Moderator: Although the exploration of Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum has solved several eternal mysteries, it still leaves people with many question marks. For example, what kind of treasures are there in the mausoleum of Qin Shihuang, and have they been stolen? Next, let's listen to the opinions of two experts. The first guest we connected today is Duan Qingbo, the captain of the archaeological team of Qin Shihuang Mausoleum. Hello. The second is Professor Wang Zijin, Vice President of China Qin and Han Historical Society. We very much welcome you to join our plan. First of all, I'd like to ask Captain Duan. Many people have such a question. You made a preliminary exploration of the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. Does this mean that you may have to dig next?
Duan: This exploration is not directly related to the subsequent excavation, but the purpose is to have a clearer understanding of the overall layout of the cultural relics of Qin Shihuang's mausoleum, especially the general scope and structure of the underground palace of Qin Shihuang's mausoleum has nothing to do with the subsequent excavation. We have no plans to explore it now.
Moderator: Excuse me, Professor Wang, do you agree that the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor will be excavated one day?
Wang: It will be excavated one day, but the conditions are still immature.
Orthographic image of cemetery
Moderator: What exactly do you mean by immature?
Wang: At present, the archaeological strength, funds, means of protection and research methods are not mature.
Duan: The excavation of the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor is not as difficult as we thought, but the protection of cultural relics after excavation, including how to protect such a large mausoleum and the types of unearthed cultural relics, really does not exist in China until now. During the excavation of Han tombs, we found a very obvious phenomenon, that is, the paintings on pottery pots rolled up with the excavation, which is very common. Therefore, it is very difficult to protect what kind of cultural relics, especially organic cultural relics, will appear in the underground palace of Qin Shihuang Mausoleum. We found that such a big pit could not be isolated from air at once, but could be isolated from oxygen at constant temperature and humidity. Even a few minutes of mistakes can cause fatal damage to cultural relics.
Moderator: Professor Wang, are there any historical problems or doubts that can only be solved when the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor is excavated one day?
Wang: What amazing discoveries will be made in the underground palace? When I give lectures to students, I tell all about the life experience of Qin Shihuang. In the final analysis, it is his pedigree and his special relationship with Lv Buwei. Some students said they could do a DNA test. If Qin Shihuang's bones are still there, it is also possible to get them from King Zhuang Xiang's tomb.
Moderator: Your statement will definitely arouse the curiosity of the audience. What will be in this grave? I want to ask captain Duan. According to the current exploration situation, we can probably judge whether there is anything in this tomb.
Duan: We should have a reasonable guess about what kind of cultural relics will appear in the underground palace of Qin Shihuang's mausoleum during the same period, from the whole pre-Qin Dynasty to the early Han Dynasty. For example, national heavyweights, ding and reed are all bronze, including gold and silver cultural relics. It also includes some organic matter. What is most likely to be unearthed? Some bamboo slips and some wooden slips have been unearthed, which may contain a complete record of the history and present situation of Qin State. Why do you say that? At that time, many cultural classics were burned after burning books and burying Confucianism. If this kind of thing is unearthed again, its significance may not be great, and many historical and cultural problems may be solved.
Moderator: Professor Wang, many people say that you saw that Qin Shihuang's mausoleum only dug burial pits, such as the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Pit, but it was so shocking that you didn't know how many good things were in his tomb. Are all the historical materials recorded in this way?
Wang: Actually, what historians yearn for and hope most is the appearance of documents at that time. In addition, according to historical records, he collected a lot of treasures at that time, and there are some phenomena that we should be able to see when robbing the tomb. For example, there is a so-called crossbow in historical records, which is a machine specially used to shoot grave robbers and shoot them with bows and arrows. In addition, it is said that the rivers and seas composed of mercury provide some suspense for us to explore the mechanical history at that time. Because we know that this thing, like a perpetual motion machine, the setting of perpetual motion machine is of course a delusion. What was the form at that time? We saw the report of this survey that there was an abnormal high temperature above the underground palace, which made us have some associations and wondered what kind of phenomenon it would be. There are also some phenomena in tombs. For example, some craftsmen are buried alive between the tomb and the tomb, and many harem women have let them be buried in the tomb since then. If so, if the same phenomenon is really found, it will be very helpful for us to understand the social relations and class relations at that time.
