Master Archaeologist

Chapter 139 It would be great when we can dig the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang.

Winter goes, spring comes.

The excavation work of the Wenfeng Pagoda cemetery is gradually coming to an end.

From the end of January to the beginning of June, the 66 tombs were basically cleaned up.

The situation at the Wenfeng Pagoda cemetery is different.

The real estate developer is going to build a new Wenfengta community in this original Wenfengta community.

Therefore, all burials within the planning range must be excavated for protection.

Otherwise, construction on the construction site will continue to dig out the tombs.

Of course, at this time, some people will say, why not simply cancel this real estate development project and protect this land in order to protect the tombs?
Although this idea is very good, in fact, there is no room for operation at all.

In addition to those large gardens, such as the Maoling and Yangling of the emperors of the Western Han Dynasty, and the imperial tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Either they have sealed the soil all the time, and the past dynasties have not broken ground on their graves.

Or even the buildings on the ground are still well preserved, and there are endless sacrifices.

Such a tomb can indeed be protected.

But like the Wenfeng Pagoda cemetery, after thousands of years of vicissitudes, the buildings on the ground have been demolished and rebuilt, and they have long been part of modern society. Real estate and residential areas have been developed, so it is impossible to protect them.

If such tombs were to be protected, there should be tombs buried under one-third of the land in China. Wouldn't it be impossible to build new houses?
Under certain conditions, such as non-urban tombs found in rural areas or fields, they can be protected because there is no plan to build high-rise buildings.

But as long as the land in the city is developed, the tombs buried below will have to be excavated for protection.

Just because there are ancestors buried here, modern people cannot continue to develop.

For this kind of place where ground must be broken out of necessity, Chen Han has no psychological burden at all to participate in the excavation.

He even had fun with it.

In five months, he participated in the excavation of seven or eight tombs.

It's just that, except for the two Zenghou tombs at the beginning, more important cultural relics were unearthed that can complement the history of China.

The tombs behind are basically the same.

Bronze ware, pottery, chariot and horse ware, jade ware, basically these few things.

Importantly, there are no bamboo slips that record the text, nor are there any inscriptions that record historical information.

Most of them are the tombs of Zeng Guo's doctors and scholars.

The only relatively sensational one is the tomb of Marquis Bing of Zeng who was discovered last.

It is a pity that in the tomb of Zenghou Bing, there were no bronzes with a lot of inscriptions and information unearthed.

There is only a batch of ritual vessels engraved with inscriptions such as "Zenghou Bing made his own vessel".

This made Chen Han very disappointed.

Because the era of Zeng Hou Bing was already in the middle of the Warring States Period, very close to the demise of Zeng Guo.

Everyone hopes to find some history of the late Zeng State in Zenghou Bing's tomb.

Especially Chen Han.

Now Zeng Guo, a vassal state dug out of the ground, is under the joint efforts of the three tombs.

A rough lineage has been restored.

From Nangong Shishifeng, to the tomb of Marquis Zeng in the early Western Zhou Dynasty on Yejiashan, the middle Spring and Autumn period of Zaoshulin cemetery, and the late Spring and Autumn period to the middle Warring States period of Wenfeng Pagoda.

Together with the previously excavated Guojiamiao and Sujialong, a complete lineage of Zeng Guo can basically be pieced together.

This is a very rare and precious thing.

In all the vassal states of the Western Zhou Dynasty, including the famous Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period, in archaeological excavations, no complete lineage can be unearthed like Zeng Guo.

Most of the tombs of one or two monarchs were unearthed occasionally, and the gap between them was very serious.

What is even more rare is that the exploration and excavation of the Zenghou lineage has nothing to do with history books.

Archaeologists, relying entirely on archaeological means without any historical materials to assist, not only dug up this vassal state that was lost in history books from the ground, but also pieced together and restored part of the important history of Zeng State!

The most important reason for the beginning of the seal is Zeng Guo's transformation from "left and right civil and military" to "left and right King of Chu", and then completely fell to Chu State after the Wu-Chu War, and did not communicate with the Central Plains.

The demise of the last Zeng state is not determined!
Chen Han is preparing a series of papers titled "Princes Excavated from Underground", if he can add the reasons for Zeng's demise and conclusive archaeological evidence, it will really be complete.

Otherwise, in his thesis, regarding the reasons for the demise of Zeng Guo, he can only speculate, and put forward a point of view that "it was destroyed by Qin" or "it was destroyed by Bai Qi's attack on Chu".

It's just a point of view, not conclusive historical evidence, which makes Chen Han very sorry.

There is no way.

Zeng Guo was so inconspicuous in the turbulent era of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States, so small that his demise was not even recorded by historians.

Perhaps the history of Zeng State, there are many detailed records on the side of the Chu State Historian, including the time, place and reason of its demise, which will be recorded by the Chu State Historian.

After all, Zeng Guo is the loyal younger brother of Chu State.

However, after Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, all the histories recorded by the historians of various countries were destroyed, leaving only the records of the historians of Qin, which became the official history.

Sima Qian said: "Since Qin was proud, he burned the world's poems and books, especially the historical records of the princes, and he was ridiculed for it."

When Qin Shihuang burned books, he collected and burned all the "Poems", "Books" and hundreds of classics that could be collected by the people.

What's more, the historical records written by the historians of the six countries should be destroyed!
"Poetry", "Book", "Spring and Autumn", "Zuo Zhuan", "Mencius" and other pre-Qin classics, because there were many people who learned them at that time, and many people took the risk of being killed to keep them privately.

So in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, some of these theories were passed on orally, and some of them were preserved and reorganized into books.

Even so, some of the more unpopular theories among the hundred schools with fewer scholars completely disappeared because of Qin Shihuang's burning of books and the chaotic times at the end of Qin Dynasty.

Not to mention the history books of various countries.

This thing is not knowledge that needs to be learned. Generally, after it is written, it is kept in the offices of various countries and will not be widely disseminated.

As soon as Qin Shihuang set fire to it, the history books of the six countries were directly destroyed.

In the Western Han Dynasty, after the political situation stabilized again, no one knew the contents of the history books of the Six Kingdoms.

According to rumors, in the tomb of Qin Shihuang, there is a set of history books of the six countries buried with him.

If there is no accident, if Chen Han wants to find out the reason for the demise of the Zeng Kingdom, I am afraid that he can only go to the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang and look for the history books of the Chu Kingdom.
Thinking of this, Chen Han couldn't help crying.

Count on the excavation of Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum.

It would be better to count on good luck that day, and it would be more reliable to dig out the "Historical Records of Chu" hidden in the wall in the old capital of Chu State.
Even if this is still illusory, at least there is still a thought.

As for the excavation of the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang, it is estimated that it is impossible for him to see it in his lifetime.

"Hey, it would be great if the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor could be excavated sometime. I think it would be able to directly complete the history of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States in China." Chen Han sighed a little unrealistically.

(End of this chapter)