Master Archaeologist

Chapter 148 The Tomb Guard Warrior and Gate Guard Driver

"It's in a bad state of preservation."

"It feels like it's going to shatter if you touch it."

Chen Han and Professor Li squatted in the tomb passage near the tomb door, both frowning, looking at a bronze mirror in front of them.

This bronze mirror was severely corroded and damaged, and it didn't even look like "copper", it was like a piece of clay made of powder.

Neither of them dared to reach out and touch.

I'm afraid that this copper mirror is still in a stable state, if it is broken, it will shatter at the touch of a finger.

Today is the third day of clearing the tomb passage.

The filling soil in the tomb passage has basically been cleaned up, and the situation in the tomb passage has become clear.

It can already be seen that outside the tomb gate, there is a rectangular flat-bottomed vertical pit about four meters long, with an outer coffin made of wood.

It's just that the preservation of the coffin wood is very bad, and all of them have decayed.

What is an outer coffin?
Simply put, it can be understood as a funeral pit.

Usually used to bury some servants, servants, and cooks.

Of course, after the abolition of human sacrifices, human figurines are generally used instead.

In general, in the early Western Han Dynasty, if there were external coffins, they would usually be set up in the tomb passages and corridors.

The meaning is self-evident, guarding the door for the owner of the tomb.

In the beginning, everyone didn't think about whether the king of Nanyue would commit suicide.

When the Nanyue Kingdom existed, it was already in the Western Han Dynasty.

The system of human martyrdom has long since been abolished.

Like the Fenghuangshan Han Tombs that Chen Han and the others participated in before, and the Mawangdui Han Tombs that were excavated earlier, no traces of human martyrdom were found.

but.

When the archaeologists cleared up the tomb passage, facing the gradually clear situation of the tomb passage, they gradually realized something was wrong.

A group of pottery, including small tripods, bowls, pots, small boxes, three-legged boxes, pots, and bowls, was placed at the slope of the tomb passage near the east wall.

The bodies of these 12 pieces of pottery are relatively small and rough. Considering the age, they are definitely not the utensils that the king of Nanyue would use.

It is more like pottery commonly used by civilians.

Moreover, there are small bronze mirrors and copper belt hooks beside the pile of pottery.

At the place where the pots were stacked under the hook, there is also a remains of vermilion lacquer leather, which looks very much like a remnant of coffin paint.

In addition, to the west of these pottery and bronze wares, there is a pair of gilt bronze decorations, which are located near the west wall of the tomb passage.

The belt hook is the hook of the belt worn by the ancients.

Bronze medals are ornaments worn by ancient people on their chests.

Consider again the vestiges of vermilion patent leather.

Obviously, there should have been a coffin at the place where the slope of the tomb passage was close to the east wall.

These pottery, bronze mirrors, belt hooks, and bronze decorations are all placed in the coffin.

It was only because the coffin was completely decayed that these items were randomly scattered on the ground.

Why is there a coffin in the tomb?
Obviously, this is a person who died in a coffin!
Moreover, Chen Han can also judge the circumstances of the martyrdom through the nature and location of these unearthed artifacts.

Tablet decorations, bronze mirrors and belt hooks are generally placed on the head and feet of the deceased.

In turn, it can be judged that the coffin of the martyrdom should have been placed horizontally and obliquely in the tomb passage, but the coffin and the entities inside had been corroded by time when it was unearthed.

However, relying on the combination of the three utensils of plaque decoration, bronze mirror and belt hook.

Chen Han also probably guessed the identity of this person.

He should be a warrior guarding the palace, so he was placed at the end of the slope of the tomb passage and assumed the duty of guarding the tomb passage.

The Nanyue Kingdom is still employing human sacrifices.

This discovery made all archaeologists feel a little uncomfortable.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, and even earlier, it was fine to sacrifice the popular people. At that time, all the nobles did it. It can only be said that the times were like that.

However, by the time of the Western Han Dynasty, the inland emperors, princes, princes, and other nobles had abandoned the system of human martyrdom, which was against humanity, and replaced it with pottery figurines.

It is unreasonable that the country of Nanyue, which is a part of the country, is still using human sacrifices.

Moreover, it wasn't just one person who died!
In front of the gate of the tomb is a vertical pit with a length of more than four meters and a width of 2-2.3 meters.

This is the outer coffin.

