A History of 2400-year-old Civilization Unveiled

Text by Liu Yishan Edited by He Sai &Bai Ning Photos by Su Zhuolin

According to the excavation plan,the next step would be to drain the water and clear the sludge,which Tan Weisi requested to proceed as soon as possible.

At midnight on May 21,1978,drainage work started.A pump was inserted into the northeast corner of the northern chamber,and soon the loud brawl of sewage being pumped out broke the silence in the tranquil fields nearby.

Early the next morning after the mist dispersed,there emerged on the surface of the water in the chamber a thick black ridge,like the back of a giant fish.Groveling over the edge of the pit,a brave teammate stretched his hand for it and found it was a horizontal timber on which something was hanging.Subsequently,a black and red plate was revealed in the eastern chamber—a huge coffin cover.With the recession of the water,more and more objects emerged from the water.

The site worker shouted loud with great excitement:“Look,there are many burial articles underneath!”

The previous story revealed that all the huge wooden covers were removed by the cranes and the eight coffins were found floating on the water in the western and eastern chambers.Yet the entire tomb pit was filled with muddy water.The question of whether or not there were any cultural relics hidden in the tomb had everyone in a state of unease.

The exciting news reached the archaeologist’s dormitory,then the entire barracks,and flew from Suixian County to Xiangyang,to Wuhan,and to Beijing.

Tan Weisi dashed to the tomb and saw the soaked objects that had come out of the water.His peculiar feeling was like the moment seeing his own child be born and himself become a father.He calmly made arrangements for cleaning up and making preparations for the safe extraction and protection of the relics without any carelessness.

The large coffin in the eastern chamber was obviously the tomb owner’s,assuming a rectangular plane of 3.2 meters long,2.1 meters wide,and 2.19 meters high.Different from ordinary wooden coffins,it was made of a bronze frame inlaid with wood plates,and the structure was meticulously built.Such a huge copper-wood structure with lacquer painting had never been found in China.It was undoubtedly a rare treasure.

The Archeological Team wrapped up the coffin cover with plastic foam soaked with water in order to keep its humidity levels consistent.

Two lifting plans were plotted out:one was to lift the whole coffin at once and move it to another place to open and clean it,and the other was to lift the coffin layer by layer.

An eight-ton Huanghe crane and two Jiefang trucks pulled up,together with a flatbed trolley,and a large warehouse with an area of over 300 square meters had been designated for this project.

Considering that the overall structure of the coffin was firm,Tan Weisi decided to adopt the first plan.

At 10:00 pm on June 8,1978,a whistle broke the silence of the night.Yang Ding’ai,the hoisting director,waved the red and green flags in his hands,and the crane arm extended over to the tomb.Thick steel cables and giant hooks rested on top of the coffin,and the workers attached the top rope to the hooks and fastened the buckles.As another whistle sounded,the crane driver stepped onto the gas pedal,put his hand on the joystick and tightened the cable intently.The hand of the load indicator rose from 5 tons to 7.5 tons,only half a ton off the limit.The great coffin did not budge an inch.Tan immediately ordered to move another 5-ton crane for help.However,the two cranes could not cooperate well,so it was of no help.The hoist of the overall structure of the coffin failed.

Painted lacquer wooden sika deer unearthed from the eastern chamber of the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng,now exhibited in Hubei Museum together with the following relics彩漆木雕梅花鹿，出自曾侯乙墓東室，現(xiàn)藏于湖北省博物館（后同）

Tan Weisi remembered that on the same day three years ago,the main coffin of the No.168 tomb from the Han Dynasty at Fenghuang Mountain in Jiangling was being lifted.This was the third coincidence between the tombs at Drum-beating Mound and Fenghuang Mountain.The other two coincidences were that the two tombs were both discovered by the air force radar unit when building their workshops,and both were discovered in March.Was there any mysterious connection between the two tombs? Tan Weisi was full of doubts in his mind.

The next morning,the elevation of the main coffin was changed and the second plan was adopted.

At eight o’clock,Tan Weisi ordered the coffin to be opened and the hoist work began.

The 1.5 ton coffin cover was lifted up and the outer coffin uncovered.Inside,there was a large,painted inner coffin,which was 2.5 meters long and 1.27 meters wide at the head end,1.25 meters wide at the foot end,and 1.32 meters high.The inside coffin had silk textures on its top,which had already corroded.After exposure to air and light,their color turned light red at first,then yellow brown,and finally black.

The inner coffin could not be hoisted out.On the one hand,it was too heavy,and on the other,its bottom stuck tightly to that of the outer coffin,there was no way to place the rope.No seam could be found,lifting jacks couldn’t help.The only way out was to lift it part by part.Hence,the cover of the inner coffin was turned over.The scarlet lacquer on the four walls was bright and dazzling,but some of the silk and linen fabrics on top were rotten.A semicircular block was embedded in the middle of the southern coffin wall.In the coffin there was a human skeleton,and small objects made of jade,stones,bones,and horns spread all over it.

The lacquering on the inner coffin was very fastidious.In addition to geometric doors and windows,the patterns were mostly dragons,snakes,birds,gods,and monsters,arranged in groups,all of which originated from mythical stories.

Workers inserted thin plastic plates into the bottom of the coffin along the sidewalls of the coffin.All the relics were scooped up onto the plates and carried to the warehouse for further cleaning.

The coffin was then hoisted on the flatbed trolley and transferred into the warehouse,where they were measured.The outer coffin weighed 7 tons,and the inner coffin was 2 tons,with a total weight of 9 tons.After careful calculation,it was determined that the frame of the outer coffin alone was made of 3 tons of copper.

