20 years of four generations of archaeologists behind the discovery of Emperor Ba's Mausoleum
Smiling pottery figurines lie neatly in the outer pit, which is one of the 115 outer pits in Baling.
The dense steel frame supports the pit body, and there are "zigzag"-shaped soil steps on both sides, and the robbery hole at the bottom of the pit is clearly visible.
The latecomers stepped on the newly laid wooden stairs, and with cameras in hand, scanned the pottery figurines below.
"The tomb of Jiangcun, Bailuyuan, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province is the Mausoleum of Emperor Hanwen, not Fenghuangzui." On December 14, 2021, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage officially announced this archaeological achievement, unlocking the history of the location of Emperor's Mausoleum. mystery of.
Behind this is the unremitting efforts of Hanling archaeologists for decades.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Wang Xueli, Wu Zhenfeng, etc. carried out rescue excavations in the east of Jiangcun and the northwest of the Nanling of Empress Dowager Bo. Afterwards, Liu Qingzhu and Li Yufang of the Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Social Sciences conducted a systematic investigation of the eleven tombs of the Western Han Dynasty; 2001 In 2006, the black pottery figurines were stolen and fled to the United States, and returned to Xi'an after several times.
In pursuit of black pottery figurines
This is a flat loess plateau, bordering the Qinling Mountains in the south and the Bahe River in the north.
In the depressed winter, the cherry forests are all bald, and the strawberries on the roadside stalls are piled into small red baskets, waiting to be taken away by the sparse passers-by.
Bailuyuan, located in the southeast of Xi'an, is named after "white deer roaming around" and is famous for the novels of writer Chen Zhongshi.
Under this calm loess, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty is buried.
Since the Yuan Dynasty, people have believed that the "Phoenix Mouth" of Emperor Han Wen's Ba Mausoleum on Bailu Plain is evidenced by the monuments erected by several generations.
On December 14, 2021, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage announced that the location of the Mausoleum of Emperor Hanwen was determined to be the Jiangcun Tomb in Bailuyuan.
On that day, the entire Hanling archaeological team was very busy.
Archaeologist Jiao Nanfeng and archaeological team leader Ma Yongying went to the Shaanxi Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics to participate in the release of this heavy news online; vice-captain Cao Long stayed at the archaeological base in Bailuyuan to receive many media who came to report; Zhu Chenlu was busy preparing various materials for this conference...
"I didn't expect that the discovery of Baling would receive so much attention this time." Just after the State Administration of Cultural Heritage's press conference ended, Cao Long found that the yard of the archaeological base was crowded with reporters, and there were a series of missed calls and text messages on his mobile phone.
Located in the northeast corner of Jiangcun Tomb, No. 15 Waizang Pit is a must-see for journalists. The excavation is about 39 meters long and about 8 meters deep.
Under the protective greenhouse, dense steel frames support the pit body, and the original "zigzag"-shaped soil steps are still retained on both sides.
In order to protect the cultural relics, the archaeological team laid a new wooden staircase on one side of the steel frame, and after going down the stairs, thousands of pottery figurines appeared in front of them.
"This is a clothing-style pottery figurine, and it is the highest standard funeral object used by emperors." Cao Long, wearing a red helmet, introduced to the camera and followed his gaze. At the bottom of the pit lay neatly naked pottery figurines, decaying. The silk dyed them red, and the wooden arms were long gone.
The footsteps of the latecomers became more restrained, for fear of accidentally disturbing the smiles on their faces.
Walking a few steps in, you will see a big pit with a diameter of three or four meters, and after a few more steps, another big hole appears on the side.
This is a robbery hole left by tomb robbers, and the fragments of the bombed pottery figurines are scattered around.
The discovery of Baling also began with the robbery cave discovered 20 years ago.
In 2001, many cultural relics in and around the tomb of Jiangcun were stolen and illegally entered the market.
The following year, six stolen black pottery figurines from the Western Han Dynasty appeared in the auction catalogue of Sotheby's auction house in the United States and were about to be auctioned.
Those black pottery figurines, like those unearthed from the Jiangcun Tomb, were naked and armless.
How to prove that the black pottery figurines are Chinese?
Why are they said to be unearthed in Shaanxi?
How to determine that they originated from the Western Han Dynasty?
