A sarcophagus is a stone coffin, often decorated with carvings. It is a stone coffin or corpse container.

Stone coffin. "Historical Records: Qin Benji": "It is Shi Lian for the north of the stone, also, there is nothing to report, for the altar Huo Taishan and report, get the sarcophagus, the inscription said: 'The emperor ordered the virgin, not to be chaotic with Yin, and gave the sarcophagus to Fahrenheit.'" 'Died, and was buried in Huo Taishan. ”

Vertical eyes man with sarcophagus burial

Chang Xuan's "Huayang National Chronicles: Shu Chronicles" has a record of Zongmu people and sarcophagus burials: "There are Shu Marquis silkworm Cong, whose eyes are longitudinal, and they are called kings. Death, as a sarcophagus coffin, the people of the country from it, so the custom to the sarcophagus coffin for the longitudinal mound also. "This is a very legendary and very interesting piece of historical information. It reveals a lot of valuable historical information, but some of the claims are also confusing, leading to different interpretations by later researchers.

Regarding silkworm cong, according to the literature records, we know that it was the earliest founder and ruler of the ancient Shu Kingdom. Yangxiong's "Shu King Benji" has the saying that "silkworm cong began to live in the stone chamber of Minshan Mountain" (according to the "Ancient Wenyuan Shu Du Fu" chapter Qiao note), most of the silkworm cong deeds linked to later legends are in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River, it can be known that the silkworm cong may have inhabited the Minjiang River valley area at first, mainly animal husbandry and hunting and breeding tribes, and later gradually moved from the Minjiang River valley to the Chengdu Plain. Some scholars believe that in ancient times, Ba and Shu were two tribes that used snakes and silkworms as totems. The Shushan clan that married the Yellow Emperor in the "Historical Records: Five Emperors Benji" is actually the ancient Shu ancestor king Silkworm Cong clan described by Yangxiong and Chang Xuan. For example, Mr. Ren Naiqiang believes in "A New Exploration of the Ancient History of Sichuan" and "Examination of Silkworm Cong" that Shushan is the earliest "pick-up of wild silkworm cocoons and brocade makers", and it is precisely because of the invention and domestication of mulberry silkworms that Shushan is also known as silkworm Cong.

Since the silkworm Cong clan is the clan name, why is it called the Zongmu people? One explanation is that it may be related to the clan and is a relatively unique physiognomic characteristic. Some scholars believe that the legend of the Qiang people has a Geji people, who are short in stature, have tails, and their eyes are vertical and cannot be level, and they must bury their heads when they are level, which is consistent with the theory that silkworms are longitudinal. Mr. Ren Naiqiang believes that the Silkworm Cong clan is the Di people, Di and Qiang are the same origin, are the oldest ethnic groups, Qiang mainly live in the Kang, Qinghai, Tibetan steppe and other areas, Di lives in the Xikang Plateau and the Sichuan Basin and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau between the river valley. According to the modern ethnographers who have examined the physique of the Di people, the corners of the eyes are mostly slanted upward, which can be seen as the test of the old "long-eyed people".

There is also an explanation that Zongmu may be an exaggeration of divinity, which is a kind of worship deliberately done by the ancient Shu people. According to Wang Yi's commentary, this is "saying that there is a god in the West, and the shape of a pig's head is long-eyed." Judging from the archaeological discoveries, the bronze longitudinal human face unearthed in Sanxingdui has the characteristics of similar to the "pig head longitudinal eye", which shows a kind of "human-animal body" imagination in the form of artistic expression, and the cultural connotation should express the worship of the ancient Shu kings, and this worship is often associated with the exaggeration and strengthening of divinity. Later local chronicles still have this kind of description of longitudinal worship, such as the Republic of China's "Qionglai County Chronicles" volume 2 said: "There are many blue-faced gods in the ancient temples of Shuzhong, the face is like silkworms, golden, and there are longitudinal eyes on the head and forehead, and immediately along the image of the silkworm bush." "This kind of admiration of the ancient Shu people has a long history.

