In order to find out the scale and quantity of tombs here, the cultural relics department specially set up an investigation team to conduct a carpet survey of this area of nearly 23 square kilometers. During the investigation, 36 ancient tombs were discovered. Soon, an archaeological team of cultural relics was quickly established and quickly entered the road construction site. A rescue excavation involving cultural relics experts, scholars and local authorities began.
In March 2006, the archaeological team led by Wang Jinghui confirmed that these mounds were the seals of the tombs of the Han Dynasty through field exploration. So, they named this big mound south of the railway subgrade "Shuangdun No.1 Han Tomb". Before the official excavation of Tomb No.1, the archaeological team decided to carry out detailed archaeological drilling on the tomb and excavate the surrounding area. In addition to the No.1 Han Tomb of Shuangdun, there are also No.2 Han Tomb of Shuangdun and more than 30 mounds, large and small, nearby. Around Tomb No.1, the core area is 5 square kilometers.
The discovery of Shuangdun Han Tomb not only aroused widespread concern in society, but also attracted the attention of modern grave robbers. According to the police in Lu 'an, the previous hole-stealing case has been successfully closed. Four grave robbers from Henan Province were arrested when they were preparing to dig the local Gaotao Tomb and Shuangdun Wangling again.
In order to better ensure the smooth excavation of the site and the safety of unearthed cultural relics, Lu 'an police stepped up their vigilance and implemented 24-hour vigilance supervision. In order to ensure foolproof, the police also spent tens of thousands of yuan to buy remote monitoring probes and infrared alarm equipment to be placed around. Once an outsider enters the scene, the device immediately sounds a harsh alarm.
From June 5438 to October 2006, with the efforts of archaeologists, all the soil in the cemetery was dug up. This ancient tomb, which has been buried for more than two thousand years, finally unveiled its mystery today.
This is indeed an unusual Han tomb. The appearance of the tomb-type system made the archaeologists present see the importance of this tomb.
It consists of four parts: inside and outside. In the middle is the coffin room, which is divided into two layers. The inner layer and the outer layer are wooden coffins. Inside the wooden coffin is a sarcophagus, and inside is a heavy wooden coffin, which is used to place the remains of the tomb owner.
Experts speculate that in the Han Dynasty, there were not many cypress trees in Lu 'an, located in Dabie Mountain, but there were oak trees everywhere. Oak is not only antiseptic, but also has high density, low toxicity and insect resistance. Replacing cypress with oak highlights the "characteristics of western Anhui".
But then new problems appeared. Generally speaking, emperors' tombs face south, but this Han tomb faces east. If the owner of the tomb is a vassal, then the rules of the cemetery are obviously against the rules. Is the terrain location limiting the construction of the mausoleum, or is it deliberately arranged by the designer?
The main burial chamber of Shuangdun Han Tomb is about 2.5 meters high, and the outer wooden coffin cover plate is made up of 13 pieces in turn. Each strip is 3 meters long, about 25 centimeters thick and has different widths. The battens are interlocked with tenons and numbered separately.
There is a door to the east of the tomb. The front tomb, 22 meters long and 7 meters wide, leads directly to the tomb and is connected with the puzzle on three sides.
This is a circle of Tibetan rooms outside the jigsaw puzzle. Various exquisite wooden structures such as columns, beams, tenons and semi-tenons divide Tibetan rooms into compartments, and various funerary objects are placed in an orderly manner according to the living habits of the deceased. Sacrificial objects such as treasures, daily utensils, chariots and horses models, etc. reflect the funeral tradition of the ancient Chinese people that "things die like things live".
In order to prevent grave robbers from entering the tomb and destroying the peace of the deceased, it is obvious that the designer has spent a lot of thought on the selection of wood for the tomb.
However, with the deepening of the excavation work, Wang Jinghui's concern was finally confirmed. There are grave robbers here. The three-story door panel here has been cut down by two floors, indicating that grave robbers tried to enter the tomb from here.
Now it seems that although the tomb door has been specially treated and designed, it still failed to resist the axe of the grave robber. Later, archaeologists found that the grave robbers finally found a breakthrough in the cloister.
This stolen cave, located in the northeast corner of the tomb, leads directly to the layers of coffins. Through the stolen hole in the wooden coffin, people can clearly see the sarcophagus and the inner coffin in the wooden coffin, but the body of the tomb owner has never been found.
These empty stolen caves seem to tell people some helplessness today, and also pour cold water on archaeologists. How will the next work be carried out, and will there be new and valuable discoveries afterwards?
In order to better protect the ancient tomb, the archaeological team decided to start cleaning along the stolen hole. But just as they approached the end of the stolen hole to clean up, an unexpected scene appeared.
They found several broken pottery bowls and an iron axe beside the tomb. Based on years of archaeological experience, Wang Jinghui preliminarily concluded that these bowls have the characteristics of typical Tang Dynasty vessels. Was this left by grave robbers in those days?
Half a year has passed in an instant. Because the excavation period is summer and autumn, it is rainy and rainy, and the tomb scale is large, which increases the difficulty of excavation work.
