In the eastern suburb of Changsha City, Hunan Province, there used to be two mounds, with a height of 10 meters. According to legend, they were the tombs of Ma Yin, the king of Chu, and his family during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, so they were called "Mawangdui". It is also considered to be the "double female tomb" buried in Changsha and Tang Dynasty in the Western Han Dynasty. What era is this cemetery? Who is the owner of the tomb? What is its status? These mysteries have been puzzling people for thousands of years. 1972 ——1974. The Hunan Provincial Museum and the Institute of Archaeology of China Academy of Sciences excavated this cemetery. Revealed the mystery, it turned out that there were three tombs in the early Western Han Dynasty buried under the two burial tombs of Mawangdui. A large number of exquisite funerary objects were unearthed in the tomb, and the written materials such as seals, seals and wooden slips accurately reflected the name, age and identity of the owner of the tomb. In particular, a female corpse unearthed from tomb 1 is about 50 years old and well preserved, commonly known as "Mawangdui old lady", which makes Mawangdui Han tomb famous all over the world.

Mawangdui has three tombs, all of which are rectangular vertical holes, pits and wooden tombs with tombs. 1 Tomb pit is the largest and deepest. The bottom of the three tombs and the surrounding rooms were filled with charcoal and white paste, and then filled layer by layer, compacted and sealed. The coffins of Tomb 1 and Tomb No.3 are well preserved, and their structures are basically the same. The coffin is divided into rooms and four side boxes. Tomb 1 has the largest coffin chamber with four coffins. Tomb No.3 has three coffins, and Tomb No.2 has two coffins according to the remaining traces.

The white gypsum filled in tomb 1 is the thickest and most uniform, which makes the tomb buried underground 10 meters tightly sealed, forming a constant temperature and humidity environment, thus preserving the female corpse buried for more than 2 100 years. The female corpse was placed in an inner coffin decorated with brocade, and her back was covered with 2 pieces of silk fabrics and 20 layers of clothes and quilts. She was wrapped layer by layer from head to toe, then tied horizontally with nine ribbons, and then put on two silk robes. When unearthed, she was soaked in about 80 liters of colorless and transparent coffin liquid. This coffin liquid has weak antibacterial and bactericidal effects. The female corpse is1.54m long. Weighing 34.3kg, it is a "wet corpse" similar to a fresh corpse, which is different from a "mummy". The shapes of various parts of the body and internal organs are still quite complete, and fine structures such as connective tissue are well preserved, which is very rare in the world corpse preservation records. Pathological examination showed that the deceased suffered from various diseases before his death and died of acute attack of coronary heart disease caused by biliary colic.

Well-preserved Tomb 1 and Tomb No.3 are placed in four side boxes around the coffin chamber, mainly including bamboo warehouses, lacquerware, wooden figurines, musical instruments, bamboo wares, pottery and bamboo slips, containing more than 1000 pieces of clothes, food and medicine. Painted silk paintings were unearthed in both tombs. Silk books and weapons were also unearthed from Tomb 3.

1 silk paintings were unearthed in tomb No.3, and 4 silk paintings were unearthed in tomb No.3. Among them, No.65,438+0 tomb and No.3 tomb unearthed T-shaped silk paintings with painted inner coffins. They are similar in shape, composition and content, both of which are more than 2 meters long, with four corners hanging down and a tie at the top for lifting, which should be a banner in the funeral ceremony at that time. The upper, middle and lower segments of the picture symbolize heaven, earth and earth respectively. The main difference between the two silk paintings lies in the image of the tomb owner. 1 tomb is female, and tomb 3 is male, which is consistent with the actual situation of the tomb owner. There is also a silk painting on the landlord and the west wall of Tomb No.3 ... depicting the ritual scenes of horses and chariots and the life scenes of the tomb owner respectively. Another silk painting "Guide Map" unearthed from Tomb No.3 depicts various postures of more than 40 people, reflecting the long-standing health and fitness exercise in ancient China.

A large number of well-preserved bamboo slips were unearthed from Tomb L and Tomb 3 respectively. Among them, 3 1 2 pieces were unearthed from tomb1,all of which are records of funerary objects in the tomb. Traditionally, this kind of bamboo slips is called "sending strategy". In addition to the bamboo slips 4 10 of Songce, 200 medical books were unearthed in Tomb 3. In addition, more than 20 kinds of silk books and 3 maps were unearthed in Tomb 3. Silk books involve ancient philosophy, history, science and technology and many other aspects. Except Zhouyi and Laozi, most of them are lost books, which is a great discovery of ancient books in China. Topographic Map of Southern Changsha, Garrison Map and City and River Bed Map are the earliest existing practical color maps in the world, which occupy an important position in the map history of China.

The vast majority of silk products are put in bamboo sheds, and the main types are silk, silk, silk, yarn, brocade and embroidery. These fabrics are of early age, large quantity and variety, and well preserved, among which plain yarn and terry brocade can best reflect the development of textile technology in Han Dynasty. As thin as a cicada's wing and as light as smoke, the single coat of plain yarn weighs less than 1 2, which is a peerless boutique and a symbol of the highly developed reeling technology at that time. The discovery of loop brocade as the edge decoration of clothing proves that the raising technology was first invented by China. The discovery of printed colored yarn shows that the printing and dyeing process at that time has reached a very high level.

Buried with a large number of colorful lacquerware is a major feature of Mawangdui Han Tomb. There are more than 500 pieces of lacquerware, most of which are wooden tires and a few are sandwiched tires. There are ding, pot, box, pot, spoon, ear cup, plate, spoon, case, dagger, number, screen and so on. The decorative pattern is mainly moire. Some lacquerware is written with the words "Houyi Family", "Xing Jun City" and "Xing Jun Wine", and the words "Four Doors" indicating the container capacity. Lacquerware in Han dynasty is far more precious than bronze ware, and there is a saying that "one cup of paper is better than ten cups of copper". There are so many lacquerware unearthed from Mawangdui Han Tomb, which shows the luxury of the tomb owner's life before his death.

A number of musical instruments were also unearthed in Mawangdui Han Tomb, and 25 stringed instruments, 22 wind instruments and a set of rulers were unearthed in Tomb 1. Harp, reed flute, lyre and six-hole flute were unearthed in Tomb No.3.. Lu, Lu, Qin and Xiao were all discovered for the first time in the Western Han Dynasty, and 25 stringed instruments were the only complete instruments discovered in the early Western Han Dynasty.

According to archaeological discoveries and reference materials, the mystery of the owner of Mawangdui Han Tomb was finally unveiled. Three seals, namely "Prime Minister of Changsha", "Houyi Seal" and "Li Cang", were found in Mawangdui No.2 tomb. According to historical records, the owner of this tomb should be the first generation of Houyi Li Cang. 1 Tomb No.3 is the tomb of his wife and son respectively. It can be seen that Mawangdui is not "Mawangdui", but the cemetery of Changsha Prime Minister and Houyi Li Cang in the early Western Han Dynasty. Its excavation provides important material data for studying all aspects of society in the early Western Han Dynasty.

The ancient tomb, which has been silent underground for more than 2 100 years, was opened, and many precious cultural relics and immortal thousand-year-old female corpses were displayed in the ancient city of Changsha, telling the glorious history and lost civilization of Changsha.