It turns out that when they discovered the door, the animal head relief below was not yet visible. Erniu noticed that the smooth stone was different from the cave, so he tapped it with a hammer, but unexpectedly it produced a hollow echo.
Humans are naturally curious, and being in Dengshan, it would be absurd to say they didn't know what an ancient tomb was. So, with the intention of making a fortune by robbing the tomb, the two brothers returned home, found an axe and a heavy hammer, and came back here to smash open the stone door.
However, the hammer blow from the Da Niu brothers may very well unlock an age-old mystery, bringing a history sealed for thousands of years back into the public eye.
Zhuang Rui took the camera and filmed the stone gate from all angles. It was his first time participating in on-site archaeology. Professor Meng had assigned him the task of filming and recording the entire archaeological excavation process.
Professor Meng observed the door, muttering to himself, "Something's not right. This isn't the entrance to the tomb. Logically, there shouldn't be a stone door here."
After holding a wooden clip and gesturing it on the stone door for a while, Professor Meng's face showed a relieved expression.
"This should be called a windbreak wall, not a stone gate. You see, the gaps in the middle are actually fake; it's a single piece of stone..."
After observing carefully for a while, Professor Meng gave his conclusion.
At the end of the passageway of a large tomb, there is usually a horizontal stone weighing thousands of kilograms blocking the way. However, this tomb uses a stone slab that is not very thick. Perhaps it was thought that it would be close to the rock wall and not be discovered.
"Xiao Li, go to the cave entrance and turn on the blower, then stay there and we'll communicate via walkie-talkie..."
After entering the stone gate, the air inside became stale. Although it wasn't difficult to breathe, the rotten smell was unbearable. Only after the blower brought in fresh air did everyone feel that they could breathe easily again.
"Is this... a brick and stone passageway?"
After entering the tomb passage through the damaged stone gate, Professor Meng was clearly taken aback. Behind the stone gate was a passageway paved with wide bluestones, and next to the bluestones were two drainage channels more than ten centimeters wide.
People from more than two thousand years ago were no less intelligent than modern people. They had already considered the damage that water would cause to the tombs. The two sides of the passageway were covered with stone slabs carved with reliefs, mostly depicting human figures. Although the lines were simple, the strokes were clear and orderly. Looking at the people wearing tall hats and long robes on the rock walls, Zhuang Rui felt as if he had returned to ancient times.
"The purpose of this passageway is for drainage..."
Professor Meng walked and observed, and soon arrived at the second stone gate. This stone gate was much thicker than the previous one. Zhuang Rui took a quick look under the light and found that it was at least thirty or forty centimeters thick.
Chapter 890 The Tomb
In the quiet and dimly lit burial passage, near the stone gate, there are two skeletons that emit a faint phosphorescent glow under the light. Their clothes have long since decayed, and it is unknown which era they belong to.
Zhang Daniu, who was walking at the front, repeatedly bowed to the skeleton, muttering, "Just passing by, just passing by, please don't be offended, sir..."
Zhang Daniu's actions made the people behind him laugh. With such audacity, he actually dared to rob a tomb? No wonder he didn't even dare to open the coffin after entering the tomb, and none of the items he took out were gold or silver.
"Come on, turn on two more lights, it's a bit dim..."
Professor Meng squatted down next to the two corpses and examined them carefully. Since he would be working in the burial site for an unknown period of time, he had to use the lights sparingly.
After Zhuang Rui and Dr. Ren turned on the high-powered lights, the entire tomb passage became brightly lit, and the light shone through the damaged stone door into the tomb chamber.
Professor Meng poked at the clothes on the two skeletons, which had turned to fibrous material, with the wooden stick in his hand. After observing them carefully for a while, he said, "These are two tomb raiders. Judging from their appearance, they should be from the mid-Qing Dynasty. They died from traps and hidden weapons..."
"organ?"
The man in front, Da Niu, was startled and quickly said, "Grandpa Meng... don't scare me! Last time we came, we didn't encounter any traps..."
There are many folk tales that ancient tombs are full of traps and mechanisms, such as arrows, stones, poisonous water, and other traps, making them impossible to guard against. Some superstitious people believe that there are ghost soldiers guarding the tombs, who will steal people's souls.
Upon hearing that there was a mechanism, Da Niu's legs immediately trembled, and he stood there motionless, completely forgetting that he had been here before.
"Hmph, you think you'd still be alive to talk here after running into a trap?"
Professor Meng snorted coldly, took the lamp from Da Niu's hand, moved it a little closer to the skeletons, and said, "Take a look at what's inside these skeletons..."
"What's that dark thing? A lump of iron?"
When Da Niu came last time, he didn't dare to look at the two dead men for long. Now he discovered that there were four or five rusty triangular iron blocks stuck in the chest and ribs of the dead men.
