Excavation of the Tomb of the Five Dynasties Wang Chuzhi
The author of this article Ni Fang六
There is a saying that archaeologists follow the tomb of the tomb, which means that the tomb was dug by the tomb. , Archaeological experts know where. This phenomenon is true, but in fact the opposite is true. Modern tomb robbers often follow behind the archaeologists and wait for opportunities to start.
The Tomb of the Five Dynasties Wang Chu was stolen, and that's it.
古墓封土
The tomb of Wang Chuzhi is located in Xiyanchuan Village, Quyang County, Hebei Province. Xiyanchuan Village is a village surrounded by mountains. In the western mountains about 2 kilometers away from the village, there is a mountain range called "Grave Mountain" by the masses, which is more than 400 meters above sea level. Locals said that this mountain was formerly called "Xishan", and it was named "Fenshan" because of the graves on the mountain.
Really? In the 1970s and 1980s, cultural relics workers went to the mountains to investigate twice to find out the truth. When entering the mountain, you have to go into the ditch and climb the mountain, and there are no roads in many places. Because of this, many people never thought that there would be a tomb here.
After the archaeologists arrived at the scene, they immediately realized that there was a story. According to the rammed earth and exposed relics of the surface section, it is confirmed that the graves on the mountain are indeed, and they are not ordinary graves.
Mountain tombs
"There is a large tomb in the grave", the news spread quickly in the local area. The speaker is unintentional, the listener is intentional, and the tomb raider is concerned.
One night in June 1994, the tomb robbers started, they chose the top of the tomb and dug from the surface. When digging to the top of the stone tomb, blast the ancient tomb with explosives from the mountain.
This incident was discovered by local villagers. On June 20, the Quyang County Government received a report from the Xiyanchuan Village Committee that the ancient tomb in the Tomb Mountain had been stolen. The county arranged for relevant personnel from the county cultural bureau, cultural management office, and public security bureau to investigate the tomb and report to their superiors.
stolen tomb
June 21, Hebei Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics, Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics, Baoding City Cultural Relics Management Other leaders and experts also rushed to the scene. The pirate hole was exposed like a big mouth: 1 meter in diameter and 5 meters deep. The tomb robbers have already entered the tomb chamber through the blasted top of the tomb, that is to say, the tomb robbers have succeeded, and it is unknown what exactly they have stolen.
In order to clarify the situation inside the tomb, the archaeologists also entered the tomb from the robbery.
This is amazing, it turned out to be an ancient mural tomb. In addition to the robbing holes dug by modern tomb robbers, traces of ancient tomb robbers were also found. Ancient tomb robbers stole most of the funerary goods, but modern tomb robbers not only steal the funerary goods, even the reliefs in the niches, but also destroy some of the murals.
East Ear Room North Mural·Maid and Boy Figure
West Ear Room North Mural·Maid
After the archaeologists got out of the burglary, they blocked it.
was stolen so badly, and the ancient tomb was uphill, far away from villages and towns, and long-term protection was difficult. The Hebei Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics reported to the State Bureau of Cultural Relics to rescue and excavate the tomb.
On July 12, 1995, an archaeological team composed of provincial, municipal, and county cultural relics departments formally cleaned and excavated the tomb of the tomb.
Murals on the west wall of the front room of the Wang Chuzhi tomb·Maidmaid Figure
This time the archeology is very hard, becauseDue to the special location and the rainy season, it is very difficult to discover.
In order to ensure the safety of cultural relics and obtain comprehensive and accurate archaeological data, the archaeologists brought dry food to the mountain and worked for 12 hours a day. 4 months.
The unearthed epitaph confirms that this is the tomb of Wang Chuzhi, a powerful figure of the five generations.
Wang Chuzhi was born in Jingzhao Wannian (present-day Xi’an, Shaanxi), the younger brother of the Yiwu Army Jiedu Shi Wang Chucun, and his successor was the Yiwu Army Jiedu Shi. Zu Zhuwen named him "King of Peking".
At the end of the 7th year of Houliang Zhenming (921 AD), the adopted son Wangdu launched a mutiny, and Wang Chuzhi was imprisoned and died.
Why is Wang Chuzhi buried here? Naturally because this is his site, and more importantly, it is a treasured land of geomantic omen, where the mountains and rivers are beautiful, the clear streams are splashing, and the forests in the mountains are lush.
The tomb site is located in a small basin surrounded by mountains, facing south from the north. The topography of the tomb is in the form of a standard feng shui-chair ring shape.
