Nine Western Jin Dynasty imperial tombs were excavated in Jiangsu, hiding countless rare treasures. A Nautilus Cup shocked experts

In 2015, archaeological experts discovered an ancient tomb under a "black water" well in Jiangsu. They originally thought it was just a simple tomb. Who would have thought that rare cultural relics that shocked the country would be unearthed from it? The identity of the tomb owner remains a mystery to this day.

In the 1990s, in order to improve agricultural development, the country began to vigorously build water conservancy projects. Just as the project was in full swing, a strange thing happened in Chentan Village, Xinhe Town, Pizhou City, Jiangsu Province.

When several villagers were digging wells, they discovered that black water kept rising from beneath their homesteads, and no matter how hard they tried, they could not dig in with a steel drill.

Although several villagers who were feudal and superstitious at that time noticed that something was fishy, ​​they did not dare to speak out for fear that they would get into trouble with something unclean.

Until 2015, the construction team who was building a water conservancy project here discovered an anomaly while digging. The excavator seemed to have dug something under a homestead. The method continued to work downwards, and they found a large bottomless hole nearby. The hole was full of black water, and the water surface was about one meter away from the entrance of the hole.

As a result, the construction team immediately reported to their superiors. Archaeological experts who received the news rushed to the scene immediately. After cleaning the site, they found that there were a large number of unusual blue bricks underneath the homestead, and there were some patterns around the large hole discovered by the experts. Immediately, they speculated that there should be an ancient tomb underneath.

When the villagers heard that there was an ancient tomb, they immediately became restless. Some older generation villagers reported that this should be the tomb of the sister of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, because there was a famous legend circulating here.

Rumor has it that a long time ago, Emperor Qianlong took his sister on a trip incognito. No one expected that the princess suddenly fell ill during the trip. The imperial doctor was helpless and died in a foreign country. There was no way out and it was a tragic loss. Qianlong, who loved his sister, buried the princess there, and the princess was buried in this village.

It is really ridiculous to say that when an ordinary official, businessman or literary figure dies, they have to find a professional Feng Shui master to find the dragon's acupoints before they dare to determine the final burial location. Is it possible that a dignified princess of a country is not as good as these ordinary officials? , after his death, he can only be buried casually? If that's the case, what's the difference between ordinary people wrapping their bodies in straw mats after death?

Some time later, experts conducted a preliminary survey of the site and determined that the ancient tomb was only a small tomb, not the Qing Dynasty princess tomb as the villagers thought. At the same time, they found that the overall size of the unearthed tomb bricks was characteristic of Han Dynasty tombs, and the patterns on the bricks also indicated that this was a tomb from the late Eastern Han Dynasty.

After that, experts conducted some research on the history of the surrounding area based on the known time and got some clues.

It turns out that a long time ago, a family named Fu lived in this place, and this family had an unwritten rule: they were not allowed to dig deep or build larger houses where they lived. Because, archaeological experts speculate that this family is likely to be the tombkeepers.

Then, with the help of other historians, they speculated based on known documents that this should be the tomb of a Han Dynasty concubine named Fu.

Experts discovered a tomb in Jiangsu. They originally thought it was a simple Han tomb. Who would have thought that during the excavation, they discovered that it was actually a Western Jin tomb, and the archaeological team also unearthed a large number of rare cultural relics from it.

Archaeologists began excavation work on the tomb. As soon as they excavated, they discovered a tomb chamber of considerable size near the known tomb. In subsequent work, they even discovered large and small tombs. 7 tombs.

Archaeological experts have discovered 9 tombs in a row, so this is not what they thought was a small tomb. It is clearly a large tomb, or even a family tomb.

This discovery made experts overjoyed. However, their top priority now is to drain all the water from the tomb, otherwise, everything will be in vain. But what they didn't expect was that the water pump had to work for two consecutive days before the water inside was completely pumped out.

Then, the excited archaeologists entered these tombs with great anticipation. This tomb is oriented in the north-south direction and is about 20 meters long from front to back. It is a brick tomb with front and rear chambers with a slope. The bricks and stones are plastered inside and outside with lime. The tomb passage is in the north. The top of the tomb is a vaulted roof, and the tomb doors are sealed with stone slabs.

