Chapter 42 Section 3 Excavation of Pengshan Han Tomb

Beginning in May 1941, the Chuankang Historic Site Investigation Team conducted investigations in the rugged mountainous area with a radius of hundreds of miles in Jiangkou Town, Pengshan. By December 1942, a total of more than 900 cliff tomb sites had been discovered. On June 14, the inspection team began large-scale excavation of cliff tombs near Jiangkou.Afterwards, taking Jiangkou as the coordinate, it has been extended to the West Court. The excavation sites include Jizhao Temple, Shilonggou, Dingjiapo, Douyafanggou, Lijiagou, Zhaizishan, etc. A total of 77 cliff tombs and 2 brick tombs of the Han Dynasty were excavated. The excavated tombs have detailed survey records and accurate survey maps have been drawn.For example, in the "Report on the Clean-up of Yongyuan Remnant Tomb" written by Zeng Zhaoyu later, he made such a description:

On June 12, 1941, I traveled northward from Jizhao Temple with Wu Jinding to investigate Zhaizi Mountain.On the west half of the mountain, there is a large gap made by modern masonry, and there is a hole near it, covering a cliff tomb that has been opened. Entering it, you can see that the tomb is still intact, but the fragments of the stone coffin and the accumulation of soil are uneven.Wu Jun suddenly found an inner room on the left side at the end of the tomb, with a line of inscriptions on the stones on both sides outside the door.The inward line is too dark to read. A line to the entrance of the cave has the words "March 26th, the 14th year of Yongyuan".Now that the age of the tomb is known, it is immediately decided to clean it all up.

On the 15th, I visited the tomb again and made rubbings for the second line of the inscription on the side of the inner door.There was no light in the inner room, and it was very dark. When I entered with a lamp, I saw the fragments of the tile coffin and the accumulation of soil. I picked up dozens of pieces of pottery in the soil and returned. On the 16th, he led a group of workers to pile up the fragments of the tiled coffins in the inner room, clean up the soil in the room, and pick up all the relics. On the 19th, the accumulated soil in the stone coffin on the left side of the outer room was cleaned up. On the 20th, the plan and section drawings of the inner and outer rooms were made, and the work was completed.According to the local people, four or five years ago, the masons chiseled stones and built roads at the foot of the mountain, and this tomb was opened.However (Englishman) Tao Ranshi published an article "The Cliff Tombs and Ancient Burials in Western Sichuan" in the "Frontier Magazine of West China University" in 1931, saying that among the cliff tombs seen in Sichuan, there is only one tomb with inscriptions, which can be known with certainty. Its date is March 26, the 14th year of Yongyuan, but Dow did not say where the tomb is.The Yongyuan tomb discovered by Mr. Wu today matches the year and month of the one seen by Tao, so it is doubtful that they are the same.

From the short text, it can be seen that Zeng Zhaoyu, who was just in his early 30s, had surpassed the scope of traditional Chinese epigraphy at this time, and operated completely according to the scientific methods of modern field archaeology. His working methods truly represented the advanced level of the UK and the world at that time , so that the stratigraphic and typological methods in field archaeology have been further developed.From the operating procedures of the new generation of archaeologists such as Zeng and Wu, we can clearly see the major changes that have taken place in Chinese archaeology after the introduction of Western scientific concepts.

