Significance of Excavation of Houhaizi Tomb in Qinan and Qibei of Liaocheng

The excavation of the tomb of Houhaizi in the south of Qi and the north of Qi in Liaocheng is of great significance for studying the social outlook and production development level of Shandong society in Han Dynasty, especially in Liaocheng area.

On July 20, 2023, the archaeological excavation acceptance meeting of Qin 'an and Beiqi Houhaizi tombs in Liaocheng, Shandong Province was held. Entrusted by Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Shandong Archaeological Society organized experts to check and accept the archaeological excavations of Houhaizi Tomb in Nanqi and Beiqi.

On the basis of inspecting the excavation site, listening to the work report, consulting relevant materials such as words and drawings, the expert group discussed and commented on the excavation work, agreed to pass the acceptance, and spoke highly of the academic value of the tombs.

Baojun Li, director of the Cave Temple Research Center of Shandong Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and head of archaeological excavation of Houhaizi Tomb in Liaocheng, said that according to the shape of the tomb and the unearthed pottery and bronze wares, it was a brick tomb in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, brick tombs of this scale could not be built by ordinary people. Although no information about the identity of the tomb owner was found in this archaeological excavation, it can be inferred that the owner of this family tomb must be a local strongman or official.

This ancient tomb is extremely exquisite, quite similar to the architectural form of the ancient Sanjin home. Enter the front hall from the entrance of the tomb, and then enter the front room, middle room and back room more than two meters high through the tunnel. Interestingly, these two parallel graves are connected by a tunnel. The ancient people had the funeral concept of "death is like life", and imagined that after death, they could "visit their homes" through the aisle like on earth.

This ancient tomb buried more than 5 meters underground has experienced 1800 years. Made of blue bricks, the ticket top and the tomb door are tall and majestic. The whole tomb is north-south, with two tombs side by side. The shape of the two tombs is basically the same, except that the tomb on the west side has one less vestibule than that on the east side.

Mining results:

Archaeologists unearthed some human bones in the grave. At present, these human bones have been sent to professional testing departments for identification.

In addition, dozens of cultural relics of various materials, such as bronzes, ironware and pottery, have been unearthed in the tombs, among which there are many rare objects such as lacquered pottery ear cups and sand-filled pottery stoves. This is another major archaeological discovery in Shandong Province in the Han Dynasty, which is of great value and significance for studying the social outlook and production development of Shandong society and Liaocheng area in the Han Dynasty.

As early as the last century, the excavation of high-grade Han tombs in Yanggu, Dong 'e and Gaotang proved that Liaocheng had a relatively prosperous social outlook in the Han Dynasty, and the excavation of the tombs in Qinan and Qihai Beihai further confirmed this inference.

Qilu Point-The largest and most complicated Han tomb in China was discovered in Liaocheng.