An overview of Qin Huangling
Moderator: Since everyone has judged that there will be many priceless things in this tomb, we naturally have to discuss a question. Is it possible that grave robbers have entered? I want to ask captain Duan, from your exploration, is this possible?
Duan: Up to now, the stolen cave left by the grave robbers at that time has not been found on the surface, but it can't be said that no one has entered it, because according to the literature records, there are some records of the theft of the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor.
Moderator: I have also read some relevant historical records. It is said that a shepherd boy was herding sheep and a sheep fell into a hole in the ground. In order to find his sheep, he caught fire and burned part of Qin Shihuang's underground palace. Excuse me, Professor Wang, is it credible to say that the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor was once stolen?
Wang: The earliest record of the theft of Qin Shihuang's mausoleum in history is that Liu Bang created Xiang Yu. When he confronted Xiang Yu with Guangwu, he listed ten major crimes of Xiang Yu. Article 4 said that he excavated the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor and took the property inside for himself. As far as you are concerned, the legend of the shepherd is also recorded in the history books. But on the whole, we see that in historical records, for example, some people say that they saw mercury during excavation, and some people say that they melted the copper coffin inside for people at that time. But my general feeling is that from the historical records, the credibility of the claim that the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor was stolen is still very limited.
Moderator: We really hope that the tomb below is intact. I'd like to ask captain Duan, did you feel that its tomb was particularly strong or had some devices to prevent grave robbery during this expedition?
Duan: At present, the anti-robbery device has not been found. There are two exciting places. One is that the tomb didn't collapse, and the underground space is relatively large, which is very unexpected. During the exploration, people found many stone building materials in the underground fence. Later, according to our verification results, a kind of bluestone was used, not the stone near the mausoleum of Qin Shihuang, but the mountainous area on the north bank of Weihe River, 60 or 70 kilometers north of the mausoleum of Qin Shihuang. This history is also recorded in the literature. Although he also adopted the traditional beam style, he used stone instead of wood. It is precisely because of this situation that the tomb has not collapsed until now. On the other hand, we found a huge underground project around the mausoleum to protect it, which we call drainage project. Now the tomb is still in a very dry environment. Unlike outside the drainage area, the groundwater content is very high.
Moderator: Captain Duan, some people may ask, saying that you have solved some secrets under the underground palace that cannot be detected by various methods this time, and you are not in a hurry to dig. After you spread this message, have you helped the grave robbers now?
Qin Huang tombstone
Duan: This audience need not worry. Maybe by the end of next year, we will expropriate all the land within two kilometers of Fiona Fang, the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, and move out all the villages, schools and institutions. Now that the state implements management, the safety of cultural relics is guaranteed. It is absolutely impossible to rob a tomb on a small scale and individually.
Moderator: I want to ask Professor Wang, once the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor is really to be excavated one day, what do you want to see most?
Wang: I hope I can personally participate in the excavation. I don't know when I can really have a practical excavation plan.
Moderator: Do you think you can catch up in this life? I can catch up in my life. Can you see it?
Wang: Of course you can do it. You are too young, I may not be able to do it.
Duan: The possibility of exploration after the next 20 years is not particularly great. But there is no need to feel particularly sorry. Why? We have many sophisticated technologies that can completely solve this problem, because the tomb has not collapsed yet. We adopted other methods, sending some small robots in, scanning and taking pictures of the ancient tomb in all directions, and after transmitting information, we can fully understand some basic conditions of the underground palace.
Moderator: Thank you very much for accepting our interview. Thank you. There are indeed many puzzles buried in the mausoleum of Qin Shihuang. During our short program time, the guests mentioned several questions, such as whether there is a blood relationship between Qin Shihuang and Lv Buwei, and whether the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang was developed by the project. Are there countless treasures in it? Also, whether the craftsmen who built the imperial tomb were buried there. I'm afraid these puzzles will not be completely solved until one day they are really developed. Although we are full of curiosity, we should not worry too much, because experts have also said that the premise of developing it is to really and effectively protect the imperial tomb.
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