In history books, most of the tomb robbers recorded were famous figures. Whether in ancient times or modern times, all tomb robbers can be divided into official thieves and civilian thieves. Xiang Yu, Dong Zhuo, Cao Cao, and the notorious Dongling robber Sun Dianying all used large numbers of soldiers to excavate ancient tombs with open swords and guns. In addition to taking away the treasures inside, they also destroyed the tomb buildings. This kind of people are usually called official thieves and have the typical characteristics of warlords and hooligans.
In addition to those who rob openly, there are also civilian thieves who "steal secretly". Most of the thieves are people from the private sector who secretly dig up ancient tombs in various ways, steal finances, and make a fortune. These people sometimes travel together, and most of them will look for traces of ancient tombs from history books, local documents or folklore before taking action. Then they will check the shape of the earth on the ground to judge the level and age of the tomb, and then rely on experience and tools to rob the tomb.
The ancient Chinese believed that death is not the end of life, but that the dead just enter another world. Therefore, ancient people, regardless of poverty or wealth, always hoped to take away some belongings or treasures after death so that they could continue to enjoy themselves in the other world. The higher the status and the richer the family, the more grave goods they will have in their tombs. Luxury burial has become an important cultural custom in ancient China.
It is precisely this kind of wealth that attracts those who seek to make money at the expense of others. When dignitaries built their own tombs, they also took great care to prevent tomb robbers. Tomb robbing and burglary are almost inseparable. It has not been verified in which dynasty tomb robbing first appeared. From the history books, we can see that it was very common during the Zhou Dynasty.
One is tomb robbing, and the other is to prevent theft. On the one hand, for the sake of profit and life safety, tomb robbing technology is constantly improving; on the other hand, to prevent theft, every effort is made to build tombs that are difficult to distinguish between genuine and fake, and have many mechanisms. This game has been going on for thousands of years and is still enduring.
Grave robbers in ancient China can be divided into two types according to region: the southern group and the northern group, with the Yangtze River as the boundary. The northern faction is also divided into the Luoyang Gang and the Guanzhong Gang, and the southern faction is divided into the Changsha Gang and the Guangdong Gang. Each gang has its own "scope of activity" and it is difficult for people outside the gang to come in. Under normal circumstances, the gangs do not invade each other and do their own thing.
For the Northern School, they are known for their "skills", such as where to dig the hole, in front of the coffin or at the end of the coffin, what shape should be dug when digging, whether it is a square hole or a garden hole. All very particular and weird. The square-mouthed robber caves were created by the Northern School and are more common on the loess soil in the Guanzhong area of ??Shaanxi Province. They are often called "Guanzhong-style robber caves" in the circle. The northern sect of tomb robbers is still very particular about the use of tools. For example, the Luoyang shovel was invented by the northern sect of tomb robbers.
According to modern archaeological discoveries, in the tombs of the Yin Shang kings in the Yin Ruins in Anyang, 8 large tombs in the west area and 5 large tombs in the east area were stolen more than once, leaving very few relics. Archaeologists participating in the excavation recorded that the early tomb robbers judged the location of the tomb very accurately. They would open a large circular pit in the center of the tomb, with the mouth of the pit close to the four walls of the tomb. This robbery pit will go straight to the top of the tomb coffin. At this time, the coffin chamber in the tomb has not yet decayed and collapsed, and the tomb robbers can directly enter it and sweep away the belongings inside.