How to determine that the Jiangcun Tomb is the Tomb of Emperor Hanwen?
How to protect in the future?
Expert interpretation is here →
On the 14th, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage held an online press conference on "Archaeological China" and announced three major archaeological achievements in the Han and Tang dynasties.
Among them, after years of archaeological investigation and demonstration, the Ba tomb of Emperor Hanwen was officially recognized.
Let's first understand the specific location of this Western Han Emperor Tomb.
This ancient tomb, formerly known as "Jiangcun Grand Tomb," is located on the east side of Jiangcun on the Bailu Plain, east of Xi'an, Shaanxi. It was discovered at the beginning of this century.
At first, the archaeologists believed that this was a noble tomb in the Western Han Dynasty, but as the archaeological work continued to deepen, it was discovered that the scale and shape of the tomb far exceeded that of ordinary noble tombs.
Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty Liu Heng was the founder of the "Government of Wenjing" in the Western Han Dynasty. According to historical records, Emperor Wen was buried in the Baling Mausoleum after his death and could not be sealed.
So how did the archaeologists determine the specific location of the Hanwen Emperor Ba tomb?
Jiangcun Tomb: Unearthed cultural relics of the Han Dynasty on a large scale
On the east side of Jiangcun on the Bailuyuan in Xi'an, Shaanxi, there is a large tomb called Jiangcun Great Tomb.
Archaeologists discovered that the Jiangcun Tomb is a super large "Ya"-shaped vertical cave tomb with four tomb passages. Such a tomb does not have any soil closure.
Around the Jiangcun Tomb, archaeologists discovered 115 outer storage pits, which are distributed radially around the Jiangcun Tomb.
Approved by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, archaeologists have carried out archaeological excavations in 8 of the outer storage pits since 2017, unearthed a large number of Han Dynasty cultural relics such as clothed pottery figurines, pottery, ironware, and bronzes. At the same time, they also discovered the "stone fence". Cemetery facilities such as Hemenque base site.
What surprised the archaeologists in particular was that they found the seals of Ming organs in these outer storage pits, and the official seals read "Chefu", "Zhongsikong Seals" and so on.
Form a complete mausoleum with Queen Dou’s mausoleum
Archaeological discoveries point the identity of the owner of the Jiangcun large tomb to the emperor of the Han Dynasty, but is he the Emperor of Han Wen?
There is another large tomb in the shape of "Ya" in the northeast of Jiangcun Tomb. This large tomb is about 800 meters away from Jiangcun Tomb.
This is the tomb of Queen Dou, the wife of Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty, which has been confirmed by historical data and archaeology.
The Jiangcun Tomb, Queen Dou's Mausoleum and the surrounding remains form a relatively complete mausoleum.
Based on relevant historical documents and archaeological research data, the archaeological community has unanimously determined that the Jiangcun Tomb is the tomb of Emperor Han Wen.
Archaeologist Jiao Nanfeng: The words on the unearthed cultural relics all prove that it was in the early Western Han Dynasty.
After the experts discussed together, the experts agreed that there is no problem with this conclusion, and it is the Emperor Hanwen Ba tomb.
6 stolen pottery figurines of the Western Han Dynasty brought attention to Jiangcun Tomb
According to relevant records and textual research since the Yuan Dynasty, it is generally believed that the Emperor Hanwen's Ba Mausoleum is located at the Phoenix Mouth, two kilometers north of the Jiangcun Tomb.
But without conclusive evidence, no one would dare to say that the Jiangcun Tomb was the Emperor Hanwen's Ba tomb, especially at the site of the Jiangcun Tomb, and no tall mounds could be seen.
At the archaeological site, no matter if you are looking up from the ground or looking down from the sky with a drone, you can't even see a large tomb here.
So how did it get into the sight of archaeologists?
This starts with a tomb robbery many years ago.
In 2002, an auction in the United States brought the Jiangcun Tomb to Chinese archaeologists for the first time.
Six Western Han pottery figurines stolen from here appeared in the auction catalog of Sotheby's auction house in the United States and will be auctioned soon.
The Chinese government negotiated in a timely manner through diplomatic channels.
Archaeologist Jiao Nanfeng: Before the auction, I took these 6 pottery figurines from the auction list.
Entrusted by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, I answered 11 questions from Sotheby Auction House. Why is it Chinese?
Why is it from Shaanxi?
Why do you say it is from the Western Han Dynasty?
And how many such pottery figurines unearthed in your place?
Wait for similar questions.
After many efforts, these 6 pottery figurines returned to Xi'an in 2003.
Subsequently, relevant departments launched an investigation into the origins of these 6 pottery figurines, and finally determined that tomb robbers robbed them from the Jiangcun ancient tomb.
Zhang Xiangyu, deputy dean of the Xi'an Archaeological Research Institute: At that time, when the wheat was harvested in the two stolen caves, it was very clear that they could be seen on the satellite pictures later.
In 2006, after confirming that these pottery figurines were from Jiangcun ancient tombs, archaeologists conducted archaeological investigations here.
The results of the exploration surprised the archaeologists. There is a large tomb in the shape of "Ya" with four tomb passages hidden here.
How to determine that the Jiangcun Tomb is the Tomb of Emperor Hanwen?
How to determine that Jiangcun’s curtain is the Ba tomb of Emperor Hanwen?
What is the significance of the conclusion since the overthrow of the Yuan Dynasty?
How to protect in the future?
Let's listen to the interpretation of Associate Researcher Cao Long of the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology.