Maoling has been buried for more than two thousand years since the death of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. In this long historical vicissitudes, it has not only been exclusive and prosperous, but also experienced desolation and ruin, especially the destruction of grave robbers, which more or less damaged the historical image of this great mausoleum.
In fact, in the history of China, there were grave robbers in its own tombs. The so-called "there is no tomb that cannot be stolen" is exaggerated, but it does reflect a phenomenon that society should not have but must have. Up to now, the act of stealing and digging ancient tombs still occurs from time to time all over the country.
According to historical records, the loss and theft of Maoling, like the experience of Emperor Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum, were all stolen and dug up shortly after the owner of the Mausoleum was buried. Especially in Maoling, there are many palaces and buildings around the tall mausoleum. Under the condition that the guard force is not reduced, there have been grave robbery cases, which is puzzling. At that time, the dynasty may not have solved the case. Therefore, in the middle and late Western Han Dynasty, only the consequences of the theft were recorded in the historical records, and there was no record of the plot and process of solving the case and the punishment for the grave robbers.
It was discovered that Maoling was stolen for the first time in 84 BC, four years after Emperor Wu died of illness and was buried in Maoling Square. One day this year, in Fufeng (now Fufeng County, Shaanxi Province) market, 3 kilometers west of Maoling, a businessman bought two jade articles, one is a jade box and the other is a jade staff, with 3 pieces of green cloth and 9 thousand yuan. At that time, someone recognized it, pointing out that it was the treasure that King Xihu Kangqu presented to Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty. The businessman and two jade objects were sent to the relevant departments of Chang 'an government. A check proved to be a treasure loved by the first emperor Hanwu, and it was buried in the catalpa coffin of Maoling underground palace that year. A department (judicial department) of the dynasty registered the jade box and jade staff and handed them over to the public, but let the businessman go without asking more questions. The handling of this case, in today's view, is simply unreasonable, not to mention that the current emperor was Liu Fuling, the beloved son of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
after 2 years, that is, in 64 BC, the second stolen case in Maoling was discovered. This year, an official in Hedong County (now Linfen, Shanxi Province) named Li You went to Shangdang (now north of Changzhi, Shanxi Province) to hold calves of yam, and found a gold box in a cave on the mountain, containing more than 3 volumes of miscellaneous scriptures. There are written records and names at the back of the book, and the date when the book was written. The matter was reported to Zhang Chun, the prefect of Hedong County, and Zhang Taishou immediately presented it to the emperor (Liu Xun, the great-grandson of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty) and presented the golden box and scroll together. Xuan Di was very surprised when he saw it, so he asked Randeng, the courtier of the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, that Randeng, who was already an old minister, cried bitterly at the sight of the golden box and the scrolls, saying that this was the buried thing of Emperor Xiaowu! When Xuan Di heard this, he burst into tears, so he ordered the golden box scroll to be re-sealed and sent to the temple of Emperor Wu of Maoling. For such a major grave robbery case, it seems that it will go away. Some people say that Mausoleum is as safe as ever, but books, jade sticks and jade boxes are missing. It is really incomprehensible to find that they have not been damaged since they were recovered. During this period, it is not known how many funerary objects of Maoling have been stolen and not found.
The third case of Maoling's theft occurred in September of AD 25, during the disintegration of Wang Mang's New Dynasty and the early years of Liu Xiufu's Han Dynasty. At that time, Liu Xuan, the leader of the Han Dynasty, moved his capital to Luoyang. His life was corrupt and he feasted day and night, which caused dissatisfaction among peasant rebels from all walks of life. At that time, the Red Eyebrow Army in Puyang wanted to cooperate with Liu Xuan, but Liu Xuan refused. So the Red Eyebrow Army invaded Chang 'an, and Liu Xuan in Luoyang surrendered to the Red Eyebrow Army and was hanged. Not long after, Liu Xiu came out to clean up the mess, restore the Han Dynasty and establish the Eastern Han Dynasty.
