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 湖北随县擂鼓墩一号大型古墓挖掘中

1978年2月的最后一个夜晚，武汉东湖之滨寂静悄然。从江陵天星观一号楚墓发掘现场归来的谭维四，正在室内伏案书写发掘调查报告，聚精会神。他是湖北省博物馆副馆长，曾任省文物考古队长20 多年。

开进擂鼓墩

“谭队长，你的长途电话，襄阳来的，快！”有人在室外催喊着。

电话是襄阳地区博物馆负责人王少泉去随县之前打来的。他在电话里告诉谭维四，随县擂鼓墩空军某部在扩建厂房时，挖出了褐色土和土层中的石板，下面应该是大型古墓，请求谭维四带人去确认。

谭维四吩咐王少泉立即带人去随县查明情况，尽快报告，并转告随县政府和驻军部队停止放炮，保护好现场，他随后就到。

王少泉3月5日带文物干部刘炳和两名钻探工人到了随县擂鼓墩，经过现场踏勘，确认古墓无疑。他连夜给谭维四写了信，次日赶回襄阳地区博物馆汇报。3月10日，刚下火车的王少泉赶到湖北省博物馆向谭维四作了详细汇报，认为这应该是一座大型的古墓。

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.

“人生总是能碰上许多难以想象的奇巧事，”谭维四心里想着，“随州的古墓和江陵的古墓在时间和原因上相同，是不是也会有大的收获呢？”

谭维四十分兴奋，他拉着王少泉的手连连叫好。他说：“这是一场重大战役，我们一定要打好这一仗。”

谭维四当即与省博物馆的领导商量决定，他带领队伍去随县解开古墓之谜。

1978年3月19日上午，谭维四带着湖北省考古技术人员王正明、陈锡岭到达随县，与襄阳地区博物馆王少泉及钻探技工李祖才、曾宪敏、襄阳市文化馆刘炳、随县文化馆王世振会合，组成了省、地、县联合勘探小组，开进擂鼓墩，驻军官兵和地方干部群众兴奋异常。

驻军领导郑国贤、王家贵等几位认为地底下有古墓的人，这下心里有底了，这回来的是真正的专家。他们盼望着地底下能出一个像越王勾践剑和江陵古尸那样的奇迹。

春天对于谭维四来说，是吉祥的季节。

三年前，也是阳春三月，谭维四带队到江陵凤凰山勘察出一百八十余座古墓群，并成功发掘出那具男尸。三年后，又是同一支部队，平整土地时发现地底下有古墓。

“人生总是能碰上许多难以想象的奇巧事，”谭维四心里想着，“随州的古墓和江陵的古墓在时间和原因上相同，是不是也会有大的收获呢？”

考古队在军营里住下来，部队给他们架起了行军床，食堂负责他们伙食，施工现场也挂起了工作灯。

冒雨探墓况

尽管天下起了蒙蒙细雨，但只要看见古墓，谭维四的劲头就来了，他带领大家连夜冒雨奋战。面对成片的大石板，几位钻探工心里早已急切想了解它们下面的秘密，你挥锹，他打铲，呼啦啦地干开了。谁知随后，细雨转为大雨，淋得这群人浑身湿透，风吹在身上冷飕飕的，谭维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湖北随县擂鼓墩一号大型古墓中出土的铜尊一角

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，风雨未停，谭维四带人穿上雨衣继续勘探。一上午时间，他们清出了墓边，弄清了基坑准确形状与棺室深度。

此墓形状特殊，和常见的长方形、正方形、亚字形、刀把型都不一样，未见墓道，坑口呈不规则多边形，东西最长处21 米，南北最宽处16.5 米，总面积220平方米。规模之大，形状之特殊，在湖北乃至全国罕见。谭维四也是第一次见到。