"Teacher, is this an arrowhead?"
Zhuang Rui approached. Having frequented the archaeological research institute of Peking University every day, Zhuang Rui was already used to seeing dead people.
There were also many such arrowheads on the ground next to the two skeletons. Zhuang Rui roughly counted them and found that there were as many as forty or fifty of them.
Looking up at the gate, Zhuang Rui felt a chill run down his spine. If another attack like that were to happen, all of his men would probably perish here.
Professor Meng nodded and said, "It's an arrow. Xiao Zhuang, what else did you notice?"
"The arrow shafts should be rotten by now, and these iron arrowheads are almost completely rusted. Hmm?"
Zhuang Rui examined the skeletons carefully, then suddenly became suspicious and pointed at the two skeletons, saying, "Teacher, were the arrows poisoned?"
Zhuang Rui said this because the remains of a normally deceased person are usually white, and even after a long time, they will turn slightly yellow. However, the bones of these two dead people were somewhat black, which seemed to be a sign of poisoning.
"That's right, the arrow was poisoned. I didn't expect that after more than a thousand years, these toxins would still be effective. Xiao Ren, when you leave, take a rib and have it tested to see what kind of poison it is."
Professor Meng's expression was somewhat solemn. This was not a major archaeological excavation that would reveal the secrets of the site. No one knew what kind of danger might lurk inside this ancient tomb.
"Be careful, everyone, don't touch or tamper with anything..."
If arrow traps were installed even in the drainage tunnel, who knows how many deadly traps might be lurking in the main burial chamber? Professor Meng brought an archaeological team and didn't want anyone to lose their life due to negligence.
In a way, the Da Niu brothers were lucky. Hundreds of years ago, two tomb raiders helped them lose their lives. Otherwise, the two brothers might have died here quietly, and it would have been many years before they were discovered.
Professor Meng saw one of his staff members poking at the top of the stone gate with a wooden stick and quickly said, "Xiao Liu, don't touch that. Maybe the mechanism isn't completely rotten and will still shoot arrows..."
Upon hearing this, Zhuang Rui glanced at the spot and discovered a square iron box, about a meter in size, buried in the soil above the stone gate. It was completely rusted.
To Zhuang Rui's amazement, there were actually four or five arrows inside, and they were well preserved, with no decay even in the fletching.
Of course, Zhuang Rui wouldn't reveal what he had seen, but after hearing Professor Meng's words, he became cautious and decided to use his spiritual energy to thoroughly sense the entire tomb later.
"Teacher, where did these two tomb raiders come from?"
Zhuang Rui suddenly remembered something. According to the Da Niu brothers, the stone door was intact before they came in. So how did these two tomb raiders from hundreds of years ago get into this tomb?
After hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Professor Meng pointed to a hole about the size of a fist above his head and said, "Look, that's the tomb robber's hole. The soil on the ground here is what they dug down..."
"Is this a robber's hole?"
Following Professor Meng's finger, Zhuang Rui noticed a very small hole on the top of his head, no bigger than a fist, about the size of a rice bowl at home.
Zhuang Rui's face showed an incredulous expression. He simply couldn't believe his eyes. Even if he had practiced bone-shrinking techniques, he couldn't have climbed in here.
"Hehe, Zhuang Rui, it's been hundreds of years. As long as the earth's crust changes even slightly, the structure of these soil distributions will naturally change. It's already good that there's still a hole left..."
When Dr. Ren saw Zhuang Rui's surprised look, he explained to him that ordinary tomb-raiding tunnels, let alone after hundreds of years, would become very small even after thirty or fifty years, even if the entrance was originally big enough for people to enter and exit.
"It seems the entrance to the tomb passage is still in these mountains. Xiao Ren, tomorrow you take two people and dig some holes in the mountain to see if you can find it. Let's go check out the tomb chamber first..."
The discovery of the tomb robber's tunnel indicates that the mountain is not entirely encased in rock. If ancient tomb robbers could enter, modern people certainly can too. Therefore, Professor Meng looked somewhat anxious. If the main burial chamber is robbed, it will be a major loss for the national scientific research community.
The group squeezed through the stone gate and entered the tomb chamber where the Zhang brothers had once been. The floor inside the tomb was covered with thick dust and messy footprints, which were undoubtedly left by the two brothers.
The entire tomb chamber is about twenty square meters in size and about three meters high. The ceiling is also very unique. It is not flat, but is composed of several rhombuses that gradually slope towards the center of the roof from the angle between the wall and the ceiling. It is also carved with fine lines.
The walls are constructed of bluestone with reliefs, each stone adorned with exquisite carvings. These reliefs are far more detailed than those in the passageway, and they are all interconnected, seemingly telling a story.