Part of the east mural of the East Ear Chamber, painted on the official hat
The terrain is Beiyi high mountain (backing mountain), surrounded by east and west sides The gentle mountain beams (green dragon, white tiger), the southern slopes are gentle and stretched, and the field of vision is wide (good bureau). In the distance, a faint mountain rises like a screen (toward the mountain), as the saying goes, "back to the sky, facing the cloud platform."
Before the 1970s, there were still closed mounds on the cemetery, and the mounds were surrounded by long stones. During the overhaul of farmland and water conservancy construction in the 1970s, the mound was flattened and the strips were used to build the dam.
Panoramic view during the excavation of the Wang Chuzhi Cemetery
During the archaeology, there were still several dams on the surface, although the terraces were barren. But there are still many rectangular and square bluestones on the second and third dams, all of which are building materials on the tomb of the king.
The rammed earth remains can be seen on the ground, and there is a collapse pit on the west side. The collapse pit was formed when it was dug for the first time. In 1994, the modern robbery hole was located about 2 meters south of the collapse pit and the dam-this group of tomb robbers were very experienced, and they chose to make the robbery hole on the top of the tomb.
Archaeology can’t do that.
The road to the straight tomb of the king is blocked
Because it is a mural tomb, it is not suitable to open the top directly. To this end, some exploration was carried out first, and a trench with a width of 2 meters from north to south and a length of 8 meters from east to west was drilled about 8 meters south of the robbery cave, which blocked the width of the tomb passage. Finally, at a depth of about 5 meters from the ground, the plane of the tomb passage opening was found.
Enter the tomb to clean up by clearing the tomb passage and door.
Plan view of the straight tomb of the king
The five straight tombs are composed of sealing soil, tomb passage, tomb door, rain channel, and tomb door. The length to the back chamber is 12.5 meters.
From archaeological excavations, it can be seen that when the tomb was built, the tomb was first excavated and then built with bluestone in the tomb. In addition to the front and back tombs, there were two ear chambers.
The north wall of the front room of the Wang Chuzhi tomb
This tomb is very strong.
The four walls of the tomb are upright, with a layer of rectangular stone staggered and laid flat, more than one foot thick, and iron wedges are used to fill the large stone joints and then filled with lime. It can be said that in anti-tomb robbery, he still used his mind.
There is artificial sealing soil on the top of the tomb. The existing sealing soil is about 5 meters thick. It is made of sticky red cinnamon soil, mixed with gray-white sand, and rammed in layers. At a depth of 2.1 meters from the ground in the western part of the closed soil, five complete stone pestles were also found. These are the ramming tools, which should be discarded after use and buried in the rammed soil.
The south wall of the front room of Wang Chuzhi’s tomb
The thickness of each rammed layer is 8-10 cm. In the rammed sealing soil, there are a large number of stones of different sizes, and the stones are of different shapes. At a distance of about 1 meter from the ground, a layer of small stones about 8 cm thick is tiled. At 45 centimeters below, another layer of about 15 centimeters and slightly larger stones is set. The distribution of the two layers of stones is very regular, indicating that they are intentionally mixed and tiled. These crushed stones are all taken from local materials and used to break large stones.
What does this mean? Anti-Grave Robbery! It can effectively increase the difficulty of robbing. This is a common anti-theft method used by the ancients, and it can be considered a trick against tomb robbers. In the past, tomb robbers had a headache for this. However, in the face of modern explosives, this anti-tomb robbery method has all failed!
The tomb of the king serves the relief·gnomish
Although I think of the tomb, I have also taken measures, but "the world is no exception. Including this stolen in 1994, Wang Chuzhi’s tomb was visited by at least two tomb robbers. Therefore, there are very few burial objects left in the tomb, and they are incomplete.
But the things that the tomb raiders can’t steal are more precious and unique—from the tomb passage, to the front and back tombs and ear chambers, they are all exquisite murals (see the picture in this article)—the tomb of the king, becoming the North China Plain Go to the rare underground art gallery.
Sanle Relief·Jeboblowers
Also, another unique thing left by the tomb robber is an anomaly Exquisite epitaph-it is estimated that no archaeology will be stolen.
This epitaph is very rare (see the picture below). There are four beasts carved on the four slopes of Zhigai: Qinglong, White Tiger, Suzaku, and Xuanwu (turtle).
ZhiGai·Blue Dragon
ZhiGai·White Tiger
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Zhi Gai·Suzaku
Zhi Gai·Xuanwu
(Note, source material)
