Mawangdui Han Tomb, located in Changsha City, Hunan Province, Furong District, Mawangdui Street, Liuyang River south bank of one kilometer, local chronicles record: this is the five dynasties of the Chu King Ma Yin family cemetery, so the name "Mawangdui". There are three tombs in Mawangdui, all of which are pit pits and wooden coffins, which were excavated in 1972 and cleaned up in 1974. Archaeological excavations have confirmed that Mawangdui is actually the family cemetery of the prime minister of Changsha in the Western Han Dynasty and the family cemetery of Licang, where Licang, his wife Xin Chai and their son Li Xi are buried, and they have no connection with Ma Yin, the king of Chu.
Mawangdui Tomb No. 1 is the largest of the three tombs, located on a small hill, closely connected to Tomb No. 3, sharing a sealed soil. Tomb No. 1 excavates a burial chamber from the top of the hill downwards, and the burial chamber is 76 meters, 6 meters wide7 meters, 16 meters deep, built-in wooden coffin, one coffin and four coffins burial system. The perimeter of the coffin is filled with 05 meters thick charcoal, with a total weight of more than 5 tons, moisture-proof and moisture-proof; Outside the charcoal layer is more than 1 meter thick green plaster mud, uniform and thick; The green plaster mud is artificially rammed until the tomb opening, and then a 4-5 meter high mound is piled on top of it! What is amazing is that the No. 1 tomb has been in a constant temperature, constant humidity, hypoxia, and sterile environment after burial due to its excellent sealing, and basically excludes the damage to the material by physical, chemical, biological and other factors, especially after the tomb owner Xin Chai was buried in the ground for 2100 years, there is no sign of decay, it is well preserved, the muscles are elastic, the joints can be bent, the internal organs are complete, and most of the cells including the free tissues of the nerves are clearly visible! This is fundamentally different from the mummies unearthed in ancient Egypt and the dried corpses found in deserts or ice fields, which is the earliest wet corpse recognized by the world, and is classified as the "Mawangdui corpse type" by global archaeology.
During the Qin and Han dynasties, the emergence of a unified dynasty, the gradual concentration of imperial power, the steady development of society, the pursuit of immortality and the incorruptibility of the corpse became the supreme pursuit of the emperor and generals, the embalming technology flourished, and the tricks emerged in endlessly. The Book of the Later Han Dynasty records that the Red Mei Army robbed and excavated the tombs of the emperor and queen that "those who have jade boxes are all born", but modern archaeology has found that all the corpses wrapped in jade clothes are all rotten without exception, and they cannot play an antiseptic role at all. The most direct evidence is that in 1968 in Mancheng County, Hebei Province, the excavation of Zhongshan Jingwang Liu Sheng tomb and his wife Dou Xuan tomb, the two tombs were not stolen and excavated, the tomb owner was wearing the earliest known golden jade clothes, but turned into powder, only a few teeth remained! The same is true of the tomb of Liu He, a volcano in Xuzhou. On the contrary, with the most simple thoughts to deal with the afterlife, the coffin was properly sealed, with herbal juice, many corpses were preserved, Mrs. Xin Chai and the owner of the Phoenix Mountain Tomb in Jiangling, Hubei Province are this typical example.
According to historical records, Hou Licang died in the third year of Gaohou (185 BC), Lixuan died in the 12th year of Emperor Wen (168 BC), and Xin Chai died in the 15th year of Emperor Wen (165 BC), and the difference in the time of death of the three was only 20 years, and the tomb-making techniques and embalming techniques used were basically the same. When the head of the family returned to heaven one by one, the mortuary master of the Prime Minister's Mansion used the popular embalming herbal juice in Chu to bathe the body, and then wore and wrapped all kinds of clothes and silk, and incorporated it into the heavy catalpa coffin, the coffin was as many as 3-4 heavy, sealed layer by layer, and filled with a large amount of charcoal and white plaster mud around the coffin, and finally rammed the sealed soil. In this way, a well-protected corpse was preserved in the deep tomb for a long time, and finally the tomb that had been closed for 2,100 years was opened, and Mrs. Xin Chai was able to "look like life and wear immortal clothes"!
But why is it that in the same cemetery, Li Cang and Li Xuan, who are not far away, have long since rotted and their bones are gone? The reason is very simple: the tomb of Lifeng (Mawangdui No. 3 tomb, next to the No. 1 tomb) because the coffin itself is not tightly closed and there are gaps, resulting in groundwater flowing into the coffin, although it has not been stolen, but the fungus has already swallowed up the organic matter in the coffin, only the scattered human skeleton remains, and the tomb owner is identified as a male with a life span of more than 30 years. During the excavation of the Licang Tomb (Mawangdui No. 2 Tomb), there is a circular robbery hole leading directly to the bottom of the tomb, and a Tang Dynasty porcelain bowl remains in the hole, and the archaeologists speculate that the tomb was stolen at the end of the Tang Dynasty and the beginning of the Song Dynasty. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the world was in turmoil, and after the thief star Wen Tao excavated the Eighteen Tombs of the Tang Dynasty, the tomb robbery frenzy swept in various places. Several tomb robbers from Chu came to Mawangdui to dig a hole to steal treasures, after the tomb of Licang was dug up, they only cared about picking up treasures, and threw away the porcelain bowls used to eat and drink when digging the holes, and finally buried the robbery holes hastily, leaving this 1000-year-old crime tool.
Although the tomb of Licang was stolen, the burial goods were looted, the coffin decayed and collapsed, and the miracle was not witnessed again, but the three seals of "Changsha Prime Minister", "Seal of the Marquis" and "Licang" were found in the soil, which provided an important basis for revealing the identity of the owner of the Mawangdui tomb, the relationship between them and the mystery of the times. It's a blessing in misfortune!
February** Dynamic Incentive Program