Tao Ranshi mentioned in Zeng Zhaoyu’s report was a British missionary. In 1908, this Tao Ranshi (Rev. Thomas Torranee) came to China to investigate Han tombs along the Minjiang River in Sichuan. The Western Cliff Tombs and Ancient Burial Mounds" was published in Volume 41 of the Shanghai "Asian Society Journal", and Zeng obviously read this article. In fact, there have been records of the discovery of cliff tombs in Sichuan Province since the Southern Song Dynasty. The local aborigines often found caves between mountain cliffs, but they did not consider them to be a kind of tomb. A cave inhabited by barbarians that haunt the rough jungle.It was not confirmed by investigators until modern times that it was a cave tomb intentionally excavated by the Han Dynasty, referred to as the cliff tomb. At the beginning of the 20th century, when European and American scholars, missionaries, and cultural robbers flocked to Central Asia and the Far East to inspect or plunder historical sites in various names, Peng, who lived in the southwestern corner of the city, had the same fate as the Dunhuang Scripture Cave. Mountainous areas have also attracted attention and attention.After the British Tao Ranshi, in 1914, the French archaeologist Victor Segalan (Victor SegaIen, ​​1878-1919) organized an archaeological team. After traveling around half of China, he conducted a survey of cliff tombs along the Jialing River and the Minjiang River. .This archaeological team once arrived at the mouth of the Minjiang River and unearthed a large number of cliff tombs in the Peng Zihao area.Se Jialan himself has "Archaeology of Western China" published in the world. In the book, he praised Chinese cultural relics as "exquisite and famous all over the world" in poetic language.At the same time, it is arbitrarily determined that the architectural form of the cliff tombs of the Han Dynasty in Sichuan is derived from the ancient Persian cliff tombs based on the viewpoint of Eurocentrism and "Chinese culture from the west". In 1935, the book "Tomb Art of the Han Dynasty" edited by Se Jialan was published.

In 1933, American DC Granam, while serving as a missionary in southern Sichuan and curator of the West China University Museum, made a special trip to investigate the cliff tombs in the Jiangkou area of ​​Pengshan and excavated one of them.The wall of the tomb is made of colored bricks. Unfortunately, the tomb has been stolen long ago, and there is nothing in it.Later, Ge led a group of teachers and students from West China University to investigate and excavate the Sanxingdui jade pit in Guanghan, Sichuan, thus unveiling the prelude to the great discovery of Sanxingdui artifacts and culture.

The investigation team headed by Wu Jinding is much more advanced than Tao Ranshi and Se Jialan in terms of technology and ideology in the excavation of the Han tomb in Pengshan, so the harvest and research results obtained are naturally different. .For example, the "Secret Play Picture" that appeared in the excavation of Tomb No. 15, and the understanding and processing of this picture is an extremely vivid example.This example can be seen from a letter written by Wu Jinding to Li Ji in Zhaizishan on November 26, 1941: The letter said: The previous letter agreed to the left and right.Brother Zuomin (Ming) went to Chengdu yesterday, brother Mingda went back to Jizhao Temple to help the Bean Sprout House (excavation) team to finish, and Ding stayed alone in Zhaizishan.Today, the fifteenth tomb in this area was newly opened, and suddenly a strange fortune came.A phoenix (remnant) is engraved on the front of the tomb, two sheep facing each other are engraved on the lintel, and "erotic palace" is engraved in the middle - a man and a woman sit side by side and embrace and kiss. hand in hand.

As stated in the previous letter, neither Ding nor Zuomin advocated chiseling stone carvings, but the Erotic Palace here may be regarded as an exception.Since its appearance this afternoon, there have been many curious visitors.The landlord was annoyed by the damage to the wheat seedlings under the cave, and young men and women used this painting as a material for jokes.From these two things, it can be inferred that in the future, the stone carvings here will not be destroyed by the hands of the landlord, but will be smashed by Mr. Taoism.From the standpoint of protecting the weathering of Pengshan, we might as well move it to Jiading to store in the warehouse of the China Museum.The only difficulty is that the quality of the stone is not good. Whether the stonemason can chisel it without breaking it is extremely problematic.

