1,000-year-old tomb on the cliff
In 1986, during the construction of a water reservoir for a small town in Tongliao city, eastern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, employees on duty to examine underground antiquities unexpectedly dug a stone wall.
At first, they just thought this was a big reef and didn’t pay much attention to it, but when digging deep inside, the workers discovered the position of the stones were very regular, with clear carvings. Experienced archaeologists were sent, after checking, they confirmed that this is the location of the gate to the ancient tomb more than 1,000 years old, dating from the Lieu Dynasty.
According to Baike, this mausoleum is not simple but has a whole system of tombs with corridors, tomb chambers and chambers left and right inside, with a total length of 16.4m. Based on this elaborate design, archaeologists confirmed that this must be a royal tomb.
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The archaeological team at the scene were amazed to discover stairs built through the mountainside, which led down to a spacious tomb chamber. This place buried a large number of burial goods of gold and silver, lacquerware, pearls, onyx, crystal, amber and precious silk.
Unusual discovery
The most attractive artifact in the mausoleum is a blood-red painted cypress wood coffin, carved with a sophisticated phoenix pattern and very well preserved. The wooden base on which the coffin is placed is also colorfully painted.
However, due to being buried in wet alluvial soil for a long time, most of the color on the coffin base is no longer available.
The archaeological team had to join forces to open the lid of the extremely heavy cedar coffin and when the coffin lid was opened, two strange gold masked bodies gradually appeared. These two bodies were still relatively intact and wrapped in many layers of silk clothes.
To protect the dignity of the dead, experts do not immediately remove the golden mask. They decided to use the most advanced technology at the time to scan the body to determine more information about the owner of the tomb.
When the archaeological team was about to move the body back to the research room, a strange white liquid suddenly leaked from the opening inside the coffin and poured out more and more.
Having seen this, the experts hurriedly shouted and evacuated all those present in the catacombs.
Turns out, that white liquid was mercury. Mercury is often found in ancient Chinese tombs because the grave owner died from mercury poisoning or the buryer intentionally soaked the body in mercury for better preservation.
The large amount of mercury soaked in the coffin explains why these two thousand-year-old corpses did not rot. However, people unfortunately inhaling a large amount of mercury in the air can be poisoned, even convulsions, die on the spot, so the archaeological team must immediately evacuate this area.
Identity of the tomb owner
Not only found carved precious wooden coffins and many expensive burial accessories, inside the tomb, archaeologists also discovered the typical epitaph of royal burial mounds.
Through the epitaph and documents of Lieu Su, the official history of the Liao dynasty (the dynasty existed from 907-1125), archaeologists have determined that this is the tomb of Princess Lieu Tran Quoc. 1000 - 1018) of the Khitan dynasty, granddaughter of King Lieu Canh Tong (948 - 982).
The princess died when she was only 18 years old and was buried with her concubine and uncle (due to the custom of inbreeding in the royal family). The history does not specifically mention the reason for the death of the princess and her concubine, only stating that the death was due to illness.
Lieu Su also stated that Princess Tran Quoc was a person of many merits, loved by the emperor and the people, so she was given a monumental mausoleum.
When buried, both the princess and her concubine were wearing golden masks, clearly carved with the contours of the deceased’s face.
Accordingly, wearing a mask for the dead is a special custom of the Khitan people, this golden mask has the effect of keeping their face solemn even when the parts of the face have decomposed.
According to Sohu, the golden mask and burial items in the tomb of Princess Tran Quoc are the first intact artifacts recovered from the Lieu dynasty. The artifacts found have become historical treasures, helping to fill the knowledge gap of a once-forgotten powerful dynasty.
Source: SH
