Since 2011, the Venerable Mausoleum Museum of the First Qin Emperor has carried out in-depth and detailed archaeological exploration of the vast area on the west side of the outer city of the Qin Tomb, which covers an astonishing area of about 500,000 square meters! Through unremitting efforts, we have skillfully unraveled the mystery that has been hidden for thousands of years - nine large and medium-sized tombs have been excavated! And these tombs are not disorganized, but lined up in a neat and orderly way, symmetrical from east to west, which is really a wonderful visual treat!
Since the beginning of 2013, we have been excavating one of the precious tombs, called QLCM1 (known as Tomb 1 for short). Today, we have almost completed the excavation of the tomb road, the burial chamber and the three magnificent chariot and horse burial pits. In this process, our archaeological team members have paid great effort and sweat, and every effort has been rewarded.
Today, I am very honored to lead you to the excavation site of Tomb 1 for a field trip. First of all, we see that this tomb is located about 440 meters west of the outer city of the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum. Its shape is like a mysterious "in" shape, sitting in the south and facing north, and is composed of three major parts: the south, the north tomb road and the tomb chamber. On both sides of the cemetery, we were pleasantly surprised to find three burial pits for chariots and horses, which can be called a collection of ancient means of transportation. What is even more shocking is that the south and west sides of the tomb are surrounded by outer moats; On the north side, there are steep cliffs; On the east side is the old riverbed, which seems to suggest that the site once had a relatively separate cemetery setting.
The treasure of the world, the four-wheeled vehicle, was born and amazed the archaeological community.
In the burial pit P1 on the west side of the tomb road south of the Qinling Tomb, a mysterious four-wheeled carriage was unearthed! This one is located about 1 meter above the surface and is 83 meters wide up to 55 meters in the burial pit, 42 meters, showing a typical wooden coffin-like structure. Sadly, this magnificent historical heritage site has been excavated many times, and the ruins and relics in the ancient tomb have been severely damaged. Despite this, we were able to recover some of the most valuable artifacts, including a four-horse wooden chariot with a single-axle with a door, the remains of a canine creature, and a large number of beautiful bronze chariots.
Let's step into the deep underground world of Qinling and uncover the secrets of this four-wheeled carriage! The excavation of the P2 burial pit under the ornate carriage has achieved important results.
In this land that has been sealed for thousands of years, we continue to explore, and surprises come again! In the burial pit P2, also located on the east side of the north cemetery road of M1, another four-horse wooden chariot with a single-axle with door panels was found. What is eye-catching is that the hooves, animal teeth, and necks of this carriage are clearly preserved, and the contours of the vehicles are distinct, which restores the vivid historical scenes of ancient times for us. Only scattered bronze components remain, such as bow caps, harnesses, crossbows, and horn pillars, and the only remains are a small number of fragmentary color depictions.
The traces of color depiction tell the wisdom and imagination of the ancients.
Further on, I came to the burial pit P3, and the new discovery was breathtaking! P3 and the mysterious trap P2 are located at a distance of 17 meters, 27 meters long and 5 meters wide, and about 2 meters deep, an eye-popping area of 135 square meters, which is the largest of the three burial pits. As many as 13 robbery holes were discovered, which undoubtedly brought fatal damage to the burial pits. Based on the remains of the carefully arranged ruins, we can speculate that five groups of chariots and horses (including one group of sheep carts) were once hidden here, including four single-sided chariots and a double-wheeled chariot.
All the horses have their heads facing north, and the carts carry the horses, and the longest remaining on the map is about 56 meters. There are five horses in the front and back of the carriage, assembled in two side-by-side teams, the former has two horses in each team, placed on the right and left outermost positions, and the latter team sits on three horses, arranged in a straight line, the middle horse can move freely, but also obey the wooden wheels on the left and right sides at the same time, the distance between the two wheels is 75 mm, and the length of the wheels is 60 mm and 115 mm, and it is also covered with neat and symmetrical copper rings. And the first.
The third, fourth, and last groups are respectively a two-horse mounted chariot, a four-horse-driven suspended chariot, and a row of six sheep, all of which are closely combined with the brass savings, buckles, and copper rings of the horses when they are buried, indicating that they are in a state of control at this time, and these signs reveal that they may be driving a sheep cart.
When tragedy strikes, the vehicle is underneath and the sheep bones are on top, and the owner's intention is obviously to keep the car and the sheep happy. The cultural relics unearthed in the pit are mainly chariots and horses, including the bow cap, copper bubble, copper saving, jurisdiction, chariot, horn pillar ornament, balance end ornament, yoke top ornament, copper ring, horsebit copper chain ornament, and some copper basins, iron tools, iron swords, copper arrow clusters and other items.
The four-wheeled carriage made a stunning appearance, witnessing the glory and civilization of the Qin Empire.
The third point that let's all look forward to is that this tomb is a collection of all kinds of vehicles, and their forms, shapes and uses are very diverse, which is really amazing! This provides extremely valuable and unique materials for the study of the history of funeral vehicles and funeral vehicles in the Qin and Han dynasties. Moreover, it is worth noting that the four-wheeled chariot in the tomb tunnel, the only four-wheeled chariot buried in the tomb that has only been seen in the archaeological community so far, is of great significance, because we preliminarily deduce that it is very likely to be closely related to the burial of the coffin, that is, the locomotive used to transport the coffin at the time of burial. Such an archaeological discovery is undoubtedly a revolutionary breakthrough and belongs to an extremely rare funerary phenomenon.
Next, what is jaw-dropping is that the five groups of chariots and horses (including a sheep cart) found in the burial pit have their own characteristics and different styles, but they perform their own duties, and they together present the spectacular scene of the male owner's travel before his death, showing the new look and new trend of the shape and combination of the funeral chariots and horses during the Qin Empire, which is undoubtedly a crucial physical sample in the process of China's car system reform and development and evolution. Similarly, the discovery of these vehicles has greatly enriched the connotation of the chariot and horse burial pits, and provided important clues for us to reveal the true identity of the tomb owner.
Finally, every detail in this tomb profoundly reflects the enlightened and extremely confident spiritual characteristics of the Qin civilization and the Chinese civilization. Take the No. 1 tomb as an example, although it has been tempered by thousands of years of wind and rain, it is still well preserved, the unearthed cultural relics are rich and colorful, the number of huge people is amazing, the quality of the grade is even more excellent, many of them are found for the first time, especially those small and exquisite metal casting figurines, its exquisite artistic image and realistic form, and the artistic style of the terracotta warriors and horses is the same, which undoubtedly fully demonstrates the outstanding artistic talent and exquisite skills of the people of the Qin Dynasty, and is important for the study of the politics, economy, military and religion of the Qin Dynasty, culture and other multidisciplinary fields have far-reaching influence. What is even more rare is that the excavation of the No. 1 tomb is a strong proof of Chinese culture"Diversity"Direction"All in one"This precisely reflects the charm of the Qin civilization and the Chinese civilization that are praised by the world for their open-mindedness and extreme self-confidence.