How do archaeologists interpret the wooden warrior figurines unearthed for the first time in Datong Northern Wei tombs?

Before Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to the Northern Wei Dynasty, Datong was always the ruling center and the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty. At present, Shanxi archaeologists have discovered many high-grade tombs of northern Wei nobles near Datong, from which we can get a glimpse of the burial style of ethnic integration. Recently, Shanxi archaeologists discovered another tomb named Jiabao in Datong, belonging to a group of noble tombs in Dongcheng, the ancient capital of Datong. Experts were shocked to find two wooden warrior figures in this tomb of the Northern Wei Dynasty more than 500 years ago/kloc-0. Most of the warrior figures unearthed in the tombs of the Northern Wei Dynasty are made of pottery. This is the first time you can find wood.

Experts found through the epitaph that the owner of the tomb was Jiabao, a native of Wuwei, Gansu. Although he was an immigrant, his family was a big family in the Northern Wei Dynasty. It can be seen that the specifications of the tomb are still relatively high, and naturally it is either rich or expensive. As can be seen from the epitaph, Jiabao was buried in the first year of Taihe, that is, in 477 AD, which is more than 1500 years ago. Wooden warrior figures can't resist erosion naturally and become rotten and broken. Archaeologists can only fill it with gypsum plaster and extract its original features. After restoring the images of these two warriors, we can find that their faces are typical of the integration of Hu ethnic groups, which are both rough and wild of the nomadic people in the north and exquisite and elegant unique to the Han nationality.

We found that their faces are all square, with high noses, big mouths, thick lips and upturned beards. Their eyebrows, eyes and beards are all painted black, and the rest are painted red. They all wear hats, that is, helmets, with big eyes and thick lips, which have typical characteristics of conference semifinals. Warrior figurines have played a role in ward off evil spirits and guard against theft in urban tombs. Using wood to make figurines also reflects that the status of the tomb owner is not very high. If you are a senior aristocrat, you have to use pottery to make figurines, so that you can not rot for thousands of years.

Jiabao tomb has the typical characteristics of tombs in the Northern Wei Dynasty. It has a long sloping tomb, a square single room, and a four-corner pyramid roof made of brick and wood. It consists of three parts: the tomb, the tunnel and the tomb. It is about 15 meters long from north to south and 7 meters away from the surface. A wooden room was built in the middle of the tomb, and there was a concave wooden couch in the wooden room to put the main coffin. Because of too long time, this wooden house has rotted. The wooden room is equivalent to the Han coffin. If it is a high-ranking aristocrat, stone chambers are usually used to hold coffins. It can be seen that although Jiabao's status belongs to the nobility, it is not particularly high. This kind of tomb structure is obviously the product of the great ethnic integration in the Northern Wei Dynasty, which not only has the characteristics of the tombs of a few nomadic people, but also fully absorbs some contents of the tomb culture in the Central Plains.