Chapter 18 Section 9 The Cemetery of Guo State in Sanmenxia, ​​Henan

In the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the two younger brothers of King Wu of Zhou—Guo [Guo Guo] Zhong and Uncle Guo.The fiefdom of Guozhong is called Xiguo, and the old city is in the east of today's Baoji, Shaanxi.Later, King Ping moved to the east, and Guo Guo moved to Shangyang in the west. The old city is now Sanmenxia, ​​Henan.Those whose branches still stay in Yuanqi are called Xiaoguo.It was destroyed by Qin in 687 BC.The fiefdom of Uncle Guo is called Dongguo, and the old city is in the northeast of Xingyang, Henan Province. It was destroyed by Zheng in 767 BC.Guo of Shangyang has both Sanmen Gorge in Henan Province and Pingland in Shanxi Province along the Yellow River, and is adjacent to Yu State.In 655 B.C., Jin falsely ruled in Yu to attack Guo State, and Guo State fell.

From 1955 to 1957, the cemetery of the Guo State was discovered and excavated in Shangcunling, Sanmenxia.This time, 234 tombs, three chariot pits and one horse pit were excavated. A total of 9,197 cultural relics were unearthed, including 181 bronze wares and 14 with inscriptions. For the age of the cemetery, the lower limit is consistent with the time when Guo State fell, and the upper limit is the later years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, that is, it should be earlier than King Ping moved to the east.It is mainly the relics from the 9th to the early 7th century BC.About a hundred years before and after.

These tombs excavated in the cemetery are all vertical pit tombs without tomb passages.Most of the dead in the tomb face north.Burial utensils can be divided into three types: single coffin with double coffin, single coffin with single coffin, and single coffin.There are also tombs without burial utensils.There are certain differences in the funeral system. The size of the tomb varies.Larger tombs account for 1/10 of the tombs, 8-9 meters deep, four meters long at the mouth of the pit, and more than 2.5 meters wide.In this excavation, the M1052 tomb of "Prince Guo" Ge was unearthed the largest, with a depth of 10 meters, a length of nearly six meters, and a width of more than four meters.The funerary objects are mainly bronze ritual vessels, with weapons, chariots and horses among them.Among the nearly 200 smaller tombs, more than 50 only produced a small amount of jade ornaments or a piece of pottery, or even no burial objects.Most of the rest of the tombs were buried with pottery such as ge, pots, pots, and beans.The level difference of the funerary objects is very obvious.As for the combination of bronze wares, the Qiding tomb with the highest specifications is buried with musical instruments.The ones with higher specifications are Wuding or Sanding tombs.There are also pans, pans, pots, two pots, one bean, and one pot, as well as weapons, chariots and horses, and a pit for burials.The ones with lower specifications are Erding or Yiding tombs, and the same dish and beans are produced.

According to M2001, the burial system of Guo State cemetery can be roughly divided into six grades: The first class: Jiuding, Bagui and Bagui.There are also 8 copper chime bells and 10 stone chimes.The nearby chariot and horse pit is 40 meters long and 5.2 meters wide.Such as M2001. The second class: Qiding, Liugui, Liuge.There are also nine copper button bells.The inscription on the bronze ge: "Prince Guo Yuantu Ge".There are 10 chariots and 24 horses in the pit.Such as M1052. The third class: five tripods, four gui, four ge, no musical instruments.A chariot and horse pit is attached, and there are five chariots and ten horses in the pit.Such as M1706, M1810.

The fourth class: three tripods, four guis, and two guis.There are also chariot and horse pits (not yet excavated).Such as M1705, M1721, M1820.There is also a Sanding tomb, where chariots and horses are buried.Such as M1602. The fifth class: two tripods or one tripod, nearly 20 tombs.Some only produced one tripod, some together produced dishes and pots, and some produced pots, beans, jars and other pottery together. The sixth class: there are nearly 200 tombs without bronze ritual vessels. The first-class tomb mentioned above is the tomb of the king of Guo State, and the second-class tomb is the tomb of the king who is lower than the state.In the tomb of Qiding, Prince Guo was unearthed, which should be the tomb of Prince Guo.The age of the tomb is presumed to be the period of King Xuan of the Western Zhou Dynasty.

