Master Archaeologist

Chapter 113 It's early

Chen Han slammed his mouth, very envious.

If an ancient tomb is stolen, the best case is to discover it as soon as it is stolen.

This will at least give the relevant departments a chance to recover the stolen cultural relics.

After all, it is a modern society now, and everyone's every move can be checked by big data and the eyes of the whole country.

After it is determined that a tomb has been stolen in a certain place, according to this clue, some clues can always be found.

Although I dare not guarantee that the stolen cultural relics can be recovered 100%, even most of the time, only a part can be recovered.

But at least there is this chance!
Unlike the Wenfeng Pagoda tomb group at the Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Social Sciences, it was stolen as early as ancient times, and it should have been stolen more than once.

Tomb No. M2 is clean. Until now, no one knows who the owner of Tomb No. M2 is. Is it Zeng Houyu's wife, brother, or descendant?

I don't know at all.

Now at the Yejiashan cemetery, the cultural relics stolen by the tomb robbers were actually recovered, and according to Luo Zhenghao's intentions, quite a lot were recovered!

Chen Han is so envious.

"Then do any of the cultural relics that you have excavated and recovered now have inscriptions? What are the contents of the inscriptions?" Chen Han hurriedly asked.

"The inscription."

Luo Zhenghao shook his head, paused on purpose, teased Chen Han, and then slowly said: "The excavation task has not been fully completed yet."

"Temporarily, the excavation work has been carried out on M1, M2 and M27 first."

"After clearing most of the area, more than 130 cultural relics were unearthed from the three tombs, and more than 40 of them were recovered by the public security organs."

"Among them, there are 60 pieces of bronze wares alone, including ritual wares, weapons, carriages and horses, and tools."

"There are more than 40 pieces of the most important ritual vessels, mainly including tripod, gui, vase, ge, zun, halogen, rhinoceros, jue, goblet, solution, and dagger, and some bronze vessels have inscriptions on them."

"Why, what are you looking for the inscription for?"

I heard that more than 60 bronze wares were unearthed, and among them, there are more than 40 pieces of ritual vessels!

Chen Han quickly told Luo Zhenghao his guesses and judgments about Zeng Guo and Marquis Zeng, Wenfeng Pagoda found evidence that Zeng Sui was a country, and so on.

"Chime? You are so lucky!"

"Also recorded the battle where Wu broke Chu and entered Ying?!"

"Let's rely on rely on rely on rely on!"

"The first ancestor of Zeng Guo was Nangong Shi? Was he conferred to Suizhou by King Wu?"

"Damn it, Old Chen, what kind of big bomb did you dug up?"

Luo Zhenghao was so excited, his mouth was full of vulgar words.

For the field of archaeology, the chime bell discovered by the Archaeological Institute of the Academy of Social Sciences at Wenfeng Pagoda is definitely a national treasure!

Perhaps this chime is not as exquisite as the chime of Marquis Yi of Zeng.

But in terms of the amount of information, it completely crushed the Zenghouyi chime!
In the history books, Nan Gongshi, an important minister in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, was actually the first king of Zeng Kingdom!

This news is simply too explosive!
"I don't know much about the research progress of the inscription!"

"Go, I'll take you to find Professor Mu!"

"Professor Mu is our specialist in the study of bronze inscriptions, he knows it well!"

Luo Zhenghao hurriedly pulled Chen Han along, and rushed to the mobile prefabricated room next to the construction site.

Although Peking University is the highest institution of archaeology in China.

But not all graduates of the Department of Archeology of Peking University can understand the seal script like Chen Han!

This stuff is not taught at the undergraduate level, it is a course in paleographs!

And it is a study direction that can only be chosen by graduate students!

Not to mention the big seal script, Luo Zhenghao didn't even know anything about the small seal script.

He will only carry out tomb exploration and excavation and clearance work.

At least it must be an old professor in the institute, maybe he has enough understanding of seal script.

In fact, as long as the bronze wares unearthed from the Yejiashan cemetery have inscriptions, they must be rubbed immediately and sent to major ancient writing research institutions and experts.

