China News Service, Xi'an, March 31 (Reporter Alina) On March 31, the final results of the top ten new archaeological discoveries in the country in 2021 were officially announced, and the Jiangcun Tomb in Xi'an, Shaanxi was successfully selected.
The founder of the Western Han Dynasty's "Wenjingzhizhi" - Emperor Wendi Liu Heng of the Han Dynasty, was respected by later generations for his personal cultivation and governance concept of "loyalty, benevolence, filial piety, prudence and frugality, lightness of rudeness and fu, elimination of tyranny, and abolition of torture". Ming Jun.
Gold artifacts unearthed in the outer Tibetan pit of Nanling.
Photo courtesy of Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology
In 157 BC, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, Liu Heng, died in Weiyang Palace and was buried in Baling.
Ba Ling was not sealed because of "not to treat the grave, to save the province, and not to bother the people". Although its location is in Bailuyuan, its specific location is gradually blurred in the long river of history.
Since the Yuan Dynasty, people have used the Phoenix Mouth on the east side of Bailuyuan as the Paling Mausoleum, and erected monuments to worship.
With the efforts of several generations of archaeologists, the name of the tomb of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty and the layout of the mausoleum area have been basically clear.
The tomb of Jiangcun, 800 meters away from Empress Dou’s mausoleum, was discovered by archaeological exploration in 2006, which provided important clues for determining the specific location of the Paling Mausoleum, and opened the discussion on the specific location of Emperor Wendi’s Ba Mausoleum.
From 2011 to 2013, the archaeological work on the protection of the Great Mausoleum of the Western Han Dynasty basically clarified the distribution range and shape layout of the cultural relics in the Baling Mausoleum (Fenghuangzui, Jiangcun Mausoleum) and Nanling Mausoleum.
Especially in the exploration of Fenghuangzui, no mausoleum remains were found, which provided a strong support for the discussion of the ownership of the tomb in Jiangcun Tomb.
A bronze seal was unearthed in a pit outside the Jiangcun Tomb.
Photo courtesy of Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology
From 2017 to now, the excavation of the outer pit, the accompanying tomb and the outer pit of Nanling, as well as the surrounding archaeological investigation and exploration work, have clarified the connotation and attributes of the outer pit of the Jiangcun tomb; The outer cemetery surrounded by the tomb of Jiangcun is the key evidence to identify the tomb of Jiangcun as the tomb of Emperor Hanwen.
So far, the complete chain of evidence to determine the Jiangcun Tomb as the Tomb of Emperor Hanwen has been presented from an archaeological point of view.
Jiangcun Tomb is located on the Bailu Plain in the eastern suburb of Xi'an City, about 2,000 meters away from the "Phoenix Mouth", which is known as the Tomb of Emperor Han Wen in the north, and 800 meters away from the Mausoleum of Empress Dou in the east.
Archaeologists have conducted many investigations, explorations and trial excavations in the Jiangcun tomb area, and found that the Jiangcun tomb is in the shape of an "Asian" shape with no soil on the ground. The side of the tomb is 73 meters long and surrounded by 115 outer pits. The "Shiweijie" and the gate tower form a cemetery.
Animal remains and pottery were unearthed from a small outer pit in Nanling.
Photo courtesy of Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology
The mausoleum of Empress Dou has a "covered bucket" seal, and the tomb is in the shape of "Asia". There are more than 10 outer pits on the side of the mausoleum, surrounded by rammed earth garden walls and gate sites.
The ruins of a rammed wall are also found around the Jiangcun Tomb and the Mausoleum of Empress Dou. The remnants of the wall are more than 1,200 meters long from east to west, 860 meters from north to south, and the wall is about 3.5 meters wide.
The site of the wall is the Great Cemetery Wall surrounding the Tomb of Hejiang Village and the Tomb of Empress Dou.
Inside and outside the Great Cemetery, there are also relics of different types of outer Tibetan pits, ruins of buildings (including pottery kilns), and tombs.
Since 2017, archaeologists have excavated the pits outside the Jiangcun Tomb, the ruins of pottery kilns, and the accompanying tombs.
