Chapter 24 Section 4 Mancheng Han Tombs and Nanyue King Tombs

The Han tombs in Mancheng and the tombs of Nanyue kings are all large-scale cliff tombs carved into the rocks.The project is arduous and large in scale, like an underground palace. Mancheng Han Tomb is located on Lingshan Mountain, Mancheng County, Hebei Province.The two Han tombs No. 1 and No. 2 are the tombs of Liu Sheng, King Jing of Zhongshan in the Western Han Dynasty, and his wife Dou Wan (wan Wan).Tomb No. 1 (Liu Sheng) has a total length of 51.7 meters, a width of 37.5 meters and a height of nearly 7 meters.Tomb No. 2 (Dou Wan) has a total length of 49.7 meters, a maximum width of 65 meters and a maximum height of 7.9 meters.The shape and structure of the two tombs are roughly the same.The whole tomb can be divided into tomb passage, south and north chambers, middle chamber, back chamber and other parts.The gate of the tomb faces east.

The most special thing in the tomb is the lacquered coffin inlaid with jade.The outer is inlaid with jade bi, and the inner is inlaid with a jade plate in the shape of a rectangular box.The outer wall of the coffin is inlaid with 26 jade discs, and the inner wall of the coffin is inlaid with jade plates.A total of 192 pieces of jade are inlaid on both sides of the bottom of the coffin lid and at the front and rear ends. The most important discovery in the tomb is the "Golden Jade Clothes". "Jade clothes" have the same appearance as the human body.It can be divided into five parts: head, gloves, jacket, trousers and shoes.It is composed of jade pieces and embroidered with gold thread, so it is called "Jade Clothes with Golden Threads".After restoration, Liu Sheng's "jade clothes" are 1.88 meters long, sharing 2498 pieces of jade pieces and 1100 grams of gold wire.Dou Wan's "Jade Clothes" is 1.72 meters long, sharing 2,160 jade pieces and 700 grams of gold wire.This is the first time in archeology that the two "jade clothes" have been completely restored according to the unearthed conditions.From the production of "jade clothes", it reflects the high level of craftsmanship in the Western Han Dynasty.

The burial objects in the two tombs include bronze wares, gold and silver wares, iron wares, jade wares, material wares, pottery wares, lacquer wares and silk fabrics, totaling more than 4,200 pieces. The copperware is finely made and beautiful in shape.For example: The staggered Jinboshan furnace is 25 cm high, and the whole body is staggered into patterns with gold.The furnace base is carved with dragon patterns, and the upper part and the cover of the furnace cast hunters hunting in the mountains. The Suzaku lamp is made in the shape of a Suzaku spreading its wings and about to fly. The ring-shaped lamp panel held by it is divided into three grids, and three candles can be lit at the same time.

Copper clepsydra, 22.5 cm high.The original time mark on the engraved arrow (unfortunately it has been damaged), can be called "Western Han Bronze Timepiece". What is rare is the weights and measures of the Western Han Dynasty. The "three-hook" iron weight is measured to be 249.9 grams per catty in the Western Han Dynasty, and the weight button is slightly damaged.A catty in the Western Han Dynasty should equal 250 grams today.There are gold and iron rulers with wrong gold dots to indicate the size, and the full scale is divided into 10 inches.After actual measurement, the length of the ruler is 23.2 centimeters.This kind of scale Chinese ruler was discovered for the first time in our country.The most rare thing is the "Changxin Palace" lamp unearthed from Tomb No. 2 (the inscription has the word "Changxin", hence the name), which is the image of a palace lady holding the lamp with both hands.The lamp is detachable, the lamp panel can be rotated, and the lampshade can be opened and closed.The brightness and irradiation angle of the light can be adjusted at will.The maid's head is also detachable, the body is hollow, and the right arm communicates with the flue. The soot when the candle burns can be contained in the body through the flue to keep the room clean.The design of palace lanterns is scientific and reasonable, and the shapes of characters are lifelike.It is a rare treasure.

The Nanyue King Tomb is the tomb of the second generation king of the Nanyue Kingdom in the Western Han Dynasty. It is located in Xianggang Mountain in the north of Guangzhou City.The tomb is built entirely of large sandstone slabs, and consists of seven parts: the front room, the east and west ear rooms, the main room, the east and west side rooms and the back storage room.It is 10.85 meters long and 12.5 meters wide.The tomb passage is in the south, with a length of 10.3 meters and a width of about 2.6 meters.The painted coffin is decayed. There are more than 10 martyrs in the east and west side chambers, front chamber, east ear chamber and tomb passage of the tomb.It should be the concubine's attendant or handyman of the owner of the tomb.

The owner of the tomb is dressed in "jade clothes".The jade pieces on the hands, feet and head of this "jade garment" are woven with silk thread, while the jade pieces of other parts are pasted on linen pieces, and then covered with plain silk, which can be called "silk thread jade garment".Round openwork jade ornaments are placed on both sides of the "jade clothes".There are 10 iron swords on both sides of the waist, and the length of the sword is 1.20 meters.Wearing jade ornaments on the chest and strings of gold, silver, jade, copper, glass and other quality beads. The "jade clothes" are covered with jade biscuits, under which there is a lacquer box filled with pearls, and beside the box is a horn-shaped jade cup.There are more than 130 pieces of imitation jade pottery at the foot.Among the pottery biscuits is a silver box with the inscription "private official" engraved on it.Nine seals (two gold seals, five jade seals, and two turquoise seals) were found on the tomb owner.Among them, there are the dragon button gold seal "Wendi Xingxi" and the jade seal "Zhao Yu".Based on this, it is determined that the owner of the tomb is Zhao Mei, the second generation Nanyue king who arrogated to be "Emperor Wen" (in "Historical Records" and "Hanshu", "Mei" was mistaken for "Hu").

There are more than a thousand burial objects, including two gold seals, which are eye-catching.A square dragon button gold seal, each side is 3.1 cm long and weighs 148.5 grams.Sealed text: "Emperor Wen Xingxi".Another seal: "Taizi" word. "Wendi Xingxi" is currently the largest gold seal of the Western Han Dynasty. Light blue transparent glass, 9.5 cm long and 4.5 cm wide.This is the earliest known piece of flat glass. Among the bronze mirrors, there is a lacquer-painted figure portrait mirror with a diameter of 41.5 cm, which should also be the largest Hanyuan mirror at present.Mirror with a holder, 50 cm in diameter, the mirror surface is inserted into the groove of the mirror holder with adhesive, and the back is inlaid with turquoise.Three-ring button mirror, this kind of mirror is discovered for the first time. The "mountain" character mirror is also a rare utensil.

Liubo lacquer plates and Liubozi were also unearthed.There are two kinds of lacquer dishes, those with copper frame and those with copper and gold flowers.There are three kinds of Liubozi: ivory, sapphire and crystal.Rectangular, six pieces per set.It is a kind of chess piece in ancient my country. Rhino horn-shaped sapphire cup, 18.4 cm long.Carved from blue-white jadeite.The outer wall is decorated with openwork scroll cloud patterns on the bottom, cloud and thunder patterns in relief in the middle, and shallow carvings on the edge of the mouth.The production is fine and the shape is beautiful.It is a rare treasure.

There are also medicine stones: cinnabar, aluminum block, amethyst, sulfur, malachite and so on.Medicine utensils: copper pestle, iron pestle, copper mortar.This is rare in Han tombs. There is also a set of eight bronze mirrors, the largest of which is 48 centimeters high and 15.5 centimeters long.All have the inscription "Made by Yuefu in the ninth year of Emperor Wen".