Tomb No. 2 of Yimen is located on the southern outskirts of Baoji City, at the exit of Guanzhong of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Passage, where the dense forests of the Qinling Mountains stretch. In this pre-Qin tomb with an area of less than 3 square meters, a large number of exquisite artifacts have been excavated, and only the gold ware is 3 kilograms, especially the three gold-handled iron swords. The location, size and excavation of the tomb form a huge contrast, adding a mysterious color to the tomb. So how was this mysterious tomb discovered?
First, accidental discovery
One day in May 1992, the weather was clear. I was driving on the Sichuan-Shaanxi Highway by bicycle, and when I walked to Yimen Village, I saw a engineering tutu truck driving on the main road, and with professional sensitivity, I thought that there would be infrastructure projects nearby. At that time, I was a mechanic in the Baoji City Archaeological Team, and the drilling team was responsible for the archaeological exploration work in connection with the capital. Chasing the wheels in the direction of the car, I quickly arrived at the construction site and saw that I was indeed engaged in capital construction. A small number of fragments of ancient pottery can be seen at the construction site, which intuitively tells me that this should be an ancient cultural site.
Upon inquiry, it was learned that this was a privately invested telecommunications equipment factory. I went to the director of the factory, explained my intentions, and briefed him on the Cultural Relics Law and the municipal government's document provisions on the protection of cultural relics. Probably considering the cost, the director of the factory is not happy, saying that only occupying two acres and three-quarters of the area to build a two-story building, there is no need to drill.
Yang Haodong, an acquaintance who was talking, walked in, and he was the manager of Weibin Second Construction Company. When he saw me, he shook my hand and said, "I was looking for you, because I needed to drill to build a factory and build a house." I said, "I'm talking to the director about this, and the director feels that there is no need to drill in a small range." Manager Yang said to the factory director: "Pre-construction drilling is not only to ensure the safety of cultural relics, but also to find whether there are hidden dangers in the underground, and I cannot construct without drilling." The director finally agreed to drill and subsequently signed the relevant agreement.
Back at the unit, I reported to Li Shenqian, manager of Baoji Archaeological Drilling Company, and reported to Tian Renxiao, who was the captain of the Baoji City Archaeological Team at that time. I was responsible for the drilling, and I immediately led eight drillers to the site. The area required to be drilled is indeed not large, with an area of only about 1500 square meters. A few days later, the drilling was completed and two ancient tombs were discovered. One is the Han tomb number M1, and the other M2 is the Spring and Autumn Tomb of Yimen No. 2.
Golden Handle Iron Sword (M2:1)
Second, the gold is out
As soon as the drilling work was over, I hurriedly went to Captain Tian and Manager Li with the drilling drawings and reported the above situation. Everyone agreed that the discovery was more important, and immediately decided to excavate and arrange for the declaration of a rescue archaeological excavation license. Subsequently, consultations were held with the factory, and they also agreed to bear the cost of the excavation. As a result, the excavation of the Yimen tomb began step by step.
At that time, the on-site excavations were all young people from the archaeological team, and the work was carried out quickly. After uncovering the topsoil and the disturbance layer, it was found that the two tombs still had a broken relationship, so they first cleaned up the Han tomb M1 above according to the excavation procedures. Then, excavations were carried out on Tomb No. 2.
Because tomb No. 2 is not large, the tomb mouth is 3.2 long, 1.5 wide, and 5.5 meters deep, and it did not take a few days to reach a position of about 1 meter from the bottom of the tomb, and the site was suspended to continue excavation downwards. The staff reported that Captain Tian needed to strengthen the safety and security work, and after receiving the consent, the team members stayed at the construction site at night and took turns on duty. The nine men were divided into three groups and watched all night to prevent anyone from digging up cultural relics. The first and second groups led by me were all right when they were on duty, and who knew that when the third group was on duty until about 5:30 a.m., an accident suddenly occurred, and the upper part of the tomb wall of M2 collapsed in a large area. The duty officer woke everyone up, and when the team members rushed over, they could no longer see the location and shape of the tomb. Seeing this scene, I and the team members felt a tight heart, if this situation occurred during the excavation process, how did we get it? It's scary to think about. The next morning, the team members still took turns to watch the scene.
