In the process of cultural relics cleaning, people found a seal engraved with the words "concubine Xin Zhui", indicating that the owner's name was Xin Zhui. In addition, the words "Hou Ji Jiacheng" and "Hou Ji Jia" are printed on some funerary objects. According to historical records, Chihou was a marquis in the early Western Han Dynasty and served as prime minister in Changsha. From this, it is basically determined that the tomb belongs to the tomb of Hou Licang, the prime minister of Changsha, and his family in the early Western Han Dynasty. According to historical records and Hanshu, Li Xiangcang died in Changsha in the second year of Emperor Huidi (BC 193).
According to the description of lacquerware, sealing mud, seals, etc. A female corpse of about 50 years old was found in Tomb No.1, and the bone print of "Xin Zhui's concubine" was found in the tomb. The owner of the tomb was Li Cang's wife; Three seals, namely "Prime Minister of Changsha", "Hou Yin" and "Li Cang", were found in Tomb No.2, indicating that the owner of the tomb was Li Cang himself. The body of the owner of Tomb No.3 belongs to a man in his thirties. He is the son of Li Cang. More than 1,000 funerary objects 1000 were unearthed from Tomb No.3, and the main list is as follows: bamboo slips, 6 10, some of which were unearthed in the enclosure. The content of the works can be divided into medical skill (200 pieces) and strategy (200 pieces) * * * 38 weapons, including 4 bows, 2 crossbows, 24 arrows (* * * 24, 68.5cm 12, the rest 82.4cm), weapon rack 1, and wood blade 3 handles. Musical instruments, 1, 1, 1, 2 musical instruments are suspected to be Xiao; Textiles, including famous silk books and four silk paintings, are divided into four pieces, one of which is T-shaped, with a total length of 2.33m, an upper width of 1.4 1 m and a lower width of 0.50m. The contents are similar to those of the silk paintings unearthed in Tomb No.1: one pair is rectangular, with a length of 2.12m. The other two paintings are damaged, one of which is damaged to the extent that the theme of the original painting cannot be distinguished, and the other is damaged, but the contents in the painting can still be seen clearly. When unearthed, there was a silk book with a width of 18cm and a width of 6-7mm per row. The font direction is consistent with the latitude direction of silk. Most of the fonts are early official scripts, and a few are seal scripts. Judging from the handwriting, it was written by many people, including the Book of Changes, Laozi and the Warring States Policy, as well as some works on divination of the five elements in the astronomical calendar and two maps. Other textiles mainly include silk, silk, yarn, brocade and embroidery. Lacquerware, * * * has 3 16 pieces, ding (***6 pieces), box, pot, bit, basin and plate (***68 pieces), pen, spoon and ear cup (*** 174 pieces). * * * 104 wooden figurines, including 17 musical figurines with clothes, 8 figurines with clothes, 4 carved figurines and 73 painted figurines; There are 50 pieces of bamboo barnyard grass, which were badly rotted when unearthed, of which 38 pieces contain animal remains, fruits, grains and so on. Among them, 2 pieces have been made into food, and the other 8 pieces contain silk (most of them are disabled or decayed); Furniture 1 set, the preservation condition is basically consistent with historical records; 2 brushes, 2 bronze mirrors, 1 corner mirror, 2 corner combs, 2 corner grates, 2 wooden combs, 2 wooden grates, 1 hoop iron, and 2 triangular ceramic stoves. Mawangdui Han Tomb has never been stolen for more than two thousand years, and it is well preserved, so a large number of cultural relics have been unearthed. The well-preserved Tomb 1 and Tomb 3 are placed in four side boxes around the coffin chamber, mainly including bamboo sheds, lacquerware, wooden figurines, musical instruments, bamboo pottery and bamboo slips. The brocade-decorated coffins of the two tombs were covered with painted silk paintings. Tomb No.3 also contains silk books and weapons.
The magical female corpse unearthed in Tomb No.1 which has not rotted for two thousand years and a large number of silk documents unearthed in Tomb No.3 provided detailed materials for historical textual research in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, which shocked the world. Tomb No.1 was sealed with white paste when it was unearthed, so the female corpse was still well preserved after 2000. When it was discovered, there was a gas jet burning, but because the gas was not collected in time and the specific components were not known, it became a mystery that the wet corpse of a thousand-year-old woman corpse was still well preserved.