The high relief on the lintel of the "Secret Opera Picture" discovered by Wu Jinding is self-evident in the history of art.More importantly, it reveals an aspect of the customs of the Han Dynasty that was unknown in the past, and "provides a subject matter that is contrary to the traditional orthodox concept for future generations, which requires modern people to re-evaluate the ideological concept of the Han Dynasty", especially It is to place the "secret drama picture" on the lintel of the tomb entrance, without shy away from showing the human body and sex, which is extremely rare in the history of Chinese sex and mausoleum, and its preservation and research value are undoubtedly extremely important.From Wu Jinding's letter to Li Ji, it can be seen that he advocated that the "Secret Opera Picture" be cut out as a specimen resolutely and without hesitation and moved to the museum for permanent preservation. Considering the perfection of architecture, they insisted on maintaining the original appearance and resolutely opposed to chiseling, so the two started a debate.After seeking the opinions of Xia Nai and others, Wu Jinding insisted on the principle of the minority obeying the majority, and invited experienced masons from the local area to chisel out the "Secret Opera Picture" relief.This picture was first hidden in the warehouse of the Preparatory Office of the Central Museum, and then in the Palace Museum in Beijing.The cliff tomb carved with "Secret Opera Picture" was later "destroyed and smashed by the awakened revolutionary masses with enthusiasm" during the "Cultural Revolution", and it became a pile of weeds floating and snake-rat-infested ruins.At this time, Wu Jinding had passed away for many years, and Chen Mingda, who was still alive in the world, heard about this and couldn't help booing, and thanked Wu for his "stubborn opinion" at the beginning.

Gao Quxun, a researcher of the Institute of History and Philology of the excavation team, verified that the function and function of this "secret opera map" is mainly to ward off evil spirits and aversion to victory, just as in his paper "A Kind of Witchcraft in the Han Dynasty Seen in the Cliff Tomb" Said: "These images in Han tombs are for the purpose of witchcraft to protect the tombs or the corpses and souls of the dead." Investigation and research on folk customs, he recorded in his diary on December 12 of this year: "Yang Yushan, a worker in Zhaizishan, Pengshan, said to Yu, 'When a rich family dies here, the corpse is wrapped in silk, and the jade ring and gold ring are worn on the wrist. Because of this, the corpse will not rot. With silver in the mouth, the children and grandchildren can be rich." Yu asked whether this custom still exists recently? Yang said: "It is still the case for rich people." This kind of folk tradition has been passed down from generation to generation. The material made Gao Quxun, who is good at thinking, immediately think of the customs of bending limbs to burial, Yin ritual holding shells and holding shells, etc. when he was excavating the Yin Ruins in Anyang. Linked together, they can be investigated and researched together as the history of religion and culture, and a brand-new conclusion can be drawn, which is refreshing for the academic circle.