In the very center of the tomb chamber, there was a stone coffin about 2.5 meters long and 1 meter wide. The surface of the stone coffin was also carved with cloud patterns. Under the stone coffin was a huge blue stone base, which was exactly the same size as the stone coffin.
At the two opposite corners of the tomb chamber, there are two tall, square stone pillars with smooth, flat surfaces on all four sides. These were likely used to reinforce the tomb chamber's load-bearing capacity and increase its resistance to collapse.
"Who...who did this?"
There were some broken ceramic shards left on the ground, and Professor Meng flew into a rage when he saw them.
Although these ceramic tiles are not of high value, they are relics from more than two thousand years ago and are irreplaceable cultural relics. It can be said that once they are broken, they are gone forever.
"This...this was broken by my younger brother..."
Zhang Daniu shrank his neck and answered cautiously. In fact, he was not telling the truth. Erniu had broken these things out of boredom, thinking they were too heavy to carry out.
There was a large earthenware jar, but it was in the way of the door, so Erniu smashed it to pieces.
Professor Meng could no longer suppress his anger and pointed at Zhang Daniu, saying, "Alright, get out, get out now." The reason why archaeologists hate these half-baked tomb raiders is that they have no concept of protecting cultural relics at all. They only measure the value of cultural relics by whether they are valuable or not. Their harm is far greater than that of professional tomb raiders.
A tomb-raiding gang like Boss Yu would never damage anything they couldn't retrieve. In a sense, they were archaeologists themselves, even more knowledgeable and experienced than some experts.
Some tomb raiders in ancient times were even more particular. Some would only take the three most valuable items from a tomb and would never take anything more. This is why many large tombs were robbed a dozen or even dozens of times.
"Grandpa, I...I'll leave, I'll leave right now..."
After hearing that the two corpses had been shot to death by a trap, Zhang Daniu had been suspicious and absent-minded. Professor Meng's decision to kick him out was exactly what he wanted, so he scrambled out of the stone door.
"Xiao Zhuang, you're in charge of filming. Xiao Ren, check around and see if there's anything of value left behind..."
After scolding the big shot away, Professor Meng took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, because the next task was to open the coffin, which could not afford to be wrong in the slightest.
"Teacher, besides some pottery, there's nothing else..."
After carefully searching the tomb, Dr. Ren gathered all the broken ceramic shards left on the ground into a pile.
Although these items were broken, they could still be pieced together and repaired after being brought out. For archaeologists, repairing damaged burial objects is a basic skill that must be mastered.
Chapter 891 Stone Coffin
The stone coffin placed in the middle of the tomb chamber has a painting of cranes and deer on the front. Two snow-white cranes are soaring in the sky above the glazed tile hall, and there are lush and thriving pine and cypress trees on both sides.
In front of the coffin head is a fragrant and vibrant green lawn, with a stone staircase leading to the hall in the middle of the lawn, which appears very clean and elegant. The whole picture decorates the coffin head like a fairyland, a quiet villa.
On either side of the coffin are painted two phoenixes circling in the sky, chasing and playing with a precious pearl. From this, we can tell that the owner of the coffin should be a woman.
"Xiao Zhuang, in our ancient times, a coffin was also called an 'old house,' and this coffin is just like that. It's surrounded by flowers, trees, cranes, and pine trees, just like a royal garden..."
When Professor Meng saw Zhuang Rui filming the relief patterns on the stone coffin with a camera, he explained to him that Chinese culture is profound and extensive, and every pattern is not without purpose, but has its own hidden meaning.
"Teacher, are there many stone coffins unearthed from the tombs?"
Zhuang Rui asked.
"Not many, just the presence of stone coffins found in Eastern Han Dynasty tombs..."
After circling the stone coffin a few times, Professor Meng looked at Dr. Ren and said, "Xiao Ren, this stone coffin can be pushed open directly. Go up and try it. When you're halfway open, tie a rope to it and be careful not to fall to the ground..."
Since the stone coffin itself is very heavy, it doesn't have the locking pegs of a wooden coffin and should be able to be pushed open directly.
Before Dr. Ren opened the coffin, Zhuang Rui took a small knife and tried to insert it into the connection between the coffin lid and the coffin itself, but found that even though it was as thin as a blade, he still couldn't insert it.
"Xiao Zhuang, don't even try. You might not even be able to stuff it in with a piece of paper..."
Professor Meng couldn't help but laugh when he saw Zhuang Rui's actions. Many ancient crafts were exquisite, let alone those used by the royal family. How could those craftsmen not put their hearts into making them?
"Teacher, this... I can't push it!"
Dr. Ren, wearing gloves, stood in front of the coffin and pushed it backward with all his might, but even as Dr. Ren's face turned red from holding his breath, the coffin lid remained completely still.