Lacquer wooden figurines
About 500 pieces of lacquerware were unearthed from Mawangdui Han Tomb, including 3 pieces from Tomb 1 Tomb 184 and Tomb 3 16. This is the largest and best-preserved batch of lacquerware found in various places in the Han Dynasty. The utensils mainly include ding, bi, box, pot, cup, ear cup, plate, casket, table, screen and so on. Lacquer ear cups account for more than half of all lacquerware. Most lacquerware is made of wooden tires, and only a few are sandwiched tires. Decorative patterns are mostly painted in red, black and grayish green. The pattern is mainly geometric, supplemented by dragon and phoenix patterns and grass patterns. Many lacquerware bears the mark of "Shicheng □", indicating that it was made by Chengdu government workshop. A large number of funerary lacquerware, such as cups, plates, cosmetic boxes, etc. The words "stone and wine" were unearthed in tomb 1, and the words "stone and wine" were also written on the inner bottom of cups and plates, and the contents of utensils were also marked. The appearance is as bright as new, showing the essence of lacquer manufacturing in the early Han Dynasty.
In addition, more than 65,438+000 wooden figurines and more than 30 bamboo barnacles containing meat, grain, fruits and spices were unearthed in Tomb 65,438+0 and Tomb 3, respectively.
"sending policy" bamboo slips
The funerary objects of Tomb 1 3 are recorded in detail, which are the most complete two batches of similar bamboo slips discovered so far. 3 1 2 pieces were unearthed from tomb1and 4 10 pieces were unearthed from tomb 3, all of which recorded the names, quantities and subtotals of the funerary objects. 1 Tomb Bamboo Slips list the objects in the approximate order: Jiuding, Ding Qi, Sanding and Earrings made of lacquer wood, all kinds of soups put in bamboo sheds, meat food (including eggs and fish) put in bamboo sheds, sauce and wine put in Tokisho, grain put in cloth bags, lacquer wood furniture, toiletries, silk clothes and musical instruments. Although the objects in the bamboo slips are different from those in the tomb, there are still many similarities, so the names of some objects can be determined according to the bamboo slips. The bamboo slips of Tomb No.3 have the same contents as those of Tomb No.3 1, and there are attendants such as riders, musicians and dancers, children's servants, including ritual vessels, weapons, musical instruments, etc., which can be compared with the unearthed wooden figurines and the silk paintings on both walls of the tomb.
Silk painting
Main exhibits: silk paintings of Mawangdui No.1 Han Tomb.
They were all created in the period of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty (202 BC ~ 65438 BC+057 BC), and they are the earliest single paintings in the Han Dynasty.
The coffin in Tomb No.1 is covered with a beautiful T-shaped silk painting. The upper, middle and lower parts of the picture show the scenes in the sky, on the ground and underground respectively, reflecting the local traditional customs. Scholars initially thought that the function of this silk painting was to lead the deceased to heaven, but later found that this concept was not popular at that time, and it may have been made according to the local traditional ritual of evocation, hoping that the soul of the deceased would not dissipate after death.
1 The painted silk paintings on the coffins of Tomb No.3 and Tomb No.3 are well preserved and brightly colored, which are rare art treasures. The composition of the two silk paintings is basically the same, with a total length of 2 meters, both of which are T-shaped, with spikes on the four drooping corners and straps at the top, which should be the necessary banners in the funeral ceremony at that time. The upper part of the screen is painted with figures such as the sun, the moon, dragons looking up and snakes, symbolizing the realm of heaven; The next Duan Long crossed the wall, and the tomb owner went out for a banquet. The whole theme is "leading souls to heaven". Some people think that the "one foot long and two feet long" in the essay "Send Policy" refers to this kind of silk painting. The main difference between the silk paintings of the two tombs lies in the image of the tomb owner. 1 Tomb No.3 is male and female. The silk painting hanging in the coffin room of Tomb No.3 is well preserved in the western wall, with a length of 2.12m and a width of 0.94m.. There are still more than 100 portraits, hundreds of horses and dozens of cars in the picture. The silk painting on the east wall is badly damaged, which looks like the life scene of the tomb owner.
