Mausoleum of China's first emperor's grandmother comes to light

The ancient capital of Xi'an in northwestern China, has once again come to the world's limelight since July 31, when a 17.3-hectare mausoleum of State Qin during the Warring States period (475 BC-221BC) was laid bare and confirmed as one belonging to Empress Xia, the grandmother of Qin Shi Huang, or the first emperor in Chinese history. How the mausoleum was discovered and how its owner verified?

The story began with the discovery of a regular, laid-out mausoleum at the construction site of the Xi'an Finance & Business College in the spring of 2005. Located in the college's new school compound, the mausoleum is 550 meters long from south to north and 310 meters wide from east to west, with an area of approximately 17.2 hectares. It is the biggest single-occupant mausoleum so far found in China for the Warring States period and the period of Qin dynasty (221BC-206 BC).

The mausoleum is divided into the northern and southern parts by a separation wall. The area north to the wall has the main tomb along with 13 graves of those buried alive for the mausoleum owner and, in its southern part, there are pits with ash traces as well as houses for graveyard attendants. And more than 20,000 cubic meters of earth have been removed from the rammed earth in paths leading to the tombs and weathered earth from coffin chambers after more than a year of excavation work.

Archeologists have found half an ounce of copper wire, and remains of grey pottery bowls and red pottery ax pieces from State Qin during the Warring States period. These unearthed objects, along with regular and orderly walls and ditches in the mausoleum, could tell something to do with State Qin of the Warring States Period. Along with the progressing of the excavation, they also spotted rows of burial chariots laid in sheds made of pillars and upright columns that resembled long corridors, in addition to a large chariot and six horse skeletons.

According to ancient rites in view of ranks then, only top rulers like emperors can ride a chariot with six horses. And there are four more chariots, so the owner of the mausoleum could be one of those with court ranks in normal circumstances.

By looking through all the relevant historical figures from the period of the Warring States and Qin and early Han dynasties (206 BC-220AD) in this region, archeologists focused their attention onto Empress Xia and a few others. Empress Xia, the grandmother of Qin Shi Huang, was buried separately in Dudong, according to the Biography of Lu Buwei of Historical Records by Sima Qian, a famed ancient historian. Dudong, nevertheless, is precisely the present Guodu in Cang'an disctrict of Xi'an city, which coincides exactly with the location of the mausoleum.

Moreover, archeologists at an eight-meter cavity entrance to the mausoleum have spotted scores of jade objects in the shape of cake and broken pottery kettles in the shape of cocoons inscribed with the characters "private officials", who had tended affairs relating to the empress and princes or princesses. The discovery of these inscribed characters has given an eloquent proof of the judgment that the occupant of the mausoleum is precisely the grandmother of the first Chinese emperor.

By People's Daily Online