When experts saw these porcelains, they questioned their previous inferences. Did the Han Dynasty already have fully glazed celadon? However, through research on other pottery, it was discovered that this was not a Han Dynasty tomb at all, but a Western Jin tomb 1,700 years ago.

As experts delved deeper into the tomb, they also found rare funerary objects such as seashell ear cups, gold bells, and gold iron swords. What made them even more unbelievable was that they were unearthed inside. Glass bowl and nautilus cup.

These two cultural relics cannot be described as simply rare. Because they were not manufactured by China at that time, they were most likely from the Persian country on the other side of the Indian Ocean.

As the name suggests, the Nautilus Cup is made of Nautilus shells. Nautilus is a kind of shell mollusk in the Indian Ocean. Due to the troublesome process, this kind of cup is rare, and this unearthed cup is not just that simple.

In addition to taking advantage of the natural curly shape of the shell, gilt copper edges are also inlaid at the mouth and middle ridge of the shell. The gilt copper edges at the mouth extend out of the ears. The style is the same as the handle of the ear cup of the same period, indicating that the purpose of this cup is similar to that of the ear cup. Obviously, this cup cannot be entirely made by people from the other side of the Indian Ocean. After all, the craftsmanship of gilding the rim is unique to ancient my country and should have been processed later by ancient craftsmen.

Another cultural relic, a glass bowl, is crystal clear and free of impurities. It was as precious as the Nautilus Cup 1,700 years ago.

What is the status of the owner of this ancient tomb to be able to get something far away in the Indian Ocean into his own hands?

A large number of rare cultural relics were unearthed from the tomb of the Western Jin Dynasty. Experts found that this was a royal tomb, but because nothing identifying the tomb was found, the identity of the tomb owner became a mystery.

The archaeological work is nearing completion, but archaeological experts have not found any relevant records in the tombs, let alone the existence of epitaphs.

Although epitaphs originated in the Eastern Han Dynasty, their real development was in the Northern and Southern Dynasties when dynasties changed rapidly, and they only began to flourish in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Therefore, during the Western Jin Dynasty, there were very few tomb owners who actually had epitaphs carved on them. This phenomenon also makes it more difficult for archaeological experts to identify the owner of the tomb.

There is no way. Archaeological experts searching for the truth can only speculate based on the excavated cultural relics and known history. This is either a noble tomb in the Xiapi Kingdom during the Western Jin Dynasty, or a royal cemetery? After all, ordinary people really can't come up with so many good things.

Until they unearthed an important cultural relic-five baht coins. The five-baht coin is the most frequently used and longest-circulated currency in ancient my country. Usually the five-baht coin is made of copper and weighs about five baht.

The unearthed five-baht coin is made of gold. Under normal circumstances, the emperor's tombs would use gold plating, but this five-baht coin is actually pure gold. Since the Western Jin Dynasty paid great attention to human relations and it was impossible for anything to go against common sense, they speculated that this might be a royal cemetery.

According to historical records, in 280 AD, the first year of Taikang, Sima Yi’s descendant, Emperor Wu of Jin Sima Yan, unified the country. Then, he canonized Sima Huang, the fifth son of Sima Yi’s brother, as the emperor. He went to King Pi and rewarded him with 7 counties as fiefs.

These seven counties are Xiapi County, Liangcheng County, Ling County, Suiling County, Xiaqiu County, Qilu County, and Tong County. Among them, Xiapi County is now Pizhou.

In 296 AD (the sixth year of Yuankang), Sima Huang died, and his posthumous title was King Xian. Then, he made Sima Wei, who had previously adopted his third brother Sima Fu, as Sima Huang's eldest son and inherited the throne. But unfortunately, the child died early.

In 311 AD, former Zhao Shile captured Xiapi County. From then on, Xiapi State came to a complete end on the stage of history.

Although archaeological experts have made general speculations about this tomb, we do not know who the owner of the tomb is, and there is no way to verify it. We can only let him continue to sink in the long river of history.