In addition to the “Picture of the Secret Opera”, the investigation team also discovered Buddhist statues and sockets for flying sheep and people (southern press: also known as money tree sockets, now in the Nanjing Museum), which proved for the first time that Buddhism had spread to China at least during the Eastern Han Dynasty.The architectural layout of the cliff tomb and the large number of funerary objects in the tomb simulated and reproduced the real-life scenes in the Sichuan area of ​​the Eastern Han Dynasty for the first time in physical form, showing regional differences with the Central Plains.In particular, the discovery of a large number of stone architectural components imitating wood, such as the door arch of tomb No. 460 and the stone pillars in tomb No. 530, have provided researchers of ancient architecture with data on the architectural components of the Han Dynasty that are close to the original size and comparable to At the same time, it is a symbol of Chinese architecture that is comparable to the column style of Greek architecture.Wu Jinding and others analyzed the technical origin of the tombs and other aspects, and their conclusions were completely opposite to those of the Frenchman Segalan—the cliff tombs of the Han Dynasty in Sichuan were indeed products of local culture, and had no internal connection with the so-called ancient Persian cliff tombs. ——This conclusion once again gave a subversive counterattack to the raging "Chinese culture in the West". The excavation of Pengshan Cliff Tomb, which lasted one and a half years, has achieved brilliant results under the conditions of shortage of funds and hard life.As Xia Nai said when recalling this period of life: "At that time, because the Anti-Japanese War was in full swing, and funds were difficult, Mr. Wu wanted to obtain the greatest harvest with the least cost. At that time, he lived in a monk temple called Jizhao Temple in the mountains. Wu Mr. advocates thrift and leads by example. He not only eats steamed buns made of corn noodles in the morning, but also takes turns to grind the corn noodles. When excavating manzi caves, sometimes a worker can’t be found, so a few people do it by themselves. A few miles away, I went to the street to buy food and fight teeth. However, although life is hard, everyone is very happy in spirit. When work ends every day, everyone gets out of the cliff tomb and gets covered in mud. Go back to the work station to change clothes, We pass around the newly acquired rare antiquities together, touch and appreciate them. For a few days, Mr. Wu suffered from beriberi and had to stay at his workstation. With a vegetable oil lamp, Mr. Wu talked and laughed happily, and he often said a few jokes, which made everyone laugh and broke the silence in the ancient temple. This scene is like yesterday." On March 7, 1942, the excavation of the Pengshan Ya Tomb was completed.Facing such a major harvest, Wu Jinding, the head of the excavation team, was still unsatisfied with his feelings, and led his personnel to move to Muma Mountain to start investigation and excavation again.Different from the Pengshan cliff tomb, Mumashan belongs to the type of earth pit tomb or brick chamber tomb.This type of tomb is much larger than the cliff tombs. In addition to having different characteristics from the cliff tombs, the tomb pits are mostly undisturbed and contain extremely rich artifacts, which have great field archaeological and collection value. In the face of such rich cultural treasures, Wu Jinding showed a rare general style and rare courage. In September 1942, he said in a letter sent to Li Ji by a family surnamed Zhou from Muma Shiqibao: When Ding visited the Huada and Sichuan Museums in Rong this spring, he volunteered as a small volunteer. He hoped that within three years, he would see that the collections of the Central Museum rank first in the country, and he would gain a little knowledge of Han Dynasty archaeology.Since the discovery of the Muma Mountain burial place, this ambition has become stronger.Recently, he and Xiang Shan (according to the south: back-up team member Zhao Qingfang) carefully discussed and planned to open more tombs in a short period of time. He hoped that Tian would make special and important discoveries before the river receded.He also said, "Today, I would like to seek help from my husband as soon as possible. Under the guidance, I will take advantage of the opportunity of staying in Sichuan to try my best to collect specimens on behalf of the museum, and to increase my personal knowledge. For public and private purposes, if I get what I want, I will thank you and thank you. It will be twice as big as it used to be!" With such vigor and ambition in his chest, and the abundant underground relics that have been discovered, Li Ji, who is in command of the Lizhuang base camp by remote control, is naturally willing to find ways to raise funds so that the excavation of Muma Mountain will not be interrupted.With this support and encouragement, Wu Jinding and others lived up to their expectations, let go of their arms and worked hard, and soon excavated 7 large tombs, including 2 brick chamber tombs and 5 earth pit tombs, and harvested a large number of high-quality cultural relics . On December 9, 1942, the severe winter had arrived, and the water level of the Minjiang River was rapidly receding. Although Wu Jinding and others were unwilling, they had to stop work and retreat in view of the water level scale necessary for transportation.Under the leadership of Wu Jinding, the members of the excavation team packed all kinds of funerary objects unearthed and collected stone building specimens, etc., with a total amount of more than 20 tons, and set off from Jiangkou Town in three large ships, along the mighty Minjiang River. Dang sailing to the pier of Lizhuang Town—the largest field archaeological excavation during the Anti-Japanese War, which ended with rich harvests. Just when the excavation of the cliff tombs of the Han Dynasty in Pengshan was very fruitful and good news spread frequently, Li Ji was freed from the shadow of his dead daughter, Liang Siyong's condition gradually improved, and everyone was about to roll up their sleeves and fight in the small town at the end of the Yangtze River. Fu Sinian, the "owner of the village" squatting on the top of Chinli'ao Mountain, has entered into an embarrassing situation where old worries are solved and new worries are added. Whether Chen Yinke, a master of history who is "only one person in three hundred years", will come to Lizhuang, and how to pay his salary, etc. A series of questions, and Ye Qisun, the new director-general of the Academia Sinica, came and went to each other.