At that time, the United States raised 11 questions. Jiao Nanfeng, then director of the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, spent two days answering these questions in detail.
After many efforts, the black pottery figurines were finally removed from the auction list 10 minutes before the auction.
In 2003, six Western Han black pottery figurines returned to Xi'an.
Relevant departments investigated their origins and found that they were stolen from Bailu Plain by tomb robbers.
On the flat White Deer Plain, the Mausoleum of Empress Dou and the Mausoleum of Empress Dowager Bo have high seals.
The place where the black pottery figurines were stolen was about 800 meters southeast of the Mausoleum of Empress Dou, and there was no sign on the ground.
"When we got the photos of the black pottery figurines, we felt that it might be related to Ba Ling." Jiao Nanfeng recalled that similar nude pottery figurines were not common and only appeared in the tombs of emperors and empresses.
However, the place where the black pottery figurines were found was too far from the Mausoleum of Empress Dou and did not belong to the scope of her cemetery.
Who is the owner of the black pottery figurines?
Jiao Nanfeng has a vague answer in his heart, but it still needs a series of work to confirm, "We have a rule in archaeology. If you have any doubts, when publishing an article, you must have a series of evidence."
Investigate the Phoenix Mouth
Overlooking the phoenix mouth on the White Deer Plain, it looks like a phoenix with its wings spread out, and the outstretched loess beams are in the shape of a bird's head.
Looking from a distance, the towering hills really look like the seal of a large mausoleum.
Under Phoenix's mouth, there are more than ten ancient monuments that have weathered the storm, and most of the text on them has been mottled.
One of them is a tall stone tablet with inscribed regular script and five big characters: Han Wendi Ba Mausoleum.
"Baling Mausoleum of Emperor Wen is located under the mouth of Beifenghuang, Bailuyuan, 40 miles east of Tonghua Gate in Jingzhao." Luo Tianxiang's description in "Luibian Chang'an Zhi" compiled in the Yuan Dynasty is the earliest record that archaeologists can find about the specific location of Ba Mausoleum.
But it took archaeologists nearly 20 years to overthrow this claim and find the real Paling.
"Since 2011, we spent more than half a year denying the statement that 'Phoenix's mouth is the Mausoleum'." That year, the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology and the Xi'an Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology jointly established the Hanling Archaeological Team. On the Bailu Plain, the suspected area of Baling and the Nanling of Empress Dowager Bo did a larger-scale archaeological investigation and exploration.
At that time, Ma Yongying was the deputy captain and was mainly responsible for the exploration work in the Baling Mausoleum area.
He was originally an "outsider" in archaeology. After graduating from law, he was assigned to an archaeological unit. At first, he did administrative work and later turned to archaeology.
In 1995, Ma Yongying followed Jiao Nanfeng and knocked on the door of the study of the imperial mausoleums of the Western Han Dynasty.
When I first arrived at Fenghuangzui, there was still a loess slope overgrown with weeds.
The Luoyang shovel of the archaeological team inserted vertically into the ground, took out soil samples one after another, and drilled from the foot of the mountain to the mountainside.
Half a year has passed, and the archaeological team has not found any tombs and cemetery remains.
"In the beginning, I thought that our work was not detailed enough, so I drilled again." Ma Yongying reduced the spacing of the drilling holes from three meters to two meters. After more than a month of drilling by dozens of drillers, no any discovery.
To be on the safe side, the archaeological team invited members of the Shaanxi Geochemical Exploration Team. The third drilling used high-tech geophysical exploration technology, which was originally used to find metal and non-metallic minerals, groundwater and other underground resources.
The geophysical equipment was nailed into the ground, and the radar began to detect, but Baling was still not found.
Three investigations into Fenghuangzui did not find any information related to Ba Ling.
Ma Yongying reported the situation to the captain Jiao Nanfeng, and the archaeologists gathered together to sort out the documents, read the drawings, analyze the landforms, and began to doubt the previous records of "Baling in Phoenix Mouth".
Ba Ling is not in Phoenix Mouth, so where is he?
The Hanling archaeological team turned their attention to the tomb of Empress Dou.
According to the shape of the tombs of the Western Han emperors, the emperor and the queen will be buried in the same tomb area after death, each with a mausoleum, also known as the "same tomb with different caves".