Eight outer pits were excavated in the Jiangcun Tomb, with a length of 6.5-72 meters, a width of 3-6 meters, and a depth of 6-9 meters.
Most of them are in the form of vertical caverns with slopes, and there are remains of wooden coffins at the bottom.
Clothed pottery figurines (individually wearing torture tools), pottery, iron, bronze, and lacquered woodware (including wooden carts and horses) were unearthed.
In addition, the copper seals of Ming wares such as "Qifu" and "Zhongsi Kongyin" were also cleaned up.
17 pottery kiln sites were excavated.
A pottery kiln consists of a fire door, a fire chamber, a kiln room and a chimney. Generally, 2-5 kilns share the same operation room.
Relics such as bricks, tiles and pottery of the Han Dynasty were unearthed in the kiln.
In Lijia Village, about 4 kilometers southwest of the Jiangcun Tomb, 4 "Jia"-shaped tombs were excavated, and precious cultural relics such as music and dance figurines, pottery bells, chimes, jade clothes pieces, and copper scorpions with the inscription "Xiangcheng Family" were unearthed.
In addition, archaeologists have also done some archaeological work on the Southern Mausoleum of Empress Dowager Bo.
The shape of the Nanling tomb is also in the shape of "Asia". The tomb deviates from the seal to the east. There are 20 outer Tibetan pits and 3 architectural sites around it, and there are also "stone enclosures" on the periphery.
Nanling excavated three outer pits on the west side. Their shape and structure are basically similar to those of the outer pits of the Jiangcun Tomb. Painted pottery figurines in plastic clothes, the remains of a large wooden cart, and a large number of gold and silver ornaments with exotic cultural styles were unearthed. and other cultural relics.
There are 380 small outer pits distributed in the northwest of Nanling Sealed Earth.
Archaeologists have excavated 39 of them, all of which are vertical cave structures.
The coffin has brick bars, pottery coffins, animal skeletons, pottery pots, pottery figurines and so on.
It is understood that the eleven emperors of the Western Han Dynasty were buried near Chang'an City in the Western Han Dynasty.
Except for the Mausoleum of Emperor Han Wen and Du Mausoleum of Emperor Xuan of Han, which are located in Bailuyuan in the eastern suburbs of Xi'an and Dulingyuan in the southeast of Xi'an, the other nine are located in Xianyangyuan on the north bank of the Wei River.
Archaeological work has denied the traditional understanding that "Phoenix Mouth" is the Tomb of Emperor Han Wen, confirmed the exact location of the Tomb of Emperor Han Wen, and solved the problem of the name of the eleven tombs of the Western Han Dynasty.
The basic grasp of the scale, shape, layout and connotation of the tombs of the Western Han emperors, including the Baling, provides detailed archaeological data for the study of the formation, development and evolution of the imperial tomb system in the Western Han Dynasty, and laid a solid foundation for the in-depth study of the ancient Chinese imperial tomb system. Base.
Photo of cultural relic restoration work.
Photo courtesy of Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology
The double cemetery of Ba Mausoleum, the emperor mausoleum in the middle, and the layout of the outer Tibetan pits that symbolize the official offices around the emperor mausoleum are all the first to appear in the tombs of the Western Han emperors, indicating the initial establishment of the Western Han Empire's political concept of the emperor's sole exaltation and centralized power; The shape and layout of the mausoleum is based on the basic elements of Changling and Anling, and is under the regulation of Qiyangling, Maoling and other cemeteries. Important physical information.
At the same time, it also reflects the development and changes of the political thought and ideology of the Western Han Empire.
Among the large number of precious cultural relics unearthed in Baling, seals, seals and other cultural relics with characters, etc., have confirmed the construction concept of "the mausoleum is like a capital city" and the imperial mausoleum "imitates the real Western Han Empire".
The numerous gold and silver wares in the outer Tibetan pit of Nanling are direct evidence of the exchange and integration of farming and animal husbandry cultures in the pre-Qin and Han dynasties, witnessing the historical development trend of Chinese civilization from "diversity" to "integration".
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