In late autumn, the author was lucky enough to walk into this land full of history. The accompanying scientific experts pointed to the mottled loess in front and said that it was the No.1 cemetery, and further south were the No.2 and No.3 cemeteries. Although the excavation caused serious damage, especially 80 tombs in No.3 cemetery, almost all the new discoveries were made during the excavation. These strange and unexpected things always bring joy to archaeologists.
Covering an area of more than 8,000 mu, the Yanghai Tomb is one of the most exquisite cemeteries in Xinjiang at present, and many scholars regard it as a key to study the history, culture and ethnic evolution of Xinjiang. The burial time of the Yanghai ancient tomb is from the Bronze Age to the Tang Dynasty. At present, a large number of mummies, perforated skulls, bone implements, stone tools, bronzes, ironware, painted pottery, wood products, weaving and other cultural relics from different historical periods have been unearthed. The scale of tombs, the number of unearthed cultural relics and the peculiar shape have aroused great repercussions in the world archaeological community.
According to reports, the excavation and arrangement of marine tombs began in 2003. Archaeologists have unearthed some precious cultural relics, such as the harp, the earliest silk fragments, mud blowers and wooden barrels engraved with various animal patterns. One of the most important discoveries in the process of excavation and arrangement is the grape vine 2500 years ago, which shows that grapes had already spread to Xinjiang from the Mediterranean and Egypt at that time.
Rich unearthed cultural relics provide sufficient information for future generations. In a short time, a large number of articles for daily use, such as spinning wheels chiseled from stones and woodwork hollowed out in the center, were unearthed from the ancient tombs in the ocean. The appearance of the article is decorated with various patterns, the mouth and the bottom corner are decorated with triangular patterns, and the animal patterns such as wild goats, wild sheep, tigers and wolves are engraved in the middle, reflecting the widespread existence of wolves and tigers in Turpan at that time. There are many comparable factors between the images of these animals and the animal models in deer stones and rock paintings widely distributed in Central Asia. Many scholars hope to solve the dating problem of deer stones and rock paintings through research.
It is worth noting that at the beginning of this year, archaeologists discovered the green plant cannabis in the funerary objects of shaman wizards unearthed here. This is by far the oldest and best preserved cannabis specimen in the world. Although it has been 3000 years, its leaves are still green.
The marine tombs more than 3,000 years ago have gone through a long dusty years and escaped the disaster of/kloc-0 at the end of the 9th century and the beginning of the 20th century. In the 1980s, grave robbers stared at the vast and scattered marine tombs with rich buried cultural relics and far away from villages. In particular, 1987 was the most serious, and Turpan Cultural Relics Bureau alone collected and collected more than 200 cultural relics. As a result, the rescue excavation of ancient tombs in the ocean and the effective protection of ancient tomb sites were also launched in the following years.
At present, Yanghai ancient tombs are the sixth batch of key cultural relics protection units in China and one of the 77 key ancient tombs in China. There are nearly 1000 unspoiled graves that have not been excavated. These historical sites will tell future generations more stories. (End)