The tomb owner was male,1.62 to 1.63 meters tall,about 45 years old.According to the experts,the tomb owner was the king of the Zeng State in the South during the Warring States period,named Yi,and his burial was conducted roughly in the 56th year of King Hui of Chu State (433 BC).

All over the body of the owner,more than 350 small articles with various textures were collected.Among them,the most precious one was a dragonphoenix pendent ornament consisting of 16 parts.It was carved out of five pieces of white jade hollowed out into dragon and phoenix patterns,linked by three jade rings with a jade pin.It was 48 centimeters long and 8 centimeters wide and could rotate freely.This was the first and only masterpiece in jade found from the pre-Qin period.

Hence,the No.1 Ancient Tomb of Drum-beating Mound gained its official name—Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng.

The tomb was made up of four chambers,namely northern,eastern,central,and western chamber.It occupied a total area of 140 square meters in which the eastern chamber covered 45.125,the central chamber 46.3125,the western 28.115 and the northern 20.1875 square meters,and the depth of the tomb was 3.3 to 3.5 meters.

The four chambers were all accessible through a middle square gate in the bottom part of their partition walls,offering the underground palace a free thoroughfare for the souls of the tomb owner.On the four walls of each chamber,some wooden nails were fixed,supposedly for hanging draperies or sachets.All of them had rotted because of the stagnant water in the pit.

At the lower part of the northern wall of the outer coffin of Marquis Yi,there was also a gate,apparently a passage for the entry and exit of his soul.By the side of the gate laid a special coffin.Inside was the skeleton of a female dog,with a shoulder height of 0.6 meters and about 1 meter long,to guard the door for Yi.By the main coffin was erected a bronze-cast crane with deer’s antlers,its neck stretching up and head thrusting high.The crane stood on a square seat,its head tilting upward in a certain arc,its wings stretching flat and its legs strong,lively and unique.It seemed that this had been a favorite statue of Yi when he was alive.According to relevant research,this crane was the image of the ancient wind god,also known as Fei Lian,symbolizing auspiciousness.

In the eastern chamber,eight accompanying coffins were buried too.Apart from one that was lacquered in pure red wholly,the others were all painted red with black paint as the base,and with colorful designs.All skeletons are of women,and well-preserved,age from 18 to 22,height from 154 to 160 centimeters.The outside of the five lacquered wooden suitcases for the concubines to store their clothes were painted with mythical stories such as “Houyi Shooting the Sun” and pictures of Fuxi and Nüwa signifying the creation myth.

In the same chamber,bows,arrows,spears,shields,and other weapons were also found,together with musical instruments such as lacquered Se,five-string and ten-string zither-like instruments,snare drums,shengs (a reed pipe wind instrument),and so on.

The western chamber was the most desolate place,13 painted accompanying coffins laid within a total area of 28 square meters.All the skeletons in the coffin were female with a height range between 143 and 161 centimeters,aged between 15 and 20 years—younger than those buried in the eastern chamber.There were only a few burial objects,which demonstrated the lower status of these females.

Another discovery in the western chamber was a lacquered box,with color-paintings of Mandarin Ducks on top.It looked bulky and stout,with extremely vivid lacquer paintings on either side.The cultural information presented by the two paintings implied a kind of mystery.It was from the paintings that archaeologists and musicians uncovered the code of the chimebells of Marquis Yi of Zeng.

Of the four chambers,the smallest one was the northern chamber.Used as the warehouse in the underground palace of Yi,it was abundant with collections.

Here was a collection of the most predominant weaponry from more than 2400 years ago.Long weapons included spears,halberds,and spiked spears.Short ones were dagger-axes and bows.There were also 49 shields and more than 4500 arrows with triangular,double-winged,quadrangular,and conical arrowheads.Its great variety and well-preserved condition were rare to see in the field of archaeology in China,which filled in the blank in the records of Chinese weapons and played an important role in the study of ancient Chinese weapon and warfare history.

According to the records of the accompanying burial bamboo slips,there should have been sixty-nine chariots and 205 horses of various breeds among the burial objects,but none were found in the chambers except for the awnings of chariots (used for sunshade) and the shafts (used to lock the axle of the wheels).In 1999,five accompanying burial pits of Marquis Yi were found nearby,and a large number of items recorded in literature were unearthed,but the chariot pit has not been found yet.

The leather armors in the northern chamber were the best preserved items and largest in quantity of their kind ever found in China.There were 13 sets of human armor,2 sets for horses,and many fragments.The armors for warriors consisted of four parts:helmet (hat on the head),body,sleeves,and skirt.Those for horses were composed of three parts:helmet,chestneck,and body armor.The armor sheets for horses were thicker than those for soldiers,and also more colorful.The leather armors discovered in the Yin Ruins of Anyang,Henan Province were made with an entire piece of skin while those found here were made with leather sheets braided together,which indicated the great progress in military science and technology during the Warring States period.

Two large bronze wine vessels,called zunfou,126 centimeters in height,100 centimeters in abdominal diameter,and weighing 327.5 and 290.2 kilos respectively,were unearthed in the northern chamber,which were the largest of their kind unearthed in China from this period.According to its capacity,each zunfou could hold 430 kilos of wine.The big one was the largest and heaviest wine vessel found in the pre-Qin period in China.It is now known as the king of Chinese wine vessels.The inscription on it reads:“Produced and held for life by Marquis Yi of Zeng,” indicating that it was to be exclusively used by Marquis Yi.

In addition,more than 240 bamboo slips with 6696 characters were unearthed in the northern chamber,which recorded the details of the objects buried in the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng.