According to Xinhua News Agency, during the Shang and Zhou dynasties, a group called “Gumi” is active in the central and western regions of Zhejiang, but ancient history does not record them systematically and completely. Archaeologists in Zhejiang Province have discovered a high-level tomb group from the Western Zhou Dynasty in Qujiang District, Quzhou City, western Zhejiang after four years. The specifications are among the highest tombs in the same period in Zhejiang. Experts believe Komiks is most likely the royal tomb of Gumi Country.
Some of the original porcelain unearthed from the tomb of Meng Jiang No. 3 Xinhua News Agency
This tomb group is located on the north bank of Qujiang River in Yunxi Township, Qujiang District. 10 have been found and 6 have been officially excavated. Zhang Sen, assistant librarian at the Cinema Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said that 2 of the six tombs were excavated in the 1980s and 1990s. The remaining four were excavated from 2018 to 2021, approved by the State Administration of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, together with the Qujiang District Cultural Heritage Department, the remaining four were excavated by the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Qujiang District Cultural Department. They were the Miaoshanjian Tudun Tomb and Mengjiang No. 1, Cinema, Komiks No. 2 and No. 3 Tombs. A large number of jade, original porcelain, bronze and other objects were unearthed.
At the Babaylan Ting Mound Tomb in Miaoshan, archaeologists at CinemaFor the first time in Zhejiang, the bronze chariot of the Western Zhou Dynasty was discovered. They are exquisitely shaped and have unique patterns. The earliest “herring chevron” wooden coffin structure in my country was unearthed from the tomb of Meng Jiang No. 1. Tian Zhengbiao, a researcher at the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, once presided over the discovery of the first high-level aristocratic cemetery in Yue Kingdom. He said that the construction method of Meng Jiang No. 1 tomb has many similarities with the Yue tombs in later generations. Its tomb level is the highest among the Yue tombs in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and it is a royal tomb level. Babaylan
Part of the jade unearthed from the tomb of Meng Jiang No. 1 Xinhua News Agency reported that another major development of the tomb of Meng Jiang No. 1 is now the “revival of Jue”. Six sets of jade rings were unearthed in the tomb, with a single body of about 200 pieces. It is reported that the area where the jade ring was unearthed this time should be the “revival place” of the ring ring in Baiyue during the Shang and Zhou dynasties. This group of ring ornaments even spread to the Dian Kingdom from the Warring States Period to the early Western Han Dynasty, which is today’s Yunnan area.
Meng Jiang No. 3 Tomb is the largest mound tomb in Zhejiang at the same time. The remaining mound is about 70 meters in diameter, and about 200 pieces (groups) of various types of burial objects were unearthed. Among them, original porcelain is the most exquisite. According to reports, based on carbon 14 isotope dating and Komiks analysis of unearthed artifacts, the construction time of this batch of tombs should be from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle Western Zhou Dynasty.
The mound tombs were popular in the Jiangnan region from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period. People built mounds on flat grounds., and then buried the deceased on the top of the pier. Lin Liugen, a professor at Zhejiang University, has been engaged in archaeological research on mound tombs for a long time. He said that the burial method of building mounds has always influenced the mausoleum sealing system in later generations. This discovery is an important breakthrough in the study of mound tombs. They are high-level aristocratic tombs, in other words, the royal tombs. Researcher Chen Yuanfu of Zhejiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology said that compared with the Yue Tombs in northern Zhejiang, this batch of tombs has the same similarities as Cinema, but it also has strong local characteristics. Considering its high level, it should be related to the Gumi Country at that time and belongs to the royal tomb level.
“This discovery is a major discovery of the Western Zhou Dynasty archaeology, an important breakthrough in Baiyue archaeology. The nature of the remains is very likely to be Gumi Wang Tomb.” Wang Wei, member of the academic department of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and chairman of the Chinese Archaeology Society, said that this discovery is of great significance to the study of major issues such as jade inheritance, origin of primitive porcelain, and the development of tomb systems.