Why Luoyang Jincun Tomb is the eternal pain of China archaeology?

There are two tragedies in China archaeology, one is the Jincun Tomb in Luoyang, and the other is Dingling Tomb. Let's take a look at the tragedy below Jincun.

1956, Guo Moruo and Wu Han, then the mayor of Beijing, advocated the excavation of the Chang Ling of Judy, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty in the Ming Tombs. At that time, many people objected, because the archaeology in China began with the excavation of Zhoukoudian site in 192 1 year, which was only 30 years away from 56 years. Moreover, at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, national archaeological talents and technology were extremely scarce.

But in the end, the country approved the request for excavation, and only changed the trial excavation of the mausoleum from the largest tomb, Changling, to the third largest mausoleum (the tombs of Emperor Wanli and two Empresses in the Ming Dynasty). At that time, the archaeological team led by Guo Moruo did not find where the tomb door was after a year of exploration, which shows the great difficulty. In this way, half a year passed, and by chance, they found a king kong wall 8.8 meters high and 1.6 meters thick.

After the archaeological team excavated Dingling, due to the backwardness of archaeological technology at that time, when the air entered this closed space for nearly 300 years, calligraphy and painting, silks and satins quickly decayed, and other cultural relics also suffered considerable losses. The golden nanmu coffins of Emperor Wanli and two Empresses were actually thrown away by archaeologists as garbage. Later, during the Cultural Revolution, the mausoleum was greatly damaged, and san huang was boneless.

The loss of a large number of cultural relics in Dingling made the archaeological community grieve, but the tragedy of Dingling did not make Guo Moruo reflect. Before long, Guo Moruo wanted to dig the dry mausoleum and the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. The prime minister, who is both civil and military, resolutely rejected Guo Moruo and replied: Ten years without opening the Mausoleum? . Since then, the policy of not actively excavating the imperial tombs to become the central government has continued to this day.

Such a huge loss only ranks second, so what caused this Jincun tomb?

1928 After a heavy rain, a field near Jincun Village in Luoyang collapsed, and the villagers who arrived later found it to be a grand grave, and then seven other graves were discovered one after another.

Jincun is located in the middle and east of Mangshan Mausoleum in Luoyang, the ancient capital. According to classical literature and archaeological research, Jincun is surrounded by the largest imperial mausoleum in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and there are more than ten generations of Zhou emperors buried, including King Jing, King Jing, King Yuan, King Zhen, King Ai, King Si, King Kao, King Wang Wei, King An, King Lie, King Xian, and so on.

What was China like at that time? As we all know, Canadian missionary William Charles White once lived in Kaifeng. As soon as I heard that the tomb was found in Jincun, Luoyang, Warner, an American, rushed over immediately. When he arrived in Jincun, he found that the underground was full of treasures. Greedy William Charles White immediately organized manpower to rob the Jincun Tomb.

At that time, it was during the period of warlords' scuffle, and the state did not have relevant departments and laws and regulations to stop this kind of wanton grave robbery.

They put up a shed and a stove with guns. They spent six years excavating eight tombs and unearthed thousands of cultural relics. In order to transport the stolen cultural relics out of the country, William Charles White and other overseas associates colluded with local cultural relics dealers and black-hearted businessmen, and successively transported most of the cultural relics out of the country. According to incomplete statistics, the stolen cultural relics of Jincun Tomb are scattered in more than 10 countries, with more than 8,000 pieces.

The cultural relics lost from Jincun Tomb include bronzes, silverware, lacquerware, jadeware, etc., which are exquisite and rich, unique in shape and of high historical, artistic and scientific value.

It can be said that these looted cultural relics represent the highest achievement of social civilization in China during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Dingling, even if it hurts, is at least destroyed in our own hands, and the Jincun tomb has all been lost overseas.