According to this burial system, the Mausoleum of Emperor Hanwen should be near the Mausoleum of Empress Dou.
There are two bucket-shaped seals on Bailu Plain, the Tomb of Empress Dou and the Tomb of Empress Dowager Bo.
And Baling has no land.
In 157 B.C., Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, who advocated frugality, left an edict before his death: The Baling Mountains and Rivers should not be changed because of this.
He hoped that the mausoleum he was buried in would not damage the original landform, and would not be artificially sealed.
When the Hanling Archaeological Team was worried, the Xi'an Archaeological Research Institute provided an important clue: in 2006, they found an extra-large tomb without soil seal 800 meters away from Empress Dou's Mausoleum, that is, near the place where the black pottery figurines were stolen— —Jiangcun Tomb.
As a result, the relationship between Empress Dou's mausoleum and Fenghuangzui and Jiangcun's tombs entered the academic field of archaeologists, which opened up discussions on the specific location of Emperor Wen's Mausoleum.
In 2017, the Hanling Archaeological Team began to explore and excavate the pit outside the Jiangcun Tomb.
The Luoyang shovel kept hitting the loess, and as the drilling deepened, a large-scale tomb with top-level configuration appeared.
The tomb is in the shape of "Asia", the side of the tomb is about 73 meters long, and there are more than 110 outer pits around it.
"In the Han Dynasty, this was the highest-level tomb system, and only the emperor or the empress could use it." Ma Yongying felt that the Jiangcun tomb might be the Paling Mausoleum, but archaeology is a science and requires detailed evidence. The Luoyang shovels in their hands did not stop...
Drilling the outer garden wall
As soon as the orange morning sun emerged from the ground, explorer Wang Zhaohong came to the archaeological site. He wore a black velvet cap and orange plastic gloves, and picked up the exploration shovel for drilling.
The light yellow probe needs to be assembled. Each pole is one meter long and weighs four or five pounds. He can lift a pole of eight meters at most.
The semi-circular shovel was inserted vertically into the ground, and when it was turned and lifted, the pole shuttled back and forth in Wang Zhaohong's hands, and the cylindrical soil samples were taken out one after another.
10 minutes later, Wang Zhaohong had already picked up the 4-meter pole, the depth was getting bigger and bigger, and the waist was getting more and more bent.
Sweat dripped from his forehead even with the cold winter wind blowing.
Suddenly, he felt that the hand felt wrong, and when he raised the soil sample, he saw that the loess was mixed with a layer of dark blue soil.
"This is pottery, at a depth of 3.5 meters." Wang Zhaohong picked up the clod and broke it into pieces. After identifying the pottery, he took a tape measure to measure the depth before calling the captain Ma Yongying to report.
早在1984年，汪照宏就加入了陕西省考古钻探公司，学习各种钻探技术。勘探汉陵，对汪照宏来说是轻车熟路。他曾在汉阳陵工作了十几年，去的第一天，就探出了墓道，“那个孔打了19米，他们之前都没找到那条墓道。”
后来，汪照宏又去了江西、酒泉、无锡和沈阳等地的考古工地。他说自己像游击队，哪里有活，就往哪里跑。2018年，马永嬴把老搭档汪照宏叫回了汉陵考古队，当时霸陵的勘探遇到了难题，围住霸陵和窦皇后陵的外园墙一直未能完整探出。
机遇出现在一个雨天。其他队员都在休息时，马永嬴拉着汪照宏出门溜达。他们走在钻探过的泥泞小路上，突然发现路边的断崖有点不一样，雨水冲刷后，看到了夯土墙的痕迹。马永嬴说：“我们当时很激动，这也是发现外园墙的证据。”
识土辨土，是考古人的必备技能。不同的土，质地、颜色和结构都不一样，考古人用肉眼就能看出。马永嬴举了个例子，“温暖湿润时期的植被丰茂，相应形成的土层颜色较深；寒冷干旱时期植被稀疏，形成的土层颜色较浅。而古代的墙是通过夯打土块形成的，夯土上面会有夯窝，就像石头饼一样。”
如何在一片平地之下找到两千多年前的夯墙？
考古人善于寻找遗存的蛛丝马迹。有一次，曹龙在下雪后航拍，茫茫白雪中，有一处地方融得很快，土地裸露了出来，这意味着下面可能存在墓道。还有一次，他们看到一片绿色的麦田中，有一圈金黄的麦浪，“下面可能有城墙，麦子扎根扎不下去，熟得早。”
“我打铲（钻孔）就凭手感，拿铲子打到啥土，就有啥感觉。”洛阳铲在手中握了三四十年，汪照宏练就了一番绝活。他不用看土块，光凭手感就能辨别地下有何物——有水分的夯土像橡皮泥，陶器或瓦片的声音比较脆，有盗洞的土手感比较松等等。
但要探出被破坏严重的外园墙，对汪照宏来说，也很难。他翻开了田野考古日志，上面记录他曾钻过的孔，密密麻麻。他已经不记得到底钻过多少个孔，错了，再钻，找不到，再钻。有时候，好不容易发现两三米的夯土痕迹，又断了，七拐八拐，断断续续。
Archaeologists continue to try with reference to the range of the outer garden wall of the previous Han Mausoleum.