It should be a popular burial custom among the ancient Southwest Yi people, and Chang Xuan made a true record of it. Archaeological discoveries have revealed a lot about this, sarcophagus burials are mainly distributed in the Tibetan-Yiqiang corridor and the southwest region, but their influence is relatively wide, and they are also found in the northwest, north China, northeast and other places. It spans a long period of time, from the Neolithic Age to the Qin and Han dynasties and even later. In the 30s of the 20th century, archaeologists such as Feng Hanji and Zheng Dekun investigated sarcophagus burials in the upper reaches of the Min River and the Anning River Valley. With the increase of archaeological discoveries and the deepening of research, the academic community has a clearer and clearer understanding of sarcophagus burial styles, ethnic groups, distribution ranges and cultural connotations. Today, Chang Xuan's record can be corroborated with archaeology, so it is still a very precious historical material.

The Manidang sarcophagus burial is located on the steep ridge on the north side of the highway about 1 km east of West Village, Qulin Township, San'an, Longzi County. The location of the sarcophagus burial is a high terrace of the northern rock of the Gaboqu rock, and the elevation difference between the site and the current riverbed is about 40 meters and 3,500 meters above sea level due to the construction of a road that exposes the sarcophagus to the steep ridge. Due to long-term exposure, the sarcophagus has been damaged to varying degrees, and only the sarcophagus frame plate remains. The sarcophagus burials are arranged in a line from east to west and have the same direction, with a total of 5 tombs. Due to the serious damage of the sarcophagus, there are no human bones and artifacts in the coffin, and the shape of the sarcophagus is small, so it is speculated to be a second burial, and the age is equivalent to the sarcophagus burial in Nyalam and other places.

The Nyala wood sarcophagus burial is located on a slope cliff about 300 meters east of the location of Douyu Township, Longzi County, with an altitude of 3,030 meters. The sarcophagus is exposed on a cliff about 0.6 meters deep from the current surface, and the four walls are made of single stone slabs. The burial chamber is 1.16 meters long, 0.7 meters wide and 0.4 meters high. There are more than ten layers of cover plates on the top of the sarcophagus. There are no stone slabs at the bottom of the tomb, and it is a flat gravel soil. The central axis of the sarcophagus plane is roughly perpendicular to the cross-section. A total of 3 pieces of pottery and 1 piece of polished stone tools were unearthed from the Nyalam sarcophagus. The pottery has double-necked clay pots, short-necked clay pots, and long-necked clay pots, all of which are sand-filled pottery, handmade and trimmed by slow wheels, and the neck and body are bonded, and there is no pattern on the plain surface. It is speculated that this sarcophagus burial is a Neolithic remnant.

In May 2010, during a cultural site expedition, a breakthrough discovery was made in Xilin County: a sarcophagus tomb was excavated in the local town of Bada. According to reports, this type of burial sarcophagus tomb is the first time to be found in Guangxi.

The sarcophagus tomb found in Xilin County is located in Tuhuang Village, Bada Town, Bada Town, from Letun Bamponpo, where there is a ruins of a sacrificial pit in Guju Town. In late April 2010, in order to investigate the ruins of the sacrificial pit in Jumachi, the prefecture specially organized a group of cultural experts to conduct a field investigation here. While working on the site of the sacrificial pit, experts accidentally discovered this sarcophagus tomb.

The sarcophagus tomb is 1.99 meters long, 48.2 centimeters wide at the head, 34.4 centimeters wide at the feet, and 39.8 centimeters deep. The coffin is rectangular, and the coffin wall is all made of shale schist, and the shape is simple and peculiar. No bones or burial objects were found in the coffin, so it is difficult to determine its age. However, the stone of the sarcophagus is the same as the stone of the sacrificial stone shovel widely excavated in the Youjiang River Basin, and it is shale that is easy to break. Since no shale has been found in the vicinity of the site, experts estimate that the stone was brought from afar.

Nie Rong sarcophagus burial is located in the six villages of Liemai Township, Longzi County, a total of 10 sarcophagus burials were found, the altitude is 3560 meters, the sarcophagus burial is located 1.8 meters below the surface, the sarcophagus is the burial chamber is generally 1.2 meters long, 0.7 meters wide, 0.6 meters high. The top of the tomb is covered with a layer of stone slabs, the thickness of the stone slabs varies from 4 to 8 centimeters, and after rough processing and trimming, it is relatively regular. In the tomb, a strip-shaped stone axe was unearthed, and the stone axe was made of coarse jade, dark green, and there were cloud-like stone patterns. The stone axe is 32 cm long, 5.3 cm wide and 0.6 cm thick, polished throughout, with a perforation at one end and a hole diameter of 0.8 cm drilled on one side, and the upper end is not broken. According to the shape and structure of Nie Rong's sarcophagus burial and the unearthed stone tools and pottery shards, it is speculated that its age may belong to the Neolithic Age.