In 1990, nine tombs and four chariot and horse pits were excavated for the second time in the Guoguo Cemetery.Among them, there is one Jiuding tomb, two Wuding tombs and three Sanding tombs. Tomb No. 1 (M2001) is buried with Jiuding, Bagui, and Bagui, which are of high rank.The tomb entrance is 5.3 meters long from north to south and 3.55 meters wide.More than 3,200 objects were unearthed.There are nine categories including copper, iron, gold, jade, stone, pottery, bamboo, wood, leather, and linen.Bronze Ritual Vessels: 56 pieces including tripod, gui, ge, 盨, pan, 匜, bean, square pot and round pot.There are more than 30 pieces with inscriptions.Musical instruments: eight bronze bells and one bronze bell.A set of 10 stone chimes.Both the bronze tripod and the copper chime bells have the inscription "Guo Ji".

Particularly precious is an iron sword with a copper handle and an iron body, about 33 centimeters long.After identification, it was confirmed that it was an artificial iron smelting product.This is the earliest artificial iron smelting object discovered in my country.It advances the emergence of artificial iron smelting in my country by at least nearly 200 years. Among the large number of unearthed jade articles, the jade mask is the most eye-catching.The jade mask is placed on the face of the deceased, and its main body is made of jade eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, jaw, left and right cheeks, etc.It is a work of art.There is also a group of large humanoid jade pendants on the body of the deceased.This group of jade pendants is composed of jade pendants that increase in size from small to large, with two rows of agate glazed beads interspersed between them.Hang on the neck and reach below the knees.There were five sets of jade ornaments on the head of the deceased, jade biscuits were placed on the shoulder blades and pelvis, and Ge, Zhang, Gui, etc. were covered on the torso.And there is jade in the mouth, jade in the hand, jade under the feet, and jade ornaments in the toes.The quantity of this kind of burial jade is large, and the jadeware is exquisite, which is rare in the Zhou Dynasty.In addition, there is a belt set consisting of 12 pieces of gold on the waist of the deceased, which is also rare.

According to the inscription, the owner of the tomb should be "Guo Ji".Judging from the basic combination of funeral vessels including Jiuding, Bagui, and Bagui, as well as a large number of exquisite jade ornaments, the tomb owner had a very high status during his lifetime.He should be the king of a certain generation of Guo State.Its age can be inferred as the late Western Zhou Dynasty. In 1991, two more tombs were excavated in the Shangcunling Guo State Cemetery, and another major discovery was made. Tomb No. 9 (M2009), the tomb entrance is 5.6 meters long and 4.4 meters wide, the bottom of the tomb is slightly larger than the tomb entrance, and the depth is about 20 meters.Rectangular shaft pit tomb.The burial utensils are heavy coffin and single coffin.The burial is a straight-leg burial.

There are more than 3,000 funeral objects.There are more than 200 pieces of bronze vessels, and most of the large copper ritual vessels are practical ones.There are inscriptions cast on many sets of ritual vessels.The inscription on the four pieces of bronze cymbals reads: "Guo Zhong is the treasure cymbal of Guo's concubine, used by his descendants and grandchildren Yongbao".The rest are all inscribed with "Guo Zhong Self-made Device". Brass musical instruments, including a set of eight Yongzhong.A set of eight button chimes.One piece of copper cymbal.After sound measurement and identification, they are all practical musical instruments.There is a long inscription cast on the button chime bell, which is self-inscribed as "Bao Ling Bell".There are two sets of stone chimes with 10 pieces each, one is a practical device and the other is a bright device.

Four iron wares, one iron blade and bronze dagger, and three iron tools. The whole woolen garment is well preserved, which is really rare. A leather vest and a shield.This is the first time it has been seen in tombs of the same period. The posthumous book is one of the important discoveries in this excavation.It is written with ink on more than 10 Gui-shaped tablets.The content involves the name of the mourner and the items delivered.It is an early calligraphy treasure found in China. There are exquisite jade articles on the inner and outer coffin lids, inner and outer coffin lids, and the body of the owner of the tomb, which are large in number, diverse in variety, and exquisitely crafted.Many lifelike animal images are also carved, such as jade lions, tigers, leopards, deer, cattle, sheep, fish, mice, dragonflies, turtles and so on.

The face of the owner of the tomb is covered with a jade mask, and there are groups of jade pendants on the body.According to the bronze inscription, it should be Guo Zhong, who was also the king of Guo State.Its date should be the period of King Xuan of the Western Zhou Dynasty.