Wang Zhaohong and two drillers kept probing the ground with Luoyang shovels. After more than a month, they finally found a section of the wall foundation.
He once again exerted his ability to know the soil. "The soil is relatively pure, and the structure is dense and hard. This is the characteristic of rammed earth."
"I was very happy when I found the rammed wall, this is the key evidence!" Ma Yongying drew the width of the rammed wall with both hands, unable to hide his excitement.
This section of rammed wall encloses the tomb of Jiangcun and Empress Dou in a cemetery with a length of about 1200 meters and a width of about 863 meters. The same large cemetery embodies the "same tomb".
This crucial piece of evidence emerged in 2019, and after repeated drilling and verification, it was not established until 2020.
Ma Yongying sighed: "The location of Ba Ling cannot be determined in a day."
Dig the "zoo"
The brush swept the loess, and the blue-grey pottery coffin was exposed.
Wearing gloves, Zhang Wanwan carefully removed the lid of the coffin, and a small head of a bird appeared, the size of an egg, with its bones lying on its side in the pottery coffin.
At that moment, she forgot the pain of bending over for a long time and felt "surprise and cute".
This post-90s girl has instant noodles and curly hair. After graduation, she joined the Xi'an Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology.
Two months ago, Zhang Wanwan came to the Hanling Archaeological Team to participate in the archaeological work of the Baling site.
Surprises often appear under Zhang Wanwan's shovel.
Once, a brown seed the size of a sesame husk was hidden in a clod, and the sharp-eyed she found it.
"Don't look at them small, these are one of the evidences that we restore the life history of ancient people." After rejoicing, she was more worried, she was worried about whether she had left out other seeds or damaged the scene.
The finds come from the Nanling Mausoleum of Empress Dowager Bo, where the mother of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty is buried.
In addition to the bird bones found, more than a dozen animal skeletons such as golden monkeys, red-crowned cranes, and tortoises have been found in other outer pits. Giant panda skulls and rhino skeletons have also been excavated before.
Gold and silver artifacts with animal images, including bears, wolves, leopards, etc., were also unearthed in the Waizang Pit on the west side of Nanling, with a typical grassland culture style.
"The distribution of these animal skeletons is very regular. It's like entering a zoo. The west is the animal area and the east is the bird area." Hu Songmei, an expert in animal archaeology at the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, introduced that the rare birds and animals buried with the tomb also showed the noble owner of the tomb. Identity also reflects the ancients' concept of "death is like life".
The Hanling Archaeological Team is also like a "zoo".