The sarcophagus burial in Wujin Guru Village is located on the west bank of a gully about 0.5 kilometers northeast of Wujin Guru Temple in Xialuo Village, Qusong Town, Qusong County, which connects the foothill alluvial fan at its southern end at an altitude of 3,950 meters. The sarcophagus is exposed on the cliff on the west bank of the gully, about 1 meter deep from the current surface, and its direction is east-west. The sarcophagus is made of slightly trimmed stone slabs, with a single stone slab on both sides and at both ends, and a cover plate of two stone slabs without a bottom plate. At the time of discovery, one side of the sarcophagus and one end of the sarcophagus were gone. The sarcophagus is 0.65 meters long, 0.43 meters wide, 0.5 meters high, the slate is 0.05 meters thick, and the bottom of the coffin is cushioned with a layer of gray-white silty sand soil with a thickness of 0.1 meters.

According to the characteristics of pottery shards, the shape of the sarcophagus, the burial style, etc., the age of the ancient sarcophagus burial in Ugin should be the Neolithic Age.

The ancient sarcophagus burial mounds are located north of Kasa Lake in Luhuo County. In 1984, the sarcophagus tombs excavated during the construction of the Kasa Lake Power Station unearthed a total of 275 sarcophagus tombs and more than 1,000 cultural relics. This tomb group is a public cemetery of the grassland nomads during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, about 3,000 years ago in the primitive clan social stage. A large number of bronze tools, stone tools, bone tools, jade, agate and other ornaments and wool and linen products have been unearthed. It reflects the history of human reproduction on the shore of Kasa Lake for more than 2,000 years, and is by far the largest group of ancient sarcophagus tombs in the country.

The Kujiuta sarcophagus burial is located on the cliff of the river high terrace about 1 km east of the government station of Douyu Township, Longzi County, and the sarcophagus is distributed 3-4 meters below the cliff top, a total of 5, arranged in a line, and the direction is the same. The construction method of sarcophagus burial is to level the surface first, and then dig down the vertical pit soil pit about 3-4 meters deep, the bottom of the pit is rectangular, slightly rammed, and then close to the four walls of the pit embedded four whole stone slabs to form the four walls of the sarcophagus, after placing the bones, and then use the thin stone slabs that are not very regular to cover the bricks, the thickness varies from several layers to more than ten layers, and finally the fill is level with the surface, and the surface has no ground signs such as sealing soil. The Kudyuta coffin is a remnant of an ancient burial custom in the area, presumed to be from the Stone Age.

Archaeologists found 182 Neolithic house foundations at the Maiping site. Some of the people of Maiping live in houses with round, rectangular or nearly square plans, and are made of wood and weeds, and some live in wood-boned mud-walled houses with excavated foundation grooves, wooden walls and skeletons, and mud pasted on them, some live in houses made of mud, and poor families live in simple shacks. Their houses are mostly square or rectangular, and the earthen stoves for cooking are mostly round.

Some houses have only one room, and some have several rooms, which are in a unit combination structure, similar to the current set of two and three houses. The doors of these houses are oriented in the same direction, and the northern wall is in the same straight line, and there is a clear group relationship, which may be the earliest prototype of the street. Liu Shihua, the leader of the archaeological team, said that this Neolithic unit structure is the first time that it has been discovered in Sichuan, and it is also rare in the country.

More importantly, people already had a fairly clear "plan" for the place where they lived at that time, and the living area, burial area, and workshop area were clearly classified. Archaeologists found 26 sarcophagus burials in the late Neolithic period at the Maiping site, which is the earliest sarcophagus burial found in Sichuan. Unlike sarcophagus burials in other places, the sarcophagus of the Maiping people did not have a stone slab as a base, and the exquisitely carved bone and pottery were the main funerary items.

In a sarcophagus burial, a bone vessel of more than 10 centimeters was inserted in the mouth of the tomb owner. It is not known whether this was a funeral custom unique to the people of Maiping at that time or a punishment. In another sarcophagus burial, the owner of the tomb has no head, which shows that Maiping was not a paradise without disputes at that time. At that time, people mainly planted agriculture, and sometimes they had to go to the dense forest to hunt and fish in the Dadu River.

