o'clock in the evening.
At this time, the group was already hungry, and when they saw the food, they were wolfing down, and they reported their work while eating. After listening to the report, the leaders immediately decided that the next morning, an excavation team composed of tai xinhe, Ximud and Chen Baoyin from the municipal museum and four archaeologists from Tai Xinhe, Ximud and Chen Baoyin would go to Turki Mountain to carry out rescue clean-up and excavation, and decided to report the situation to the leaders of the Cultural Affairs Bureau early tomorrow (March 11).
Gilded character story pattern beam silver pot
In the early morning of March 11, the cold air in Tongliao after the snow was overwhelming, and there was a thick layer of ice on the road, and we did not have time to prepare more, but each of us brought washing utensils, clothes and the only archaeological tool of the archaeological team, a half-cut leather ruler, and took 3,000 yuan to rent a Xiali car and hurried to the scene.
Around 10 o'clock, we returned to the Turki Mountain quarry for the second time. Arriving at the scene surprised us, it turned out that the people of the Kezuo Houqi Museum found more than 10 local villagers, holding shovels and other excavation tools, standing next to the tomb, posing as a posture to dig the tomb. We quickly got out of the car, stopped it, and told them that this was a very valuable tomb and could not be messed with.
Double fish pattern gold flower silver lid bowl
< h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > excavation work</h1>
On the afternoon of March 11, rescue clean-up excavations began. First clean the cemetery backfill soil, the northern weather in March is cold, especially after the heavy snow in Tongliao, the cold wind is biting, and the progress of the project is slow. At night, seven or eight of us were crammed into a crater of less than 10 square meters, and we had to go to the scene every hour to inspect it, and we couldn't sleep at all.
On the night of the second day of our stationing, someone "patronized" the tomb, and when our people wrapped up in two ways, the man had already run away, and we vaguely saw his figure, and left traces of his excavation at the scene.
Painted wooden coffins and coffin beds
After this incident, everyone was more vigilant and patrolled more every night. After a few days of guarding and digging, everyone was very sleepy, and sometimes they could fall asleep while walking. Due to the large amount of work, the 3,000 yuan we brought was used up in less than two days, and in the canteen of the construction site, we had to choose some cheap meals to eat.
In order to protect the cultural relics, comrades have also had a fierce debate, in the face of the huge project and the only funds, in order to complete it as soon as possible, some people advocate punching a hole to enter and directly take out the things inside. However, Hemud and I believe that if a hole is punched in, the mountain may collapse, causing casualties and damage to cultural relics, and the consequences are unimaginable. And just like that, we stuck with it for 7 days.
Jewel-encrusted gilt-clad silver lacquer box
At this time, Tara, deputy director of the Institute of Archaeology of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, came with the documents of the inner mongolia autonomous region, re-formed the archaeological team, took over the archaeological site, and improved the working conditions of the site. They also brought advanced excavation equipment as well as cameras, cameras, etc. The arrival of Tara and his party gave us those of us a sigh of relief.
After a few days of preparation, Tara asked me to lead the migrant workers to drill the length and width of the tomb, and after learning about the length and width of the tomb, Tara formulated an excavation plan and began the official excavation on March 20.
Cultural relics excavated from the Liao Tomb on Turki Mountain in Tongliao City
During the excavations, it was the SARS period, which brought many troubles to the excavation work. However, on the whole, the entire excavation work was relatively smooth, after more than two months of formal excavation, the Khitan color coffin and more than 200 precious cultural relics buried underground for more than 1,000 years finally reappeared in the sky and were well protected, and when the coffin was opened, CCTV made a live broadcast, which caused a sensation throughout the country.
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