No.1 Ancient Tomb of Drumbeating Mound

Edited by He Sai ＆ Bai Ning

Photos by Zhang Qijun

On the last evening of February,1978,pure tranquility prevailed along the bank of East Lake in Wuhan City.Tan Weisi,who had just returned from the evacuation site of the No.1 Tianxing Taoist Abbey Tomb of the Chu State at Jiangling (a famous historical city in Hubei Province,which was renamed Jingzhou in 1995),was busy drafting his report on the result of the evacuation event,totally immersed in his work.He was then the deputy curator of Hubei Provincial Museum and had been heading the archaeological team for over twenty years.

“In life,you always encounter lots of unimaginable coincidences,” Tan Weisi said.“The tomb at Suizhou and those at Jiangling shared a similarity in time and cause,and can it again be another big harvest?”

A long distance call

“Mr.Tan,there is a long distance call for you from Xiangyang.Hurry up!” someone was shouting from outside.

The call came from Wang Shaoquan,a person in charge in Xiangyang Prefectural Museum,before his departure to Suixian County.He informed Tan Weisi in his call that brown earth was discovered and some rock slates were found in the earth layers when the army at the Drumbeating Mound was trying to expand their workshop,and below them he believed there was a large-scaled ancient tomb.He asked Tan Weisi to go with his team and make further confirmation.

Tan Weisi asked Wang Shaoquan to immediately take someone to Suixian County to find out the truth and report back as soon as possible,and at the same time passed the word to the Suixian County Government and the army to stop any explosions and to protect the site,and he would be there soon afterward.

On March 5,Wang Shaoquan reached the Drum-beating Mound of Suixian County together with cultural official Liu Bin and two drillers,and the ancient tomb was unquestionably confirmed after on-site prospecting.He wrote a letter that night and rushed back to Xiangyang Prefectural Museum the following day to report.On March 10 of the same month,Wang Shaoquan,who just got off the train,hurried to the Hubei Provincial Museum and made a detailed report to Tan Weisi,ascertaining that it was very likely to be a large-scale ancient tomb.

Tan Weisi was overjoyed.Taking Wang Shaoquan by the hands,he kept saying “Wonderful,wonderful.” He exclaimed,“This will be a major battle,and we will have to do a good job there.”

After an immediate discussion with the leaders of the provincial museum,a decision was made that Tan Weisi would go to Suixian County with his team in order to uncover the ancient tomb.

On the morning of March 19,1978,Tan Weisi arrived in Suixian County with Wang Zhengming and Chen Xiling,archaeological technicians from Hubei Province and converged with Wang Shaoquan from Xiangyang Prefectural Museum,drilling technicians Li Zucai and Zeng Xianmin,Liu Bin from Xiangyang Prefectural Cultural Center and Wang Shizhen from Suixian County Cultural Center.They formed a joint exploration team and marched into the Drum-beating Mound area together.The news got the soldiers of the encampment and local people greatly exhilarated.

No.1 Ancient Tomb of Drum-beating Mound being excavated 湖北隨縣擂鼓墩一號大型古墓挖掘中

1978年2月的最后一個夜晚，武漢東湖之濱寂靜悄然。從江陵天星觀一號楚墓發掘現場歸來的譚維四，正在室內伏案書寫發掘調查報告，聚精會神。他是湖北省博物館副館長，曾任省文物考古隊長20 多年。

開進擂鼓墩

“譚隊長，你的長途電話，襄陽來的，快！”有人在室外催喊著。

電話是襄陽地區博物館負責人王少泉去隨縣之前打來的。他在電話里告訴譚維四，隨縣擂鼓墩空軍某部在擴建廠房時，挖出了褐色土和土層中的石板，下面應該是大型古墓，請求譚維四帶人去確認。

譚維四吩咐王少泉立即帶人去隨縣查明情況，盡快報告，并轉告隨縣政府和駐軍部隊停止放炮，保護好現場，他隨后就到。

王少泉3月5日帶文物干部劉炳和兩名鉆探工人到了隨縣擂鼓墩，經過現場踏勘，確認古墓無疑。他連夜給譚維四寫了信，次日趕回襄陽地區博物館匯報。3月10日，剛下火車的王少泉趕到湖北省博物館向譚維四作了詳細匯報，認為這應該是一座大型的古墓。

What a narrow escape! If those explosives had been lit,God knows how many treasures would have been blown up and how many cultural relics wouldhave been ruined with the roaring blast!