After the Red Eyed Army invaded Chang 'an, it rebelled everywhere, and the troops were divided into counties and cities in Guanzhong. The Red Eyebrow Army stationed in the cities of Maoling robbed Maoling and its buried tombs. If they go into no man's land, they openly dig graves and search for buried objects. It is said that at that time, there was a battalion of officers and men of the Red Eyebrow Army, who got through the door of the underground palace and carried the buried objects of the underground palace for dozens of days. However, later, the Eastern Han Dynasty sent people to inspect the Mausoleum, saying that "less than half of the buried objects were lost".
The fourth time Maoling was stolen was in 88 AD, when Tang Xizong was in power. Huang Chao peasant army revolted and invaded Chang 'an. Among them, a small number of peasant troops went to Maoling to steal burial objects, but in their hurry, they moved the gold, silver and jade articles in the underground palace out of the underground palace, forgot to take them away, or could not take them, and they were scattered around and abandoned on the messy ground. It can be seen that the peasant army that robbed the tomb this time still has scruples and dare not do it blatantly.
from the later period to the early years of the Republic of China, during the period of warlord scuffle, Shaanxi warlords once extended their black hands to the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. Trenches were dug at the top of Maoling, and it is not known whether Maoling was stolen.
The case of Maoling's theft recorded in the above historical records is suspected by some contemporary historians and cultural relics archaeologists. Their questioning and textual research are worth discussing and studying. First, the construction period of Maoling is as long as 53 years, and the underground palace is full of hidden treasures, secret tunnel organs and protective facilities. Can grave robbers do whatever they want? How can a theft case happen soon after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was buried? Therefore, some scholars held a negative attitude towards the first two "Maoling theft cases" when they gave a speech at CCTV's "Lecture Room". Secondly, in recent years, archaeological experts in Shaanxi Province have conducted a large-scale field archaeological investigation of Maoling, and the detection shows that no obvious signs of theft and excavation have been found in Maoling and its surrounding areas. Then, including the later two "Maoling theft cases", it has almost become an unsolved case.
The author has worked in Maoling for more than 4 years. According to my experience, observation and discovery in Maoling, I can draw certain conclusions: First, there are many cultural relics buried underground in Maoling Park (that is, the funerary objects of that year), which are tens of thousands. Only Maoling has more than 4 burial pits. Second, Maoling was indeed stolen and dug in history, and in the process of stealing and digging, many objects were lost on the surface.
My two conclusions, the first one, have been confirmed by field archaeological exploration; The second conclusion will be confirmed in the figures and examples I will describe below.
Maoling Museum has more than 4, cultural relics (including nearly 7 national treasures, national first-,second-and third-class cultural relics). The sources of all these cultural relics were found in Maoling Park, donated by the masses and collected by the cultural relics department. Just as an old cultural relic worker said with a smile: "Most of the cultural relics in Maoling's collection were dug up by the people in Maoling area in their labor. They didn't hide them and gave them to the state for free." Here are a few examples to illustrate:
1. In 1963, Zhao Zhenxiu, a villager from Douma Village, Xiwu Township, Xingping County, Shaanxi Province, found a metal object in the earthen trench in the north of the village and handed it over to Maoling Cultural Management Office. After that, it was handed over to National Cultural Heritage Administration. It is said that Guo Moruo, then president of China Academy of Sciences, and some cultural relics experts were very surprised when they saw it, and immediately identified it as "the bronze rhinoceros statue with gold, silver and copper in the West Han Dynasty". Later, this national treasure has been collected in the Chinese History Museum.
Cuojinyin bronze rhinoceros statue is a wine statue designed in the shape of rhinoceros in the Western Han Dynasty. Its shape is vivid and vivid, which embodies the strong and robust characteristics of rhinoceros, and it has great vitality and looks like a real rhinoceros. The whole body is decorated with staggered gold and silver cloud patterns, with a cover on the back that can be opened and closed, and a tubular short stream on the mouth side for pouring. It is an extremely exquisite handicraft, and it also reflects the highly developed level of bronze craft at that time. It is 34.1 cm high, 58.1 cm long, 2.4 cm wide and weighs 13.3 kg.
