After 40 years of excavation, the archaeological excavation of No. 2 Tomb of Tushan in Xuzhou has achieved significant results. On April 13, it was awarded the "National Top Ten New Archaeological Discoveries" in 2020. As the tomb of the princes of the Eastern Han Dynasty, its excavation time, excavation ideas and methods are worthy of summary and reference.
Tushan Han Tomb is located in the north of Xuzhou Museum at the north foot of Yunlong Mountain. "Tushan" is the common name of Han Tomb, which is an artificial mound like a mountain. The Historical Records of Xiang Yu said, "The king of Xiang suspected that Fan Zeng had a private relationship with Han, and slightly seized the power. Fan Enlarged his anger and said, 'The world is settled! The king will do it by himself. Let the bones be returned to the army.' The king of Xiang made a promise. He died before he reached Pengcheng." This record became the "basis" for Fan Zeng's tomb. Both the Book of Wei, Topographical Records and the Notes to the Book of Water call it the tomb of Yafu and the tomb of Fan Zeng. Tushan is one of the commanding heights in the south of Xuzhou. Tuoba Tao of the Northern Wei Dynasty built a high garrison on Tushan. During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, Yue Dongsheng, the head of the Ministry of Household, set up his tomb and inscribed it with the title "Tomb of Fan Zeng, the father of Chu Ya". In the 1930s, in order to fight the Japanese army, an air defense shelter was built in Tushan.
Long excavation process
Tushan is actually composed of three tombs.
Tomb 1
Tushan has a large soil cover, and has always been the source of soil for the surrounding residents to build pots, cook stoves, and mix coal balls. During the Yunlong Mountain Meeting in 1969, residents took soil and found Tomb 1 on the north side of Tushan, and took out some cultural relics. Li Guangqin, who was transferred from the archaeological institute to Xuzhou to work, sent the gilded animal-shaped copper inkstone box and a shoe of jade clothes to the archaeological institute. In July 1970, Mr. Wang Zhongshu, Wang Shimin, Jiang Zhongyi, Jiang Yanzhong and others from the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences visited the site for investigation. Later, on July 11, Zou Houben, Zhou Jiasheng, He Zhenhan and others of the Nanjing Museum began archaeological excavation. The excavation work has achieved important results. The tomb is composed of stone walls, corridors, horizontal front rooms and back rooms. More than 100 pieces of burial objects, such as silver jade clothing, gilded copper inkstone boxes, bronze pots decorated with birds and beasts, and copper wild goose foot lamps, have been unearthed (Bulletin on the Cleaning of the Eastern Han Tomb in Tushan, Xuzhou, total 15 issues of Wenbo News, 1977). The sealed soil was not explored due to the objective conditions at that time.
Tomb 2
After Mr. Wang Kai returned to Xuzhou Museum from Luoyang in 1977, he carried out a comprehensive drilling on the Tushan and found the main tomb, namely No. 2 tomb. Later, he asked the Xuzhou Mining Bureau to send a coal mine guide to help clean up the east ear chamber with the method of shaft and supporting roadway, and unearthed 68 buried pottery. In 1982, Xuzhou Municipal Government arranged to excavate Tomb No. 2 of Tushan, and I helped to excavate it on the site after I took office in July. With the promulgation of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Cultural Relics on November 19, it is necessary to apply for approval before excavation. At this time, Xuzhou felt too much pressure on the excavation funds and hoped that the excavation would be carried out in the province, so the excavation work stopped.
In the 21st century, there are real estate and other construction projects in the west, north and east of Tushan, increasing the pressure on the protection of Han tombs in Tushan. After years of reporting to the provincial and National Cutural Heritage Administration, the National Cutural Heritage Administration sent Ye Xueming, Zhang Xuehai and Liu Xu to Xuzhou for field investigation in 2003, and approved the excavation. In 2004, the Nanjing Museum applied for the excavation license, and Director Zhang Min served as the leader. The excavation work was carried out by Xuzhou Museum, which was specifically organized and implemented by our site. By the end of 2007, the excavation of the earth sealing part had been completed, and the stone sealing on the top of the tomb had been completely exposed. To continue excavation, protective facilities must be built, and the excavation work has stopped. During this period, the soil sealing profile is continuously protected with colored strip cloth and plastic cloth.
In 2013, the protection and permanent display building of Tushan Tomb 2 was basically completed. The excavation was restarted in 2014, led by Geng Jianjun of Xuzhou Museum, and entered the stage of indoor archaeological excavation. By 2020, the excavation work was basically completed.
Tomb 3
In 2002, Tomb 3 was found in the ward building of Xuzhou Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital on the north side of Tushan Han Tomb. Xuzhou Museum carried out rescue excavation, and Liu Zunzhi was mainly responsible for the site. The grave was seriously damaged, consisting of a sloping tomb, a brick-sealed door wall, a corridor, a front chamber, an east and west ear chamber, and a rear chamber. Only one burial article was unearthed.
Excavate for protection and display
The local chronicles of Xuzhou recorded that Tushan Han Tomb had been stolen since the Yuan Dynasty, so we have no high hopes for the unearthed funerary objects. Protection and display are the focus of the excavation work. Before the excavation of Tomb No. 2 in Tushan in 2004, I discussed the principles and methods of excavation and protection, specific problems and relevant details with the leader Zhang Min for many times.
Excavation site of Tushan Han Tomb in 2006
According to the previous excavation method, the tomb excavation adopts the four-quadrant method, that is, first cut a quarter of the sealed soil, and then cut and dig in turn. This method neglects that earth sealing is an organic part of the tombs, resulting in the regret that almost all the tombs of the Eastern Han princes that are currently protected and displayed in the original site have not been sealed. In view of the clear scope of the tomb chamber drilled in Tushan No. 2 tomb, we adopted the method of positive direction and excavation scope slightly larger than the tomb chamber to protect the sealed soil to the maximum extent. The excavated sealed soil will not be transported outside, but will still be piled around the earth hill to maintain the original volume of the appearance of the sealed soil.