Those who believed there was an ancient tomb underground like Zheng Guoxian and Wang Jiagui felt more certain in their mind that this time the new comers were the real experts.They were expecting that from underground would come out another wonder like the Sword of Goujian,the King of the State of Yue,and the ancient corpse discovered in Jiangling.

Spring was,to Tan Weisi,a fortunate season.Three years before,also in the springtime in March,Tan Weisi,together with his teammates,came to Fenghuang Mountain and discovered over 180 ancient tombs and successfully unearthed an ancient male corpse.Three years later the same team discovered the underground ancient tombs when leveling the ground.

“In life,you always encounter lots of unimaginable coincidences,” Tan Weisi said.“The tomb at Suizhou and those at Jiangling shared a similarity in time and cause,and can it again be another big harvest?”

The archaeological team settled down in the barracks.The soldiers set up the camp beds for them,the canteen was responsible for their meals,and lights were hung on the work site.

Secrets unveiled

At the sight of the ancient tomb,Tan Weisi was inspired with enthusiasm.He went into work the night they arrived,braving the light rain.Facing the huge slates one over another,simply unable to wait to explore the secrets under them,the drillers started working with their spades and shovels.The rain later got heavy,saturating their clothes,and the wind chilled into their bodies.Tan Weisi had to call for a halt.

The rain kept pouring down the following day,Tan Weisi and his colleagues put on raincoats and continued their work.For the whole morning they cleared out the four sides of the tomb,and found out the exact shape of the foundation ditch of the tomb and the location of the coffin.

This tomb was of a peculiar shape,different from other ordinary rectangular,square,or H-shape or L-shaped tombs.No tomb passage was found and the pit opening showed an irregular polygon,the length from the east side to the west side measuring 21 meters,and 16.5 meters south to north,covering a total space of 220 square meters.Its large scale and peculiar shape were rarely seen,and was also a first for Tan Weisi.

“人生總是能碰上許多難以想象的奇巧事，”譚維四心里想著，“隨州的古墓和江陵的古墓在時間和原因上相同，是不是也會有大的收獲呢？”

譚維四十分興奮，他拉著王少泉的手連連叫好。他說：“這是一場重大戰役，我們一定要打好這一仗。”

譚維四當即與省博物館的領導商量決定，他帶領隊伍去隨縣解開古墓之謎。

1978年3月19日上午，譚維四帶著湖北省考古技術人員王正明、陳錫嶺到達隨縣，與襄陽地區博物館王少泉及鉆探技工李祖才、曾憲敏、襄陽市文化館劉炳、隨縣文化館王世振會合，組成了省、地、縣聯合勘探小組，開進擂鼓墩，駐軍官兵和地方干部群眾興奮異常。

駐軍領導鄭國賢、王家貴等幾位認為地底下有古墓的人，這下心里有底了，這回來的是真正的專家。他們盼望著地底下能出一個像越王勾踐劍和江陵古尸那樣的奇跡。

春天對于譚維四來說，是吉祥的季節。

三年前，也是陽春三月，譚維四帶隊到江陵鳳凰山勘察出一百八十余座古墓群，并成功發掘出那具男尸。三年后，又是同一支部隊，平整土地時發現地底下有古墓。

“人生總是能碰上許多難以想象的奇巧事，”譚維四心里想著，“隨州的古墓和江陵的古墓在時間和原因上相同，是不是也會有大的收獲呢？”