Luo Zhenghao led Chen Han to the unearthed cultural relics preservation room at the Yejiashan cemetery.

Professor Mu of the Jingzhou Institute of Archaeology, who studies ancient writing, is leading a few researchers around some inscription tablets to study.

This scene gave Chen Han a feeling of deja vu.

He just came from the exact same place
"Professor Mu!"

"This is my classmate, who is now a PhD student at the Institute of Archaeology, Academy of Social Sciences!"

"They made a big discovery in the Wenfeng Pagoda cemetery in charge of the Institute of Archaeology, Academy of Social Sciences!"

Luo Zhenghao went to Professor Mu's side, and repeated what Chen Han said to him.

After listening to the introduction, Professor Mu looked at Chen Han in astonishment, and asked in surprise: "The inscription that records the battle of Wu breaking Chu and entering Ying? It also records that the ancestor of Zeng Guo was Nangong Shi?"

"Yes, if Professor Mu needs it, I can send you a copy of the inscription rubbings."

Chen Han took out his mobile phone, opened the photo album, and showed Professor Mu some rubbings of the inscriptions he had taken.

"It's amazing, it's amazing." Professor Mu was holding the phone in his hand, amazed again and again.

Although he couldn't decipher the meaning of the inscription for a while, he could probably recognize half of the characters.

It can be roughly seen that this is indeed an inscription that records the battle between Wu and Chu and the birth of Zeng Guo.

"Nan Gong?"

Professor Mu raised his eyebrows and said with a smile, "Xiao Chen, right?"

"I probably know why you're here."

"After preliminary excavations, it can be roughly confirmed that Yejiashan is indeed an early cemetery of Zeng Guo."

"The three tombs unearthed so far have unearthed a number of funerary artifacts. From the aspects of the shape and decoration of the artifacts, there are many similarities with the unearthed artifacts from the Western Zhou tombs that have been excavated. It can be determined that the age should belong to the Western Zhou Dynasty."

"And based on the detailed differences in the bronzes unearthed from the three tombs, it can be judged that the age of tomb M1 is the earliest, and the bronze ritual vessels unearthed have the style of the Chengkang era."

"Its age should be roughly in the period of King Cheng or King Kang of the Western Zhou Dynasty."

"The age of M2 should roughly be in the reign of Kang Zhao, while the age of M27 seems to be in the late Zhao Dynasty or the time of Zhao Mu."

"But it is a pity that the inscriptions on the unearthed bronzes do not have any special records."

"On the Fang Ding and Yuan Ding unearthed from Tomb No. M1, the inscriptions are both "Shi Zuo Fu Yi Bao Zun Yi". The owner of the tomb may be named "Shi". He was an early nobleman of Zeng State, not Zeng Hou."

“M2出土的1件圆鼎和2件分裆鼎上皆为“曾侯谏作宝彝”，另外2件簋和1件觑上为“曾侯谏作婉宝彝”，作器者都为曾侯谏。”

"Judging from the content of the inscription, the owner of tomb M2 should be Zeng Houjian's ashamed wife, not Zeng Houjian."

"We also found the tomb of Marquis Jian Zeng, which is about ten meters west of Tomb M2. It is a typical tomb of a married couple buried in different caves in the early Western Zhou Dynasty."

"As for tomb No. M27, the harvest is even smaller, and the inscription "Marquis Zeng Zuo Baozun Yi Ding" can be seen on two of the square tripods."

"But I didn't see the private name of this Marquis Zeng."

"Moreover, the inscription "Bo Sheng was a Yi Zeng" was found on a bowl unearthed in the tomb. It is possible that the owner of the tomb is Bo Sheng or his wife."

"The three tombs excavated so far should not belong to Marquis Zeng."

"There is no detailed record about a certain Marquis Zeng in the inscriptions on the unearthed bronze wares."

"So, Xiao Chen, you may have made your trip in vain."

"The tomb of the early Marquis Zeng has not yet been unearthed, and there are no related inscriptions about Nangong Shi or the ancestor of Zeng Guo for the time being!"

(End of this chapter)