Textiles and clothing
All kinds of silk fabrics and clothes unearthed from Mawangdui Han Tomb are early, numerous and well-preserved, which greatly enriched the historical materials of ancient textile technology in China. Most of the cloth unearthed in the box next to TombNo. 1 put it in several bamboo sheds. In addition to 15' s fairly complete singlets and cotton gowns, skirts, socks, gloves, sachets, towels and parcels, there are 46 volumes of single silk, yarn, silk, brocade and embroidery, all of which are made of stems. Most of the silk fabrics and clothes unearthed from Tomb No.3 are broken and shapeless, and the varieties are roughly the same as those of Tomb No.3 1, but there are tapestries of various colors. Plain yarn and loop brocade can best reflect the development of textile technology in Han Dynasty. As thin as cicada's wings, the weight of plain yarn single coat is less than 1 2, which is a sign of the developed silk reeling technology at that time. The loop brocade used as the edge decoration of clothing has a three-dimensional effect, so it is necessary to use double warp beam mechanism for complex jacquard weaving. Its discovery proves that velvet fabric was first invented in China, thus denying the previous misconception that it only existed after the Tang Dynasty or was introduced from abroad. The discovery of printed colored yarn is the first discovery of printed silk fabrics in ancient China, which shows that the printing and dyeing technology at that time reached a high level. Well-preserved linen was found in the body package of tomb 1. It is made of ramie or hemp and still has considerable toughness.
Silk books and medical slips
Main products: Mawangdui silk books
A large number of silk books and two volumes of medical slips were found in the third tomb of Mawangdui Han Tomb, both of which came from rectangular lacquer boxes in the east box of the third tomb. Silk books are mostly written on a whole piece of silk book with a width of 48 cm and folded into a rectangle; A few of them were written on half a piece of 24 cm wide silk and rolled up with wooden strips. When they were excavated, they were seriously damaged. After sorting out, 28 * * * articles are known, with more than1.2000 words. Among them, except Zhouyi, Laozi and Letters of the Warring States, most of them are lost books, involving ideological, military, astronomical, medical, geographical and other fields, and there are two ancient maps. This is another important discovery of ancient books in China archaeological community after the "Confucius Wall Book" in the Han Dynasty, the "Bamboo Book in Jizhong" in the Jin Dynasty and the Tibetan Scriptures in Dunhuang in the late Qing Dynasty, which has extraordinary value and significance in ancient philology and the academic history of China.
According to the textual research on font, taboo, year and burial year (pre-168), silk books can be roughly divided into two categories. An earlier kind of copying was written in Qin and Han Dynasties on the grounds that the font was close to seal script, but it did not avoid the taboo of Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang. The latter was written from the early Han Dynasty to the early years of Emperor Wendi, on the grounds that the font was official script and the word "Zhou" was taboo, but it was not taboo for Liu Ying and Emperor Heng. Some silk books are painted with vermilion, with lines and heads of heaven and earth (referring to the blank space at the upper and lower ends of the page, which is called the head of heaven above and the head of land below), and there is a blank space equivalent to "redundant bamboo slips" before and after each article, which is basically consistent with the shape of bamboo slips unearthed in the Han Dynasty.
Silk books include the Book of Changes, Laozi, Letters from the Warring States, Health Prescriptions and other academic and alchemical documents in the early Han Dynasty. Among them, the Book of Changes and Laozi are quite different from the current versions and are considered to be one of the popular manuscripts of these books before they are formally finalized. A large number of alchemical documents are helpful to understand divination, astrology, medical skills, house art and so on in the early Han Dynasty.
In addition, a large number of Taoist documents unearthed in Mawangdui can also confirm the dominant position of Laoxue and Huanglaoxue. These precious silk books unearthed at Mawangdui are really a collection of Taoist materials. Needless to say, the first and second editions of Laozi and the Four Classics of Huangdi shocked the academic circles. It can be seen from the publication of the newly published full text of silk book copyright that it is the earliest surviving Taoist manuscript ②, while other lost articles in the Book of Changes, such as Ersanzi, Yizhiyi, Yao Yao, Miuhe and Zhao Zhao, are similar to Han Li in font, but unique, and are called "Mawangdui" by the book circle.
