Mawangdui Tombs of the Han Dynasty

Mawangdui Han tomb has never been stolen for more than 2000 years and is well preserved. Therefore, a large number of cultural relics have been unearthed, especially the miraculous female corpse unearthed in tomb No. 1 and a large number of silk documents unearthed in tomb No. 3, which provide detailed information for the historical research of the early western Han Dynasty and shock the world. At the time of excavation, tomb No. 1 was sealed with white plaster, so the female corpse was still in good condition after 2000 years. When it was found, there was gas ejecting and burning, but because the gas was not collected in time and the specific composition was unknown, it became a mystery that the female corpse was still in good condition.

In addition, more than 3000 precious cultural relics were unearthed from the three Han Tombs in Mawangdui, most of which are well preserved. Among them, more than 500 pieces of various lacquerware are exquisitely made with gorgeous patterns and new luster. What is precious is a large number of silk fabrics from tomb No. 1, which are well protected. There are many varieties, such as silk, silk, silk, silk, silk, silk, silk, silk, silk and so on. There is a plain gauze garment, as light as smoke and as thin as cicada wings. It is 1.28 meters long, with long sleeves and weighs only 49 grams. Its weaving skills are superb. It's really exquisite. The unearthed silk paintings are the earliest large-scale works describing the real life at that time in China. There are also colorful figurines, musical instruments, weapons, seals, silk books and other treasures.

Mawangdui Tombs of the Han Dynasty

Mawangdui Han tomb is located in Mawangdui Township, 4000 meters away from the east suburb of Furong district, Changsha City, Hunan Province. It is the family cemetery of Li Cang, the prime minister and Marquis of Changsha state in the early Western Han Dynasty.

Mawangdui Han tombs were excavated three times from 1972 to 1974. The structure of the tombs is magnificent and complex. The three tombs are all rectangular vertical caves with a passage on the north side. The outer chamber is built at the bottom of the tomb. The bottom of the tomb and the outer chamber are filled with charcoal and white plaster mud, and then filled with soil layer by layer, tamped and sealed.

Tomb No. 2 is Li Cang, the Prime Minister of Changsha in the early Han Dynasty. Tomb No. 1 is Li Cang's wife and tomb No. 3 is Li Cang's son.

A well preserved female corpse, coffin, silk fabrics, silk books, silk paintings, lacquerware, Chinese herbal medicine and other relics were unearthed from the tomb. The discovery of Mawangdui Han tomb provides important information for the study of burial system, handicraft industry and technology development in the early Han Dynasty, as well as the history, culture and social life of Changsha.

On May 3, 2013, the State Administration of cultural relics listed Mawangdui Han tomb in the list of the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

In June 2016, Mawangdui Han tomb was rated as one of the top ten rare ancient tombs in the world.

Historical evolution

Mawangdui Han tomb is located in Mawangdui Township, which is 4000 meters away from the eastern suburb of Furong district, Changsha City, Hunan Province (the former dongtundu people's commune was renamed Mawangdui Township in March 1984 because of the existence of Mawangdui Han tomb in the territory). According to local records, it is the tomb of mayin family, king of Chu in the Five Dynasties period, so it is named Mawangdui. There is also a mound on each side of the mound, which is more than 20 meters apart. It looks like a saddle, so it is also called a saddle mound.

Mawangdui Han tomb is the family cemetery of Li Cang, the prime minister and Marquis of Changsha in the early Western Han Dynasty. Among the three Han tombs, tomb 2 is Li Cang, the Prime Minister of Changsha in the early Han Dynasty, tomb 1 is Li Cang's wife, and tomb 3 is Li Cang's son. Marquis Li Cang, the owner of tomb No. 2, was buried in 186 B.C. in the second year of empress Lu. The son of tomb No. 3 was buried in 168 B.C. in the 12th year of the Western Han Dynasty. The wife of tomb No. 1 may be buried a little later.

In the winter of 1951, archaeologists carried out an archaeological survey in Changsha. Two connected earth tombs were found in Wulipai, the eastern suburb of Changsha. According to archaeological data, they are Han Dynasty tombs.

In 1952, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Hunan Cultural Relics Administration Commission jointly investigated the Mawangdui earth tomb and confirmed that it was a large Han Dynasty tomb group.

In 1961, the Hunan Provincial Government designated the Mawangdui earth tomb as a provincial cultural relic protection unit and set up protective signs, but did not excavate it.

At the end of 1971, 366 Hospital of Hunan Military Region decided to build underground hospitals on two hillsides of Mawangdui. During the construction, landslides and combustible gases often occurred. Archaeologists of Hunan Provincial Museum immediately realized that this is an ancient tomb. In order to cooperate with the infrastructure construction, the archaeologists decided to rescue excavation. The Hunan Provincial Museum named the Han tomb which was disturbed by the air raid shelter as Mawangdui No.1 tomb, and the other one under the enclosure as Mawangdui No.2 tomb.

On December 30, 1971, archaeologists from Hunan Province submitted a report to the State Council, applying for the official excavation of Mawangdui.

On January 14, 1972, the State Council issued a document approving the official excavation of the Han tomb in Mawangdui.