考古队有着自己独到的“土法笑料”。如果仔细揣摩考古队员的名字，马永嬴、曹龙、朱晨露、朱连华、杨彦文等人的名字都与动物有关。曹龙笑着解释：“马啊羊啊猪啊，都围着槽吃饭。现在张婉婉来了，终于有了‘碗’，可以实行分餐制了。”
还有一个巧合。焦南峰是首任汉陵考古队队长，马永嬴是第二任队长，曹龙是副队长，朱晨露是队里的青年骨干。而他们都是陕西人，年龄刚好都相差11岁。
“这其实也象征着我们考古队的传承。”朱晨露来到汉陵考古队4年，这里更像是他的另一个家。从起初的住工地板房，到住村民的房子，再到三个月前搬入的考古基地。不变的是，二十多位队员像家人般的相处。
每天早上7点多，开门的师傅会用陕西话喊一句“开门了”，考古基地大门随之打开。队员们吃过早餐，8点准时到工地上干活，中午再回来吃碗面。下午6点，收工的队员们会在院子里打会儿乒乓球，然后聚在食堂，边吃晚饭边看考古类电视节目。
晚饭过后，是考古人难得的休闲时光。他们会三五成群地外出散步，绕着江村大墓和南陵走一圈，消消食。再晚一些，马永嬴会在会议室里给大家放电影，从好莱坞大片放到国产喜剧。朱晨露偶尔会在院子里吹笛子，静谧的白鹿原上，飘荡着悠扬的笛声。
未解之谜
从黑陶俑被盗到正式确定霸陵，二十年，倏忽而过。
关于霸陵的考古工作，其实早已开始。上世纪六七十年代，王学理、吴镇烽等对江村东的小型从葬坑、薄太后南陵西北的小型从葬坑进行了抢救发掘；八十年代，社科院考古所的刘庆柱和李毓芳，对西汉十一陵进行了系统的调查及测量工作，为后续西汉帝陵考古奠定了良好的基础。
2001年，不法分子在江村附近盗掘出黑陶俑。当时，焦南峰等人正在做咸阳原上的西汉帝陵的考古工作，随后转向霸陵。2006年，勘探发现江村大墓及其周边外藏坑、石围界等。由此，窦皇后陵与凤凰嘴、江村大墓的关系进入考古工作者的学术视野，开启了对文帝霸陵具体位置的讨论。
大量关注和热度，来了又去。
After the media dispersed, Ma Yongying led the archaeological team to continue to excavate, organize archaeological materials, and assist the local government in formulating conservation plans.
There is a painting and calligraphy hanging on the wall of his office, which is a portrait of his life for most of his life: "The spring has passed by the Weishui Bridge, and the rain is beginning to clear on the Bailu Plain."
In four years, Ma Yongying will retire.
After more than 20 years, the confusion about Ba Ling in his heart was finally resolved, and he muttered to himself, "I won't make mistakes again in the future."
More people are concerned about the future of Baling.
Will the tomb of Emperor Hanwen continue to be excavated?
The archaeologists gave a negative answer.
"Archaeology is not a treasure hunt. You can't see one and dig another. What you choose to excavate is what you need for research." Jiao Nanfeng explained that my country's cultural relics policy does not allow excavation in principle on ancient imperial tombs.
From the perspective of cultural relics protection, many technologies are not perfect at present, and some cultural relics are easily destroyed after they are unearthed.
The damage to the tomb itself is irreversible.
"We leave this wealth to future generations, and we will continue to excavate it when the technology is mature and their research needs it." Ma Yongying said.
The power of protection is indeed growing.
On the second day after the announcement of Ba Mausoleum, the public security department of Baqiao District held a joint meeting with the archaeological team to set up a police office, install cameras, strengthen night patrols, etc., to strengthen the security of field cultural relics.
The cultural relic security patrols in the village have also increased the frequency and number of patrols.
Jiao Nanfeng returned to the stack of books. During the day, he read books, consulted materials, and copied useful documents. At 10 o'clock in the evening, when everyone fell asleep, he began to comb and write until two or three in the morning.
About Ba Ling, he wanted to know more. The gate and dormitory of Ba Ling have not yet been determined, where is the mausoleum, and what is the number and size of the accompanying tombs...
The 67-year-old archaeologist has been studying Qin and Han tombs for 40 years. His white hair has already climbed to his temples, but he is still as happy as a child.
"Archaeology is a job that is often rewarding. We explored all the eleven imperial mausoleums in the Western Han Dynasty, and 9 of them were newly discovered. This is 9 surprises."
The night in Bailuyuan is very quiet, only the sound of dogs barking in the distance.
The gate of the archaeological base is facing the Queen Mother Bo's Nanling Mausoleum. Under the moonlight, the shadow of Fengtu is faintly visible.
The lamp in Jiao Nanfeng's study was always on, and the moon quietly climbed into the sky, illuminating the stone tablet in the yard, which was engraved with the four characters inscribed by the famous archaeologist Liu Qingzhu: "Kun and make up the history".
Beijing News reporter Wu Caiqian intern Li Xinran Sun Qingyue