One volume of Laozi and the four lost books after the volume are copied into long volumes, and the font is close to seal script, ***465 lines, each line is about 30 words; The second edition of Laozi and the lost articles before the volume were copied on a whole silk book, written in official script, with 252 lines, each line ranging from 0 to 70 words, and the copying time was later than the first edition. All kinds of books are written with Virtue Classics in front and Daoism Classics in the back, in the opposite order to popular books. Duanzi is divided into chapters 8 1, and the second edition of Laozi in silk is divided into chapters. Some paragraphs in the first edition are marked with dots, and chapters are different from paragraphs. For example, Chapter 4 is before Chapter 22, Chapter 4 1 is before Chapter 40, and Chapters 80 and 8 1 are before Chapter 67. After repeated research by scholars, it is considered that the order of this A and B version of Laozi is more reasonable than the current version. The lost text of the first volume of Laozi has no title. Scholars divide it into four parts according to the content, named five elements, nine masters, Ming Jun and Desheng. The first four lost books in the second volume of Laozi were originally entitled Classic Laws, Sixteen Classics, Weighing and Daoyuan. The first two books include several small chapters, mainly focusing on the names of punishments and the theory of Yin and Yang punishments. Some people think that the four lost books in the second edition are the Four Classics of the Yellow Emperor, which has been lost for a long time in Hanshu Yiwenzhi. Because Emperor Wen of Han advocated the study of Huang Lao, he copied the Four Classics of Huangdi and Laozi into one volume. As the Sixteen Classics records the myths about the Yellow Emperor and the deeds and remarks of his ministers, such as Li Hei (namely Li Mu), Guo Tong and Taishan Ji, some scholars think it may be related to the Yellow Emperor 10 recorded in the Records of Han Shu Literature and Art or the inclusion of Li Mu 65438+ in C Yin Yang. Zhouyi is a silk book, which consists of classics (namely, sixty-four hexagrams) and six biographies (two or three characters, Cohesion, Yizhiyi, Yao Yao, Miao He and Zhao Li). Its hexagrams are basically the same as today's edition, but the order of the sixty-four hexagrams is quite different.
There are two historical books about silk: The Story of the Spring and Autumn Period and Letters from the Warring States Period. Chunqiu consists of 16 chapters, with about 3000 words. Except for the battle of Yan and Jin in the second chapter, other historical events can be dated according to historical records, and some contents can be referred to ancient books such as Three Biographies of Spring and Autumn and Guoyu. Judging from its writing style, the notes are concise, there are many conversations between the parties and comments from future generations, and many historical materials that are not seen by the world are preserved. The Warring States Letters are divided into 27 chapters, with more than 1 1200 words, of which the eleventh chapter is found in Historical Records of the Warring States Policy, which is a very precious historical material about the late Warring States Period.
Silk medical books 10, all without titles. According to its contents, the organizers named it Foot-arm Eleven-pulse Moxibustion Classic, Yin-yang Eleven-pulse Moxibustion Classic, Pulse Diagnosis Method, Death of Yin-yang Pulse, Fifty-two Prescriptions for Diseases, Quegu Shi Qi, Guide Map, Health-preserving Prescription, Miscellaneous Therapy Prescription and Fetal Life Book. Silk medical books reflect China's medical achievements in ancient times and are rare and precious ancient books. For example, Fifty-two Diseases Prescription was written earlier than Huangdi Neijing, which recorded 52 diseases, mentioned the names of more than 100 diseases, included more than 280 prescriptions and used more than 240 drugs. It is the earliest prescription that China can see now, and it has become a very precious medical heritage.
There is no title in the category of silk calligraphy. According to its contents, the organizers named it Yang and the Five Elements, Five-Star Zhan, Miscellaneous Zhan of Astronomy and Meteorology (illustrated with pictures and texts), Style and Method, Travel Zhan, Mu Ren Zhan, Xiang and so on, all of which are long-lost ancient books. These precious ancient books are of great value to the study of China's ancient philosophy, mathematics and natural science. For example, the comet phenomenon recorded in "Miscellaneous Occupation of Astronomy and Meteorology" is earlier than that in the west 1000 years.
