Mawangdui

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Mawangdui ( Chinese  馬王堆  /  马王堆 , Pinyin Mǎwángduī ) is an archaeological site discovered in 1972 in what was then Dongtundu ( 東 屯 渡 鄉  /  东 屯 渡 乡 ) on the eastern outskirts of Changsha. The site is now part of the Mawangdui ( 馬王堆 街道  /  马王堆 街道 ) street in the Furong district ( 芙蓉 區  /  芙蓉 区 ) in the east of the district-free city of Changsha in the Chinese province of Hunan .

Han tombs

The "Han Tombs of Mawangdui" ( 馬王堆 漢墓  /  马王堆 汉墓 , Mǎwángduī Hànmù ) are three graves from the time of the early Western Han Dynasty . From 1972 to 1974, the graves were uncovered in two successive digs by the Hunan Provincial Museum together with the Archaeological Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences . Most of Mawangdui artifacts are on display in the Hunan Provincial Museum.

From the seals excavated from grave no. 2: "Seal of the Marquis of Dai" ( 軑 侯 之 印 , Dài hóu zhī yìn ), "Chancellor of Changsha" ( 長沙 丞相  /  长沙 丞相 , Chángshā chéngxiàng ) and "Li Cang" ( 利 蒼  /  利 苍 , Lì Cāng ), as well as from very many grave goods sealed with putty in graves No. 1 and No. 3 with the inscription “Overseer of the household of the Marquis of Dai” ( 軑 侯家丞  /  轪 侯家丞 , Dài hóu jiāchéng ) see that it is the tomb of the "Marquis of Dai" ( 利 蒼  /  利 苍 , Lì Cāng ) and his family members.

Of the three graves, grave No. 1 is the largest in terms of circumference; the burial chamber was constructed from whole pieces with thick wooden boards. In the middle of it the decorated, splendid four-layered coffin was placed, in the side chamber surrounding it there are various types of grave goods. The space outside the burial chamber was completely filled with a large amount of charcoal and white clay. The deep position of the burial chamber and the hermetic seal resulted in constant temperature, constant humidity, the lack of oxygen and aseptic conditions. Therefore the grave is extremely well preserved. It is rare for organic materials to be kept in such a good condition as that of the excavated female corpse (see also Marquise von Dai and the short film made during the autopsy.)

The structures of Tomb No. 3 and Tomb No. 1 are similar to each other, but their circumference is relatively small, the coffins have three layers. The storage situation in grave no. 3 is poor, only the skeleton is left of the male corpse.

Many silk books were unearthed from grave no.3 , including the Book of Changes ( Yìjīng ), the Dàodéjīng , a book ascribed to the legendary founder of Daoism Lǎozǐ , as well as books on astronomy, the appreciation of horses by their appearance (xiàngmǎ) and medicine, over twenty texts with a total of more than 120,000 characters. There are also three maps below. The colored silk pictures, silk ware, musical instruments, lacquer ware and the so-called “inventory book” ( 遣 策 , qiǎncè ) written on bamboo tablets , in which the names and the amount of grave goods are recorded in detail, are all important archaeological ones Finds.

The conservation of the small grave number 2 was very poor. Because the waterproofing was not good and for other reasons not many grave goods have survived.

All three graves were created in the second half of the second century BC. The owner of the second grave, Li Cang ( 利 蒼  /  利 苍 ), died in −186, that of the third grave was buried in −168, the first grave is later than the third.

The excavations of the Han tombs of Mawangdui provide numerous realities for researching the history of the early phase of the Western Han Dynasty and for studying the level of development of handicraft production, technology, art and culture of that period.

Texts

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literature

  • Cihai ('sea of ​​words'). Shanghai cishu chubanshe, Shanghai 2002, ISBN 7-5326-0839-5
  • Hunan sheng bowuguan, Zhongguo kexueyuan Kaogu yanjiusuo (Hunan Provincial Museum, Archaeological Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences) (ed.): Changsha Mawangdui yihao Hanmu ( Han Tomb # 1 in Mawangdui, Changsha ). Wenwu chubanshe, Beijing 1973
  • Zhongguo da baike quanshu : Kaoguxue (Great Chinese Encyclopedia: Volume Archeology). Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe, Beijing 1986
  • Hunan sheng bowuguan (Ed.): Mawangdui Hanmu yanjiu. Changsha: Hunan renminchubanshe 1981
  • He Jiejun, Zhang Weiming: Mawangdui Hanmu. Wenwu chubanshe, Beijing 1982
  • Fu Juyou, Chen Songchang (Eds.): Mawangdui Hanmu wenwu (The Cultural Goods Unearthed from the Han Tombs of Mawangdui). Hunan chubanshe, Changsha 1992
  • Ma Jixing: Mawangdui gu yishu kaoshi. Hunan kexue jishu chubanshe 1992

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Short film made during the autopsy ( memento of the original from November 24, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / video.google.fr

Coordinates: 28 ° 12 ′ 31 ″  N , 113 ° 1 ′ 18 ″  E