2. In the summer of 1975, when farmers in Maoling Park were working 5 meters southeast of Maoling, they suddenly found a shiny jade coming out of the ground, and immediately handed it over to Maoling Cultural Management Office, which was identified as the "four gods jade carving shop" and later identified as a national treasure by the National Cultural Heritage Administration expert group. At that time, this jade was sent to geological museum for identification, and it was considered that its mineral composition was serpentine marble, that is, it was composed of "Fangneng Stone" ore and belonged to nephrite. The source of jade is similar to the ore now called "lantian jade" in terms of composition, color, appearance, specific gravity and hardness. Therefore, it is speculated that this four-god jade carving shop is made of ancient lantian jade materials.
The head of Yupu is square and flat, decorated with "Four Gods" relief, with a height of 34.2 cm, a width of 35.6 cm, a thickness of 14.7 cm and a weight of 1.6 kg. The front face is carved with animal face lines, eyes rolled up, teeth exposed, and the image is fierce, with a ring on the nose and a broken ring. On both sides of the animal's face, there are four gods: Zuo Qinglong and Right White Tiger, and the dragon and tiger farm is head-held, long tail and running, with vivid posture. There is basalt under the white tiger, which looks like a turtle biting a snake; Close to the body of Qinglong, there is a suzaku looking back at its beak, and the dragon and tiger on the top of the animal face are decorated with lines carved with flowing clouds. There is a protruding rectangular button on the back of the paving head, and there is a square hole on it, which can be used to wear tenons, and there are still relics embedded in the door leaf in the hole.
3. In May, 1981, when Douma Village, Xiwu Township, Xingping County leveled the land in the south of Princess Yangxin's tomb, it found some gold, silver and bronze objects and immediately reported them to Maoling Museum. After further excavation and cleaning by cultural relics archaeologists, 286 precious cultural relics were unearthed in * * *. There are two national treasures among them: one is the gilded horse. It is 62 cm high, 76 cm long and weighs 26
kg. The whole body is made of copper and gilded, with head held high and tail raised, four legs upright and vigorous. The head shape is particularly vivid, the pink nose is bright, the mouth is slightly open, six teeth are exposed, the ears are erect, and bristles are carved between the ears and the neck. The carving of the horse's muscles and bones conforms to the anatomical proportion, and the horse is well-proportioned and moderate, and its image is simple and steady, so it can be called a fine horse. Its body is hollow. There is movement in silence, extraordinary bearing, and a trend of a thousand miles. It is called "Golden Horse" in ancient books, and it is refined based on the bloody horse (also known as Tianma) produced in Dawan in the Western Han Dynasty. The second is the gilded silver bamboo joint fuming stove. The height is 58 cm, the base diameter is 13.3 cm, the caliber is 9 cm, and the cover height is 6 cm. Bamboo joint fuming furnace, copper casting, full-body gold and silver plating. The high-handle bamboo joint is bean-shaped, with a female mouth, and the cover is Boshan-shaped. The furnace plate and the furnace body are separately cast and riveted, and the base is in the shape of a circle foot, with a height of 7 cm. On the base, two dragons are carved through, looking forward and opening their mouths, holding the bamboo joint with a high handle. The dragon body is gilded with gold, and the claws are gilded with silver. The lines are lively and smooth, and the image is vivid. There are 1 groups of triangles in the lower part of the belly of the dish, and the dragon pattern is carved inside, and there is a circle of silver band pattern along the mouth of the dish. The furnace cover is carved with multi-layered mountains and clouds, and the inscription on the outside of the furnace cover is 35 words a week. "The inner person is still lying in the middle, and a bamboo joint smoking stove is painted in gold, weighing 1 kilograms and 12 ounces. It will be built in four years, lost in October of five years, and the third day." The outer side of the pedestal circle foot is engraved with an inscription of 33 words a week, saying, "The person inside is still lying in the middle, and there is a golden bamboo joint smoking stove, weighing 11 kilograms. It was built in the temple for four years and lost in October of five years, on the fourth day." This cultural relic is a treasure of ancient metal sculpture and casting art in China.
There are many examples above, which show that the cultural relics discovered by ordinary people in Maoling are all buried on the surface of the land, and once they are turned, they will be unearthed, which shows that they are the objects lost or discarded by tomb robbers in history. And it can be concluded that there will be many such undiscovered artifacts.