考古隊在軍營里住下來，部隊給他們架起了行軍床，食堂負責他們伙食，施工現場也掛起了工作燈。

冒雨探墓況

盡管天下起了蒙蒙細雨，但只要看見古墓，譚維四的勁頭就來了，他帶領大家連夜冒雨奮戰。面對成片的大石板，幾位鉆探工心里早已急切想了解它們下面的秘密，你揮鍬，他打鏟，呼啦啦地干開了。誰知隨后，細雨轉為大雨，淋得這群人渾身濕透，風吹在身上冷颼颼的，譚維四只得通知停工休息。

Part of a bronze zun (a drinking vessel) found in No.1 Ancient Tomb of Drum-beating Mound湖北隨縣擂鼓墩一號大型古墓中出土的銅尊一角

The distance from the ground to the tomb cover was also figured out—the deepest being 2.5 meters and the shallowest less than 1 meter,and some of the deeper blasting holes were just 60-70 centimeters away from the cover.

What a narrow escape! If those explosives had been lit,God knows how many treasures would have been blown up and how many cultural relics would have been ruined with the roaring blast!

“All credit goes to the PLA soldiers! They have made a great contribution!” Even many years later Tan Weisi still exclaimed.Zheng Guoxian,director of the Radar Repair Institute,who made the greatest contributions in protecting the ancient tomb,died of a heart attack in the year following the completion of the excavation of the tombs at the Drum-beating Mound.Tan Weisi felt a profound sorrow for his departure.

The archaeological team,with their Luoyang Spades,picked up from the surface of the wooden coffin cover some bits of wood,from the grain of which they decided the placement direction of the coffin cover and ascertained that the coffin cover basically coincided with the division of the grave pits.It was laid out in three pieces in longitudinal or horizontal directions respectively.The archaeological team plotted this data into a plan.

On the third day,the sky cleared up,and so did the hearts of the team members.Tan Weisi noticed that there was a burglary hole to the western intersect of the north chamber and the south chamber,about one meter in diameter.Doubtlessly this tomb had once been robbed,yet fortunately the robbers failed to go further into the pit.In accordance with the procedures in archaeological practice,Tan Weisi numbered the tomb as “Sui Lei M1”—namely,No.1 Tomb of Drum-beating Mound in Suixian County.

次日，風雨未停，譚維四帶人穿上雨衣繼續勘探。一上午時間，他們清出了墓邊，弄清了基坑準確形狀與棺室深度。

此墓形狀特殊，和常見的長方形、正方形、亞字形、刀把型都不一樣，未見墓道，坑口呈不規則多邊形，東西最長處21 米，南北最寬處16.5 米，總面積220平方米。規模之大，形狀之特殊，在湖北乃至全國罕見。譚維四也是第一次見到。

地面離墓頂的深度也探清楚了，最深處只剩2.5 米，最淺處還不到1 米，有些深的炮眼底部距墓頂只有六七十厘米。

真險吶！那一組炮要是點開了，轟隆隆的炮聲會炸翻多少寶貝？毀掉多少文物？

“多虧了解放軍，解放軍立了大功！”多年之后譚維四還這樣說。

在擂鼓墩古墓發掘結束的第二年，保護古墓的大功臣——雷達修理所所長鄭國賢因心臟病早逝，譚維四為鄭國賢的逝去深感惋惜。

考古隊用洛陽鏟從木棺蓋上取下一些表層木屑，以其木紋判斷出木棺蓋板的放置方向，探明棺蓋板與墓坑分室基本一致，分三塊按縱向或橫向鋪置。考古隊將這些數據繪成平面圖。

第三天，天晴了，大家的心情也放晴了。譚維四發現，在古墓北室與南室相交偏西處有一個盜洞，直徑約一米，此墓曾經受到盜擾無疑，幸好盜賊未再深入。譚維四按照考古規程，將擂鼓墩古墓編為隨縣擂鼓墩一號墓，簡稱“隨擂M1”。