The south part of the east side of the inner coffin is the place where the coffin of the martyrdom is placed. It is about 2.2 meters long from north to south and about 1 meter wide.

The coffin and man frame are completely decayed, except for a pair of gilt bronze decorations.

Judging from the unearthed location, this should also be a funerary object contained in the coffin.

In the south of the coffin chamber, that is, at the south end of the coffin where the martyrdom was placed, some rotten marks of lacquerware were also found, most of which were turned into a mass of black wood slag, and only one ear cup was still recognizable.

Similarly, the wood of the external outer coffin was completely decayed, and there were only gray-white traces of ash in the three horizontal sleeper grooves at the bottom of the pit.

Except for the martyrdom coffins on the east side and the south side of the coffin, the rest of the coffin is filled with funerary objects.

The funerary objects are divided into two layers, and there are 17 large pottery urns on the lower layer, which are placed on the left and right sides.

Between the two piles of pottery urns, there is a vacant space about 0.8 meters long from north to south.

It turns out that there may have been a wooden car model here, but unfortunately, it has also decayed.

As for why there may be a wooden cart model, it is because just above this position, there is a rectangular wooden box with a bow cap.

This wooden box rested on top of two piles of large pottery urns in the north and south. Fortunately, it has not completely decayed, and there is a bottom plate to drag the items inside.

There are two sets of bow caps with copper covers in the wooden box, a set of 9 in the south and a set of 31 in the north.

In addition, among the pottery urns arranged horizontally in the north, there is still a wooden board, and 4 iron nails are also placed on this wooden board.

According to this, it is known that there is also a wooden box for holding utensils here.

Moreover, this box may be used to hold ceremonial ornaments, because just below this position there are 9 ceremonial ornaments that fell on the pottery urn.

The wooden body of the ceremonial guard has decayed, and some of the bowl-shaped bracelets on the top have fallen into the pottery urn, and some are scattered beside the urn.

The copper sleeves for the tails of the battle fell in piles at the northwest corner of the outer coffin.

The bow cap is a part on the ancient car cover, which is used to fix the car cover.

Guard of ceremonial decorations, as the name suggests, are noblemen, usually at least above the rank of lieutenant, and are used to show their status when traveling in a carriage.

Just like in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, when some high-ranking officials traveled, they had their servants hold a bunch of wooden signs and flags in front of the carriage.

On it are words representing identity such as "XXX inspector", "XXX marquis" and "XXX uncle", which serve as guards of honor and clean the streets.

This thing is also inherited. It can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period at the earliest. When the nobles travel in a carriage, they must have a guard of honor.

In the Western Han Dynasty, the culture of chariots and horses was even more prevalent.

When the princes and kings of the Western Han Dynasty were traveling, there were several music carts and guards of honor beating drums to clear the way. , The momentum is mighty!
Not to mention the emperor.

You must know that the imperial servant, one of the Jiuqing of the Western Han Dynasty, was responsible for managing the court chariots for the emperor, and he had to drive the chariot for the emperor himself, which was equivalent to being a royal coachman!
The emperor needs a special servant organization to manage and arrange the emperor's car and travel. One can imagine how grand the trip is!
Obviously, the martyr who was buried in the outer coffin at the entrance of the tomb and carried a chariot and horse was probably the coachman of the Nanyue king during his lifetime.

Of course it won't be a high-ranking official like a servant. Judging from the richness of the funeral objects, it should be a commoner-level coachman.

Now the situation in the tomb passage is clear.

A sacrificial warrior guards the entrance of the tomb to protect the safety of the tomb owner.

A coachman guards the entrance of the tomb with a chariot and horse, ready for the tomb owner to travel at any time.

Although the tomb door has not been opened yet, I officially entered the tomb of the Nanyue King.

However, the majestic aura of the Nanyue King during his lifetime has been revealed to the world.

Just for the sake of peace and convenience after death, a samurai and a charioteer were buried with him. They couldn't even be buried in the tomb, and could only guard the gate on the tomb.

This king of Nanyue may not be such a humble and benevolent monarch.

Since the posthumous title of the second Nanyue King is "Wen", then he should have some similarities with Emperor Wen of Han. He shouldn't be able to do such a thing of martyrdom, right?
Could it be that the owner of the tomb is the Nanyue Wudi, Zhao Tuo, who followed Qin Shihuang to conquer the world and killed all the Baiyue tribes in Lingnan?
That's pretty much his style.

(End of this chapter)