According to the current archaeological excavations, the wooden coffins and sarcophagus in the main room have been damaged to some extent, but the lacquer wood blocks, nail pieces and some relics such as jade, gold foil and silver foil cleaned up from the stolen hole and coffin room still provide some valuable basis for future research work. The theft of the mausoleum has brought countless regrets to people, but even so, they are still looking forward to a miracle.
Wang Jinghui got up early this morning. As usual, he packed up the tools and necessities to be taken to the excavation site tomorrow. Different from the past, he specially brought more plastic bags to store and retrieve cultural relics. Because today he has a strange feeling in his heart.
When the staff cleaned the outer storage room, they first unearthed several copper pots filled with water.
At the beginning of the excavation, the water here once overflowed the whole tomb. They thought the pot was residual water, so they poured out more than half of it. However, when the staff inadvertently reached into the pot, they accidentally fished out some rice grains at the bottom of the pot, and at the same time, a bouquet of wine came to the nose.
Only then did everyone realize that the liquid in the copper pot may have been aged in Lu 'an more than 2,000 years ago.
Subsequently, archaeologists found a batch of buried copper pots in the southwest corner of the Tibetan room, with as many as 20 pieces. Several of the bronze pots are beautifully shaped, and the walls of the pots are inlaid with gold and silver silk threads. These copper pots are typical misplaced treasures of the Han Dynasty, and the clear texture shows the superb craftsmanship of the craftsmen of that year.
These precious cultural relics found on the spot have high artistic and academic value because of their exquisite craftsmanship.
In fact, there are not many historical records about Lu Anguo in historical materials, and experts are also trying to find relevant clues through these funerary objects.
In the early Western Han Dynasty, there were too many power struggles in the imperial court. In 140 BC, after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne, he continued the policy pursued by his father, Emperor Han Jingdi, and at the same time strengthened absolutism and highlighted the supremacy of centralization. In view of the division of vassals at that time, the "favor decree" was promulgated to promote the reform of the vassal enfeoffment system with the legal system. On the surface, it was a land granted by Hou, but in fact it greatly weakened the local power of vassal States and consolidated the sacred position of imperial power. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established six counties in western Anhui, which are called "Luan Guo" here.
At that time, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had a half-brother named Liu Ji. Liu Ji knew that Huai Nan Wang Huai An was going to rebel, so he secretly supported it and prepared to deal with it. After Liu An was exposed, he was forced to commit suicide, but Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty still pursued Liu An's henchmen, implicating tens of thousands of people, and Liu Ji later died of illness. Strangely, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty did not pursue Liu Ji's infidelity, but considered his special relationship with Liu Ji, and named Liu Qing, the son of Liu Ji, as a vassal, and the territory was today's Lu 'an.
In BC 12 1 year, Liu Qing, the son of Liu Ji, was made King of Luan by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and reigned for 38 years. As the first king of Lu 'an, Liu Qing knew that this was an extra favor of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, and he didn't pursue his father's sin, so he was naturally cautious in the future and everything went well.
From then on, in 130 years, as envisaged by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, a scene of peace and prosperity, prosperity of the country and safety of the people was presented. However, what Lu Anguo looks like in historical records and where Wang Ling was built have become eternal mysteries.
The surface of the cleaned copper pot is engraved with inscriptions such as "* * * House", "Nine", "Six" and "Ten". "Nine" and "six" are more like a serial number, so what does "* * * house" mean?
According to the system at that time, posthumous title after his death was given by the emperor according to his performance before his death. Liu Qing was dubbed "* * *", and "* * *" actually means "respectfully" and "respectfully".
Does the "* * * symbol" on the bronze ware mean "King Liu An" Liu Qing? Can the inscriptions on these bronze pots reveal the mystery of the identity of the tomb owner that people have been paying attention to for a long time?
This morning, the archaeologist cleared a broken femur in the soil in the southeast corner of the coffin. According to the analysis of archaeologists at the scene, these bones came from a person. Later, they discovered other bones one after another, including the extremely important skull.
A few days later, the outer storage room at the bottom of the tomb pit has been cleaned up. During the whole cleaning process, a large number of copper pots were found, and 12 wooden carts were also unearthed. The structure and arrangement of these carriages are very similar to those unearthed in the first pit of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shihuang. During this period, archaeologists did not find the second controversial bone, nor did they find new evidence to speculate on the identity of the owner of the tomb before the overthrow. Accordingly, archaeologists finally determined that the tomb owner of Shuangdun Han Tomb was Liu Qing, the first-generation vassal of Lu 'anguo in the Western Han Dynasty.
The construction period of Hefei-Wuhan Railway is approaching. Since June 5438+0, although the mystery of the tomb owner's identity that has puzzled everyone for a long time has been solved, the work of clearing cultural relics in other areas has begun. The crowd of onlookers and the interference of grave robbery activities have brought a lot of pressure to this middle-aged man.
This morning, he stayed up all night and came to the excavation site early, because in a few days, Tian He Shi Guo will open the coffin one after another, and the main coffin will be hoisted out of the coffin room, and a series of complicated work awaits them.
The silence at the scene aggravated his anxiety, and he knew that he and his team members would face higher challenges in the coming days. ...