There are three kinds of silk books about war: A, B and C, and there are also silk maps in the silk books, including guide maps, neighborhood maps, garrison maps, funeral maps, general Taiyi's travel maps, astronomical and meteorological miscellaneous maps, etc. The most surprising thing is that several maps were found in the silk map. Researchers named three of them as Topographic Map of Southern Changsha, Garrison Map and Urban Garden Map, which are the earliest large-scale practical color maps with a certain scientific level in the world.
There are 200 medical books in two volumes, one of which is similar to Huangdi Neijing, and the other is about the art of keeping in good health. Among them, there are Health-preserving Prescription, Yin-Yang Harmony Prescription, Ten Questions, On the Road to the World and so on. , involving sexual health care, eugenics and health care. For example, in the eighth question of Ten Questions, I asked Mr. Wei Xiao for the way to cure arrogance. Because I worked hard to cure the world, I lost my sexual function, so my family was in chaos. After learning the way to control arrogance, sexual function will recover, thus "settling down in Yao and staying at home in Ning", which shows that learning the way to live in the house can harmonize the relationship between husband and wife and improve health. The theory of "Seven Losses and Eight Benefits" in Tan Zhidao in the World is a great contribution to the theory of atrioventricular health care in China, and it still has important reference value for indoor health care. Six arts of bamboo and silk catalogue unearthed from Mawangdui tomb: Zhouyi, funeral pictures, spring and autumn stories and letters from the Warring States period. The first edition of Laozi (with 3 lost articles), the second edition of Laozi, nine main drawings and the Imperial Classics. There are three kinds of "criminal virtues" in Sun Tzu's Art of War, namely, A, B and C. Numerology: Yin-Yang and Five Elements of Seal Script, Yin-Yang and Five Elements of Official Script, Five-Star Occupation, Miscellaneous Occupation of Astronomy and Meteorology, Travel Occupation, Wooden Occupation, Zuo Fu, Divine Map, Building City Map, Sleeping Garden Map and Xiangma Classic. Fifty-two prescriptions for diseases (with 4 lost books attached), viviparous chart, health chart, miscellaneous treatment prescription and guidance chart (with 2 lost books attached). Maps: topographic map, garrison map and city map of southern Changsha. (Note: The above table and the source of silk book)
musical instrument
Among the musical instruments in Mawangdui Han Tomb, there are 25 stringed instruments unearthed from Tomb 1, which is the only complete musical instrument in the early Western Han Dynasty and the earliest and most complete stringed instrument unearthed in China at present. Twenty-two pipes and a set of stringed instruments were also unearthed. In addition to the unearthed harps and cymbals, there are also lyres and six-hole flutes in Tomb 3. These are the first articles found in the Western Han Dynasty. 12 sets of laws are marked with the names of laws in the early Han Dynasty, which adds material evidence to the discussion of the early legal system in China.
Millennium female corpse
The female corpse unearthed from the No.1 Han Tomb is more than 2 100 years ago. The corpse is intact, moist all over, some joints can move, and the soft connective tissue is still elastic, almost similar to the fresh corpse. It is not only different from mummies, but also different from corpse wax and peat tanning. It is a special kind of corpse, a miracle in antiseptic treatment, which shocked the world and attracted many scholars and tourists to visit. After the female corpse was dissected, the corpse and internal organs were displayed in a specially designed basement (the Han Tomb Exhibition Hall is now located in the courtyard of Hunan Provincial Museum).
A well-preserved female corpse was unearthed from Tomb No.1 excavated for the first time. According to research, it is Xin Zhui, the wife of Li Cang, who is about fifty years old. When she was unearthed, her soft tissues were elastic, her joints could move and her blood vessels were clearly visible. She is a wet corpse, which is unprecedented in the history of world archaeology. Since then, this ancient corpse has been named Mawangdui corpse. After being dissected by experts from Hunan Medical College, the body was kept in Hunan Provincial Museum. Now it is closed to tourists, but it attracts tens of millions of tourists from all over the world.
The pathological anatomy of the female corpse in tomb 1 shows that although it has been 2 100 years, the morphology of various parts of the body and internal organs are still quite complete, and the fine structures such as connective tissue, muscle tissue and cartilage are also well preserved, which is very rare in the world corpse preservation records.