After the excavation of the cover stone to the top of the tomb, if the excavation continues, the tomb will be completely exposed. The spring rain, summer sun, autumn wind and winter snow will cause serious damage to the sealed soil profile, the tomb and the burial objects in the tomb. If temporary buildings are built, the time for the construction of permanent protective buildings in the future may be delayed, which will also cause repeated investment. After the completion of the permanent protection building, although the excavation of the tomb has been delayed for several years, indoor archaeology can combine field archaeology with laboratory archaeology, without the interference of safety, weather, time and other issues, and effectively control the humidity of the site, so that the excavation can be calm and meticulous. Therefore, there is also such a scene: going to and from work, archaeological excavation at the same time as the museum.
Tushan Han Tomb is a relatively complete tomb of the Eastern Han Dynasty princes in China. After excavation, it will be permanently protected and displayed, so we must excavate for display. Any archaeological excavation will inevitably bring some signs of destruction. How to preserve all kinds of relic phenomena as much as possible, give the posterity an intuitive feeling, and leave rich relics for the future has always been a problem that we think and practice hard.
The sealed soil profile is reserved on three sides around the tomb. The audience can directly see the compacted layer of the sealed soil and feel inside the huge sealed soil; The cushion soil and seal stone on the top of the ticket are partially reserved on the top of the tomb chamber, and the stacking relationship is displayed, and the methods and steps of building the tomb can be seen; Keep the traces of wooden boards on the floor of the corridor and the front hall, and you can see the laying of wooden boards on the ground; Without removing the door sealing stone wall and yellow intestines stone, you can see the original yellow intestines stone wall. Even though Tushan is one of the "four in one" of the museum, we have built a separate exhibition hall of Tushan Han Tomb to display the cultural relics unearthed in the east ear room of Tomb 2 and the enclosure. In the future, all cultural relics unearthed from the Han Tomb in Tushan will be exhibited, and a special film on the excavation process of Tushan will be produced and broadcast in the exhibition hall.
Rely on experts and multidisciplinary cooperation to explore
In terms of excavation methods, Tushan Han Tomb always relies on experts and multidisciplinary cooperation. Under the guidance of the Jiangsu Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics, an expert group headed by Mr. Xin Lixiang and Mr. Zou Houben was set up to provide on-site guidance on important nodes of experts. The excavation situation was summarized and new deployment was made at the end of each year. In addition to the expert members, Mr. Jiang Zanchu, Xu Guangji, Liu Qingzhu, Li Boqian, Zhao Fusheng and others came to the site for guidance many times during the excavation process. The excavation work closely cooperates with the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Shaanxi Provincial Academy of Cultural Heritage, the Nanjing Museum, the Jingzhou Cultural Heritage Center, the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Jiangsu Normal University, the Jiangsu Vocational and Technical College of Architecture and other units to carry out cultural relics protection and multidisciplinary research.
In 2006, Jiang Zanchu, Xu Guangji, Xin Lixiang and other experts visited the Han Tomb in Tushan
In 2008, Mr. Liu Qingzhu, Mr. Li Boqian and Mr. Zhao Fusheng were at the site of Han Tomb in Tushan
Adopt flexible incentives during the excavation process. In 1982, only 22 cubic meters of seal mud were found when excavating the seal soil (Cultural Relics, 1994, Issue 11). The reason for the analysis was that the workers were paid by the day, and the tamped seal soil was unusually hard. They were not willing to bow down when digging and loading the soil, and took time to find the seal mud. In view of this situation, in 2004, we developed a reward method based on the number of preserved words for finding a complete seal of 50 yuan and the damaged seal of 4500 square meters.
In order to solve the lifting problem of the stone seal at the top of the tomb, we have specially purchased and installed industrial cranes, elevators, forklifts, and other transportation tools, which not only reduces the labor intensity, improves the work efficiency, but also improves the safety factor of excavators. In the excavation stage of the tomb, the accumulated soil in the tomb is screened and selected by water. Pay special attention to the use of scientific and technological digital means, install time-lapse photography equipment above the entire tomb, record the whole process of burial excavation, and conduct three-dimensional digital scanning of each key relic.
"Public archaeology" is an effective way to publicize cultural relics protection and popularize public archaeological knowledge. In the indoor excavation stage of the Tushan Han Tomb, the conditions for both excavation and display are available. We showed the whole excavation process to the public, and even publicly recruited volunteers to participate in and experience the excavation work many times. It not only publicized archaeological and cultural protection knowledge, but also responded to public concerns.
In 2005, Mr. Shan Jixiang, director of the National Cutural Heritage Administration and other leaders inspected the site of the Han Tomb in Tushan
The excavation of the Han Tomb in Tushan shows that the archaeologists have enough patience and perseverance to choose the most appropriate time to excavate and protect the non-renewable cultural relics.
2014 exterior view of Tushan (south to north)
It has been more than 50 years since the discovery in 1969. It is the excavation work of three generations of archaeologists, including Zou Houben, Wang Kai, Zhang Min, Li Yinde, Geng Jianjun and Yuan Feng, spanning two centuries; The survey and excavation projects were successively carried out by the Archaeological Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Nanjing Museum, and the Xuzhou Museum (Xuzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology).
Now, Tushan Han Tomb will enter a new stage of tomb body, earth sealing and unearthed cultural relics protection. With the reconstruction and construction of the Tushan Han Tomb Exhibition Hall, it will become an important place for China to protect and display the tombs of the Eastern Han Dynasty princes.
Source: Wenbo China official account