In January 1972, the Hunan Provincial Museum and the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences officially excavated the Mawangdui tomb. The survey showed that the tomb was 20 meters long from north to South and 17 meters long from east to west, belonging to a large ancient tomb. The excavation work officially began on January 16. It ends on April 28.

From 1973 to early 1974, the Hunan Provincial Museum and the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences excavated tomb No. 2 and No. 3 of Mawangdui.

In September 1973, the State Council approved the continued excavation of tomb No. 2 and tomb No. 3 in Mawangdui.

From November 18 to December 14, 1973, tomb 3 of the Han Dynasty in Mawangdui was first cleared up. A large number of silk books unearthed from the tomb are the most valuable cultural relics. The three layers of coffins in the tomb were all cracked, and the clothes covering the corpse were seriously decayed. The corpse had only bones.

From December 18, 1973 to January 13, 1974, the excavation of tomb 2 of the Han Dynasty in Mawangdui was completed. The excavation results show that tomb No. 2 was stolen in the Tang Dynasty, and then excavated many times. The damage was extremely serious. The coffin collapsed, a large number of cultural relics were destroyed, and the remains of the tomb owner were scattered. Only three seals were found, which were engraved with the words "prime Minister of Changsha", "seal of marquis" and "Li Cang".

The excavation of Han Tombs in Mawangdui has completed the filling of No. 1 and No. 2 tombs. The female corpses, plain yarn Zen clothes, a large number of Western Han vessels, brocade and silk paintings, etc. are preserved in the Hunan Provincial Museum. The No. 3 tombs have been consolidated for people to visit.

Site features

The shape of tombs

On the ground of the Han tomb in Mawangdui, there are two earth mounds of the same size, which are parallel to each other in East and West. The bottom diameter is about 40 meters, the top is round and flat, and the height is about 16 meters. It used to be a mound four or five meters high. When building a tomb, the lower part of the pit was dug out on the mound, and then the upper part of the pit and the passage of the tomb were rammed by the plate construction method. After burial, the earth was filled and tamped to build a tall mound. The pits of the three tombs are basically the same in form. They are all rectangular vertical pits with a passage on the north side. The bottom of the tombs and around the outer chambers of the three tombs were filled with charcoal and white plaster, and then filled with soil layer by layer, tamped and sealed.

Tomb No. 1 is composed of four parts: earth sealing, tomb passage, tomb pit and tomb chamber (i.e. the lower part of the tomb pit). It's due north.

Before excavation, the earth seal of the earth mound where tomb No.1 is located is more than 20 meters high, with a bottom diameter of 50-60 meters. Most of it is rammed earth, with a circular platform at the top, with a diameter of about 20 meters. Most of it is built by hand. The lower side of the earth seal is a small earth mound about 4-5 meters high formed naturally. Under the earth seal, there is a tomb, which is formed by excavating natural mounds. The shape of the tomb is a rectangular pit with a sloping passage, and the direction is north-south. The slope tomb road is located in the middle of the north side of the tomb, with a width of 3.1 meters at the top and 2 meters at the bottom. The slope of the passage is approximately 36 ° according to the end close to the tomb chamber. The end close to the tomb chamber is about 3.5 meters high from the bottom of the tomb. The specific length is unknown because it has not been excavated.

The entrance of tomb No.1 is 19.5 meters long from north to South and 17.8 meters wide from east to west. There are four steps from the entrance down to the bottom of the tomb. The first step is 16.8m long and 15.42m wide from east to west; the second step is 14.64m long and 12.8m wide; the third step is 12.54m long and 10.45m wide; the fourth step is 10.34m long and 8.45m wide from east to west. The height of each step is about 1 m to 1.5 m, the angle between the step wall and each layer is 105 to 108 degrees, the length of the bottom of the tomb is 7.6 m, the width is 6.7 m, the depth is 16 m, and the depth from the top of the tomb to the outer chamber is 20 m. At the end of the passage, it almost reached the top of the wooden coffin. Around the wooden coffin, it was filled with charcoal, then with white plaster, and rammed with "five flower soil". The thickness of charcoal is 0.4-0.5 m, and the total weight is about 5000 kg. The white paste mud distributed outside the charcoal layer is 1-1.3 m thick, with strong viscosity and low permeability, which plays a decisive role in sealing. The white paste mud of tomb No.1 is thick, even and tightly sealed, which makes the coffin room more than 10 meters deep underground form a high standard of constant temperature, humidity, hypoxia and aseptic environment, basically eliminating the damage of physical, chemical, biological and other factors to various substances. Therefore, the multi-layer coffin, the tomb owner's body and funerary utensils in the tomb are well preserved.

Tomb No. 2 is located on the west side of tomb No. 1, which is the other one in Mawangdui shuangdui. The scale of tomb No. 2 is slightly small, the pit is shallow, and the wall of the tomb has only three steps. The nearest distance between the tomb entrance and tomb No. 1 is about 23 meters. The pit is a vertical cave with a sloping passage, facing north and south. The upper part of the mound is an irregular oval shape, 11.5 meters long from north to South and 8.95 meters wide from east to west. Near the bottom

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