地面离墓顶的深度也探清楚了，最深处只剩2.5 米，最浅处还不到1 米，有些深的炮眼底部距墓顶只有六七十厘米。

真险呐！那一组炮要是点开了，轰隆隆的炮声会炸翻多少宝贝？毁掉多少文物？

“多亏了解放军，解放军立了大功！”多年之后谭维四还这样说。

在擂鼓墩古墓发掘结束的第二年，保护古墓的大功臣——雷达修理所所长郑国贤因心脏病早逝，谭维四为郑国贤的逝去深感惋惜。

考古队用洛阳铲从木棺盖上取下一些表层木屑，以其木纹判断出木棺盖板的放置方向，探明棺盖板与墓坑分室基本一致，分三块按纵向或横向铺置。考古队将这些数据绘成平面图。

第三天，天晴了，大家的心情也放晴了。谭维四发现，在古墓北室与南室相交偏西处有一个盗洞，直径约一米，此墓曾经受到盗扰无疑，幸好盗贼未再深入。谭维四按照考古规程，将擂鼓墩古墓编为随县擂鼓墩一号墓，简称“随擂M1”。

当天夜里，谭维四写成《湖北随县擂鼓墩一号大型古墓的发现与勘探简报》：“从墓葬的构筑方式（竖坑，木棺，积炭，填白膏泥，夯筑五花土等）与江陵、云梦、光化、宜昌等地战国、秦汉墓葬基本相同，填土中没有发现晚于西汉的遗物，加上附近已发现战国时代青铜器。初步判断此墓为战国或西汉，也可能早到春秋晚期。

“规模如此之大的这一类型的春秋、战国、西汉木棺墓，在我国是第一次发现。就木棺面积而言，它比长沙马王堆一号汉墓约大6 倍，比出土西汉古尸的江陵凤凰山一六八号墓约大14 倍，比河南信阳长台关一号楚墓约大3 倍，比出土越王勾践剑的江陵望山一号楚墓约大8 倍，且形制比较特殊。仅就这些，在考古学研究上就是十分重要的。”

就古墓如何处置，谭维四在简报里明确建议，及早发掘。

简报送往武汉。大家在擂鼓墩驻地等待着上级指示。

古墓第一号

我们再说说擂鼓墩古墓第一号这个名称的事。

按照田野考古编号取名的法则，原已有的名称或史籍有记载的，依本名编序号；原本无名称又无史籍可考者，先冠以所在地名，再依发现或发掘先后编号。

擂鼓墩古墓史籍未载，只能以地名来冠名。部队是军事单位，不好用其番号冠名。墓地行政隶属随县城郊公社团结大队，地图无记载。擂鼓墩有楚庄王为平息斗越椒叛乱而擂鼓助战的传说，当地老百姓尽人皆知，历代县志对擂鼓墩均有记载，当地地图上也有其名。谭维四遂决定以擂鼓墩命名古墓，编号为一，即擂鼓墩古墓第一号。

这个第一号名副其实，它不仅规模大，在中国第一次发现，更重要的是，从墓中发掘出的以编钟为代表的国宝级文物和万余件其他文物，对研究我国古代音乐、军事、天文学、冶炼、青铜工艺等方面提供了难得的信息与实物样本，堪称战国时期百科全书。

1981年擂鼓墩又发现二号古墓。后来考古人员在这里查明，擂鼓墩古墓群有二百余座，已发掘大、中、小墓葬三十余座，共出土文物一万九千余件，其中国宝级文物九件，国家一级文物一百六十八件（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谭维四（左四）在考古现场

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.

谭维四，生于1930年4月13日，中国著名考古学家，出身湖南省望城县书香世家。其名“维四”典出“礼义廉耻，国之四维，四维不张，国乃灭亡”。

1949年，谭维四由湖南北上湖北，加入刚成立的湖北省文联文工团。不久，他被送往革命大学学习，还参加了土改。1952年，他被挑选进入刚刚成立的湖北省人民政府文物管理委员会，从此，干上了文物考古工作，直到从湖北省博物馆馆长任上离休。除了曾侯乙墓，他还主持发掘出越王勾践剑与江陵凤凰山男尸。