當天夜里，譚維四寫成《湖北隨縣擂鼓墩一號大型古墓的發現與勘探簡報》：“從墓葬的構筑方式（豎坑，木棺，積炭，填白膏泥，夯筑五花土等）與江陵、云夢、光化、宜昌等地戰國、秦漢墓葬基本相同，填土中沒有發現晚于西漢的遺物，加上附近已發現戰國時代青銅器。初步判斷此墓為戰國或西漢，也可能早到春秋晚期。

“規模如此之大的這一類型的春秋、戰國、西漢木棺墓，在我國是第一次發現。就木棺面積而言，它比長沙馬王堆一號漢墓約大6 倍，比出土西漢古尸的江陵鳳凰山一六八號墓約大14 倍，比河南信陽長臺關一號楚墓約大3 倍，比出土越王勾踐劍的江陵望山一號楚墓約大8 倍，且形制比較特殊。僅就這些，在考古學研究上就是十分重要的。”

就古墓如何處置，譚維四在簡報里明確建議，及早發掘。

簡報送往武漢。大家在擂鼓墩駐地等待著上級指示。

古墓第一號

我們再說說擂鼓墩古墓第一號這個名稱的事。

按照田野考古編號取名的法則，原已有的名稱或史籍有記載的，依本名編序號；原本無名稱又無史籍可考者，先冠以所在地名，再依發現或發掘先后編號。

擂鼓墩古墓史籍未載，只能以地名來冠名。部隊是軍事單位，不好用其番號冠名。墓地行政隸屬隨縣城郊公社團結大隊，地圖無記載。擂鼓墩有楚莊王為平息斗越椒叛亂而擂鼓助戰的傳說，當地老百姓盡人皆知，歷代縣志對擂鼓墩均有記載，當地地圖上也有其名。譚維四遂決定以擂鼓墩命名古墓，編號為一，即擂鼓墩古墓第一號。

這個第一號名副其實，它不僅規模大，在中國第一次發現，更重要的是，從墓中發掘出的以編鐘為代表的國寶級文物和萬余件其他文物，對研究我國古代音樂、軍事、天文學、冶煉、青銅工藝等方面提供了難得的信息與實物樣本，堪稱戰國時期百科全書。

1981年擂鼓墩又發現二號古墓。后來考古人員在這里查明，擂鼓墩古墓群有二百余座，已發掘大、中、小墓葬三十余座，共出土文物一萬九千余件，其中國寶級文物九件，國家一級文物一百六十八件（套）。

That same night,Tan Weisi completed hisA Briefing on the Discovery and Prospecting of the Large-scale No.1 Ancient Tomb at Drum-beating Mound in Suixian County,Hubei Province:“The construction methods of the tomb (vertical pits,wooden coffins,charcoal deposits,the filling of white paste mud,rammed construction of fivecolored soil,etc.),was basically the same as those of the period of Warring States and Qin or Han dynasties excavated in Jiangling,Yunmeng and Yichang of Hubei Province,Guanghua (now part of Laohekou City) of Hebei Province,and other similar historical regions.No relics later than those of the Western Han Dynasty were found in the fill,along with the bronzes of the Warring States period that had been found nearby.A preliminary judgement dated this tomb to the Warring States or Western Han Dynasty,but could have also been earlier in the late Spring and Autumn period.

“Such a type of large-scale wooden coffin tomb from the Spring and Autumn,Warring States,or Western Han Dynasty was found for the first time.As far as the size of the coffin was concerned,the area of wooden coffin is about 6 times larger than the No.1 Han Tomb at Mawangdui in Changsha; about 14 times larger than the No.168 Tomb of Fenghuang Mountain in Jiangling,where the ancient corpses of the Western Han Dynasty were unearthed; about 3 times larger than the No.1 Tomb in Changtaiguan Chu Mausoleum excavated in Xinyang of Henan Province,and about 8 times larger than the Tomb of the No.1 Chu Mausoleum at Wangshan in Jiangling,where the Sword of Goujian,King of Yue,was unearthed.Besides,the shape of this tomb was relatively special.These alone proved very important in archaeological research.”