Clinical medical examination shows that the deceased suffered from coronary heart disease, multiple gallstones, systemic atherosclerosis, schistosomiasis and other diseases before his death, which provides important scientific data for the study of China's corpse preservation, paleohistology, paleopathology, ancient disease history and medical development history. During pathological anatomy, melon seeds found in the intestines of the female corpse also revealed the real cause of Xin Zhui's death-eating melon caused various complications, which eventually led to angina pectoris and let the old woman who enjoyed the glory die.
The female corpse was dressed in a brocade robe and linen unlined upper garment, with green silk shoes on her feet, a sauce-colored brocade handkerchief on her face, and ribbons on her hands and feet. Then, wrap 18 layer of silk hemp, tie 9 belts and cover with two silk gowns. When the female corpse was unearthed, it was soaked in about 80 liters of colorless and transparent coffin liquid (it turned brown soon after it was unearthed). There are different explanations about whether this liquid is a preservative and where it comes from. Archaeologists found acidic liquids such as alcohol and suspected that alcohol was used. There may have been preservatives, or the body was left at the funeral, or it was left when the body was bathed in fragrant soup. The weight of the body is half lighter than before, so some people think that this is the moisture of the body itself. But this discovery is impossible after textual research, because the coffin liquid is always 80 kg, while the body is only 80 kg. It is impossible to release corpse water equivalent to body weight.
The real source of these liquids is still an unsolved mystery.
As early as 1972, when Japanese Prime Minister tanaka kakuei visited China, he asked the Chinese side for the female corpse of Mawangdui Han Tomb as a national gift, but it aroused the vigilance of Premier Zhou at that time and refused. The Japanese side took the second best and repeatedly asked for the hair of the female corpse for research, all of which were rejected by the Chinese side.
"Xin Zhui's body, which has been sleeping for more than two thousand years, is well protected. His skin is still elastic, his joints can move, and cartilage tissue can be seen by the naked eye. X-rays show that the bones of the old lady are better than those of normal people who are now 60 years old. " On the 7th, Hunan Provincial Museum and Xiangya Medical College of Central South University jointly released the "Physical Examination Report" on the preservation of the mistress of Mawangdui Han Tomb in Changsha, which has been unearthed for 30 years.
Chen Jianming, director of Hunan Provincial Museum, said at the 30th International Symposium on the Excavation of Mawangdui Han Tomb held on the 7th that in June 2002, Hunan Provincial Museum planned to move Xin Zhui's body to a new exhibition building. In order to ensure the smooth relocation and provide scientific basis for further protection in the future, with the consent of the Hunan Provincial People's Government, experts from Xiangya Medical College of Central South University were invited to conduct a comprehensive and systematic examination and evaluation of the female corpse.
According to the Physical Examination Report, the chemical composition of the preservation solution used in recent 30 years was systematically analyzed by means of gas chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography, and suspicious mildew spots were collected from the digestive system, urogenital system, dura mater and preservation solution of female corpses and plexiglass coffins for bacterial and mold culture. No bacteria grew or mold was isolated.
Under aseptic conditions, the skin, calf muscle tissue and liver tissue of the female corpse were also taken and observed by optical microscope and electron microscope respectively. It is found that most of the structures are basically consistent with the inspection results 30 years ago.
What is particularly surprising is that the skeleton structure of the female corpse is basically normal, the contrast agent injected into the blood vessel 30 years ago is still clearly visible, the appearance and skin color of the ancient corpse have not changed significantly, and the skin is still elastic. These results show that the protection methods used before are successful.
Xin Zhui's body has been moved to the "underground bedroom" tailored for the new building of Hunan Provincial Museum. The "underground bedroom" is 8 meters from the ground, with constant temperature and humidity. It was built in imitation of the original state when it was unearthed that year, surrounded by a big coffin and a grave model, close to the underground environment where the "old lady" had been sleeping for more than 2,000 years.
Despite this, the Physical Examination Report also expressed some concerns. Professor Luo told reporters that the late Prime Minister hoped that the female corpse of Mawangdui could be preserved for at least 200 years, but now it has only been protected for 30 years. How to prevent protein degradation, decalcification of bone tissue, edema or dehydration of histiocytes in the future 170 or even longer is an arduous task to protect the female corpse of Mawangdui Han Tomb.
Chen Jianming said, "In the next step, we will strengthen the power of scientific and technological protection and cooperate with the medical community to conduct regular testing and scientific research on female corpses."