Wei Chao, deputy captain of the construction team at the construction site, saw the situation here and reported to Manager Yang of Weibin Second Construction. After Manager Yang rushed to the construction site to see it, he arranged for Wei Chao to personally lead the workers and cooperate with the archaeological team to clean up the collapsed soil of the tomb. At the same time, do a good job in safety protection to ensure safe construction. Everyone took the soil together, and soon dug down to a position close to the second-story platform.
Although it was still early, everyone decided to stop digging, worried about the complicated situation below, afraid of other problems. We called Captain Tian and learned that he would not be able to return to Baoji until tomorrow morning, so we arranged to continue to take turns on duty at the construction site. After a night of nothing, by the morning of the third day we carefully cleaned the burial chamber and filled the soil according to the excavation specifications at the slowest speed, waiting for Captain Tian to arrive. Seeing that it was nearly 12 o'clock in the afternoon, it was about to reach the bottom of the tomb, the comrade in charge of the scene let the excavation be suspended, I tentatively turned the soil with a shovel, I saw the red cinnabar, and saw an iron tool (the blade of the second sword), and I was very disappointed at the time.
But when I took a closer look at the shovel, I saw something like the hilt of a sword, shining golden and inlaid with turquoise, and everyone was stunned. It was so unexpected that the most sensitive nerves told me that there was gold in it. Soon after the notice was given, all the personnel evacuated the bottom of the tomb, covered the tomb with bamboo plates, no longer let people go down, and persuaded the crowd of onlookers to disperse. We took turns on duty and took turns eating. I went to the director's office and borrowed the director's landline to call the archaeological team. When the phone rang, it was just Captain Tian who answered, and he said: "I just put on the bowl and am eating, and when I finish eating, I will come to the construction site." ”
As soon as I heard it, I was anxious, but there was someone in the factory director's office, and I lowered my voice and said to the phone: "The gold is out, you have to hurry!" Upon hearing this, Captain Tian hung up the phone without saying a word, and soon drove to the excavation site with Yang Fuke and the driver Wang Hongjun.
Captain Tian hurriedly asked about the excavation, looked at the scene, and then assigned work tasks. Specifically, Yang Fuke and I continued to be responsible for cleaning up and excavating, two experienced technicians cooperated in the bottom of the tomb, other staff were distributed up and down the steps to receive objects, Wang Shi and other personnel did a good job of safety protection on the tomb, and Captain Tian commanded at the scene. The meticulous cleaning of the tomb floor began.
Mandarin duck gold belt hook (M2:25)
Golden Square Bubble (M2:26)
Yubi (M2:105)
Third, the windfall
Because the tomb is located at the foot of the mountain, the underground humidity is very large, it is inconvenient to peel off the soil, cinnabar and plate ash covered with burial utensils, and the cleaning work is more difficult. In order to avoid squeezing the burial goods, the feet were cushioned with wooden planks, and it was difficult to move the body. Everyone held their breath and hardly spoke, and very carefully cleaned up, peeling off the soil above and around the utensils. Pieces of gold, jade, bronze, iron, etc., are slowly revealed. After the cleanup, the registration number and the distribution of artifacts were drawn.
At that time, more and more crowds of onlookers gathered next to the tomb. Detectives, construction workers and local residents took the initiative to cooperate in maintaining order and safety. Gradually, it turned late, but the people watching the liveliness next to them were talking about it: "How the tomb is shining like a star in the sky, it is so beautiful." Captain Tian took the opportunity to stretch his waist and said loudly: "Whoever drank beer and threw the lid here, telling people how to clean up and make trouble!" Suddenly there was silence and no restlessness. During the cleanup, the young staff member looked at the exposed Sword No. 1 and asked in surprise, "What is this?" It's so good-looking! Captain Tian turned around and whispered, "This is the saying that it is difficult to buy gold and jade when you have money!" ”
Except for the orderly arrangement of the utensils in the tomb, except for the carriage and horse tools in the head box, the rest of the utensils are stacked in the tomb chamber, and it is speculated that they were placed in the bag or box or box. The three golden-handled iron swords were upside down and disorderly, and the golden ring-headed knives were also in groups of three or five. Jade ornaments, jade juan, etc. have no string relationship, and they are somewhat disorganized when they are stacked on top of each other, and the strings are piled up between the jade ornaments, only the jade ring is pressed at the bottom of the middle part. Some of the artifacts are new and have fewer signs of wear, and it is speculated that the owner of the tomb should not have worn or used them during his lifetime.