As to the disposal of the ancient tomb,Tan Weisi unequivocally proposed in his briefing an early excavation.

After the briefing was submitted to Wuhan,everybody waited at the Drum-beating Mound encampment,eager for instruction from the superiors.

The naming

Now let’s return to the nomenclature of the No.1 Ancient Tomb of Drum-beating Mound.

Pursuant to the principle of numbering and naming of ancient tombs in field archaeology,those tombs already existing with a name or those having registered in historical records should be named by their original names and serial numbers; otherwise,they should be named by their excavation sites,and then numbered according to the sequence of their discovery or excavation.

As the ancient tomb at Drumbeating Mound was not recorded in history,it was to be named by the locality of its discovery.The army was a military unit,unfit for naming the tomb with the number of troops.The locality of the tomb was under the administration of Tuanjie Production Brigade of Suixian County suburban commune,which was not marked in maps.Yet,the legend that King Zhuang of the State of Chu once beat the drum at the Drum-beating Mound to encourage his army in order to subdue the rebellion led by Dou Yuejiao was well known to all the local people and it was recorded in all previous county annals.Moreover,the name of the place could be found in the local maps.Hence,Tan Weisi decided to name the tomb “Drum-beating Mound” and numbered it the first one,namely,No.1 Ancient Tomb of Drum-beating Mound.

This Number One does live up to its name: it is not only large in scale,but was also the first of its kind found in China.What is more important were the unearthed National-level treasures including chimebells and more than 10,000 other cultural relics,which have provided invaluable information and physical samples for China’s research on her ancient music,military affairs,astronomy,metallurgy,and bronze technology.This site can be regarded as an encyclopedia of the Warring States Period.

Tan Weisi (fourth from the left) at the site of excavation譚維四（左四）在考古現場

In 1981,the No.2 Ancient Tomb was discovered at the Drum-beating Mound area.Subsequently,archaeologists discovered that at this site existed more than 200 ancient tombs,among which over 30 tombs of large,medium,and small size were excavated,and around 19,000 cultural relics were unearthed,including 9 national-level treasured relics and 168 pieces/sets of firstclass national cultural relics.(Translation: Luo Dongyuan)Tan Weisi,a prominent Chinese archeologist,was born on April 13,1930,in a family of scholars in Wangcheng County,Hunan Province.His name Weisi,meaning the “the four moral standards that band a state,i.e.courtesy,righteousness,integrity,and a sense of shame,comes from Ouyang Xiu,a famous scholar of the Northern Song Dynasty in ancient Chinese history.Ouyang concluded that “The four moral standards,namely courtesy,righteousness,integrity,and sense of shame are the four spiritual pillars of a state.Without proper establishment of the four pillars,the state is doomed to collapse.”

In 1949,Tan Weisi went up north from Hunan to Hubei and joined the cultural troupe of the newly established Hubei Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles,which had just been founded.Soon he was sent to study at the Revolution University and later he participated in the land reform.In 1952,he was selected into the newly established Administration Committee of Cultural Relics subordinate to the Hubei People’s Government and started his career in archaeological work,which lasted until his retirement as the curator of Hubei Provincial Museum.Apart from the Tomb of Marquis Yi of the Zeng State,he also presided over the excavation of the Sword of Gou Jian,the King of the State of Yue,and the male body of the Western Han Dynasty at Fenghuang Mountain in Jiangling.

譚維四，生于1930年4月13日，中國著名考古學家，出身湖南省望城縣書香世家。其名“維四”典出“禮義廉恥，國之四維，四維不張，國乃滅亡”。

1949年，譚維四由湖南北上湖北，加入剛成立的湖北省文聯文工團。不久，他被送往革命大學學習，還參加了土改。1952年，他被挑選進入剛剛成立的湖北省人民政府文物管理委員會，從此，干上了文物考古工作，直到從湖北省博物館館長任上離休。除了曾侯乙墓，他還主持發掘出越王勾踐劍與江陵鳳凰山男尸。