As night fell, the cleaning became more and more difficult, and the construction site helped to pick up the lights in advance, relying on light bulbs and flashlights for construction. Each person ate a burnt cake to fill their hunger and continued to work until more than 10 o'clock in the evening before the excavation work was basically completed. Because small gold beads, beads, etc. are stacked on top of each other like small grains, it is difficult to extract on the spot. Later, with the consent of Captain Tian, small gold beads and other small utensils that were inconvenient to pick up were extracted and transported back to the archaeological team together with mud for indoor cleaning.
Arrange the construction site to be on duty at night, and the archaeologists will squeeze through the crowd of onlookers to return to the unit with cultural relics, and it is almost twelve o'clock at night. The team members put the cleaned cultural relics and extracted dirt in Captain Tian's office. After a simple meal, Yang Fuke and I were on the opposite office chair, rotating through the door for a night.
The next day, Captain Tian arranged for several comrades with rich archaeological experience to go to the site of Yimen No. 2 Tomb and do a second cleanup. The remaining soil at the bottom of the tomb was carefully inspected, and the excavation and cleaning work at the site was completed. For the next week, the crowds of spectators continued to flock.
Turquoise charm (M2:185)
Fourth, the owner of the tomb is suspicious
Yimen No. 2 Tomb unearthed a large number of gold, jade, iron tools, etc., which not only opened people's eyes, but also confused people. The funerary goods in the tomb are no less inferior than the tombs of the princes, so who is its owner? Regrettably, since there is nothing in the tomb that indicates the identity of the tomb owner, the identity of the tomb owner has always been a mystery.
The large number of gold utensils buried with it naturally reminds people of the northern bronze culture; the high specifications of the burial items make it easy for people to associate the tomb owner with the princes and nobles, the kings or chiefs of the Rongdi. However, the Style of Central Plains culture displayed with funeral jade ceremonial vessels and gold vessels and ornaments cannot but be treated as a Central Plains cultural system. The particularity of the identity of the tomb owner caused by the pluralistic characteristics of the burial products has attracted the attention of the academic community, and there are many speculations about the tomb owner, and the views are roughly as follows:
The first: speculate that the owner of the tomb may be the rong king of one of the western rong kingdoms destroyed by the Qin Mu gong xi rong. The State of Qin expanded westwards and defeated Xi Rong when it pacified the few ethnic groups in the west, and moved the King of Rong to qin to live in order to supervise them.
The second: speculate that the owner of the tomb may be a high-ranking nobleman of the Qin state who lost in a political struggle.
Third: It is speculated that the owner of the tomb may be the head of a certain branch of the northern bronze culture conquered by the Qin state or the head of the nobility (including his children). This view holds that the second tomb of Yimen cannot be the tomb of the Qin Gong or the tomb of a prince of qin, because the tomb of the Duke of Qin or the Duke of Qin is indispensable to the bells, bo, dings, guises and other ceremonial instruments of the Huaxia Gonghou to show their identity. If it is a Qin tomb, it is impossible to explain the difference between this tomb and other dry remaining Qin tombs, and it is contrary to the burial of copper pottery and Qin burial customs; The luxury of being a small tomb burial product far exceeded the content stipulated by the stricter "ritual" system at that time, and the strong northern bronze cultural factor was by no means explained by the general influence.
Fourth: Speculate that the owner of the tomb may be Qin Jinggong's younger brother Hou Zijun. Because the artifacts excavated from the tomb are the same as the artifacts excavated from the Fengxiang Qinjing Cemetery, their exquisite degree is even greater. Contact Qin Jinggong's younger brother Hou Zijun, although he is a prince, but the literature says "like the second king in Jing", it can be seen that his position is prominent, when he was exiled to the Jin Dynasty, he was still able to take a thousand rides, which is enough to prove that he was rich enough to be an enemy of the country, after the death of Qin Jinggong, Hou Zijun returned to the Qin State, and the Duke of Ai could neither reuse it, nor could he put it to death, depriving him of his political status and retaining his wealth should be the best choice. Therefore, it is speculated that the owner of the Second Tomb of Yimen may be the younger brother of Qin Jinggong.
There is a certain basis for various views, and the identity of the tomb owner is still confused. To be able to have such a large-scale rare treasure to accompany the burial after death, the owner of the tomb must have been a person of great status before he died.
(This article is adapted from the article "Personal Experience of Drilling and Excavation of Baoji Yimen No. 2 Tomb" by Zhang Tianlin, excavator of Yimen No. 2 Tomb)
Edited by Xin Yu and Wang Han