In the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the Maiping people were prevalent in earthen pit tombs, and a large number of pottery were unearthed in the 82 excavated pit tombs of the Shang and Zhou dynasties. There are also a workshop area for firing pottery in the Maiping site, which is equivalent to the current industrial development zone. In the workshop, the craftsmen produced clay pots, pottery bowls, foot rings, flat-bottomed vessels, as well as cup-in-the-cups and pointed-bottom jars for food and drink. Some men also like to wear earrings made up of several circles together, and some wear bronze swords in the style of Bashu that appear to come from the Chengdu Plain, showing their wealth. In the Maiping ruins, there are round, rectangular or nearly square house foundations, the remains of fences made of wood and weeds, and there are even round earthen stoves for cooking, which are quite reasonably designed. Most of the houses are single rooms, and there are also modern so-called combinations of "set two" and "set three", and the doors are oriented in the same direction, and they are distributed in a street-like pattern, which is the first time to be found in Sichuan, and it is also very rare in the country, and experts believe that this is the earliest prototype of the street.

There are also pieces of pottery workshops in the Maiping site, which is equivalent to the current high-tech industrial area. Clay pots, bowls, hoop-footed vessels, flat-bottomed vessels, and cuplets for eating and drinking are all produced by the craftsmen in the workshop.

The Shang and Zhou tombs that have been cleaned up are arranged in an orderly manner, all facing northwest. There is also a bronze willow leaf sword that seems to be in the style of Bashu in the tomb, which makes the civilization here suddenly enter the time tunnel. In addition, preliminary drilling to the west of the exploration area may also show that a certain number of burials may be distributed.

The living area, burial area, and workshop area are clearly classified, which proves that Maiping already had the concept of "urban planning" at that time. These major archaeological discoveries also made it a so-called "prehistoric mega central city" for a time.

Yao sarcophagus burial

The sarcophagus tomb is a unique funeral rite in Nangang Pai. In addition to Nangang Pai, no sarcophagus tombs have been found in other Yao Pai in Liannan. The sarcophagus burial is a symbol of power, and only the king of Yao can enjoy the sarcophagus burial. In the existing sarcophagus tombs in Nangang, two sarcophagus tombs of the Ming Dynasty were found engraved with inscriptions and cultural color totems of the Chu people and the legal name of the tomb owner "Dadao" (Du Jie) Hou'an, indicating that at least there were sarcophagus tombs in Nangang Pai in the Ming Dynasty, and Taoism may have been introduced to the Liannan Paiyao area at that time. Placed here are the spare sarcophagi and attachments of the last Yao King. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, King Yao's thinking progressed, and he voluntarily did not use the sarcophagus to be buried, so the sarcophagus was preserved in the cottage.

Renguo Township Jililong sarcophagus tomb group

The Jililong sarcophagus tomb group in Renguo Township is about 20 kilometers away from the county seat, located on the second step of the foothills on the south bank of the Yalong River, with an altitude of 3,700 meters. The tomb is in three shapes: sarcophagus, earthen pit and pebble edge, which belongs to the type of "sarcophagus burial culture". The age of the sarcophagus tomb group is the Warring States Qin and Han dynasties, but its exact age needs to be further demonstrated.

Archaeological mysteries

In the western foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains in France, there is the village of Arijurtes, which is famous for its strange sarcophagi. There is always a steady stream of visitors.

According to the text on the sarcophagus, this coffin was carved from a single piece of marble by skilled craftsmen 1,500 years ago. In 960 AD, the villagers buried the bodies of the brothers Abton and Shengnan, Duke of Persia, who had been transported from Rome from Rome, and cut a small hole between the lid and the coffin, and installed a steel elbow.

One day a few years later, suddenly a clear spring bubbled from the inside of the coffin outward, from morning to night, day and night, every summer and year round. It has been determined that the daily flow rate is about 400 kilograms. This was true even before the dry drought. This 193-centimeter-long sarcophagus is tightly closed, impregnable, and the lid and body of the coffin have long been connected. It is unknown whether there are still bones in the coffin. However, after repeated inspections and tests, the clear and transparent spring water is cool and pure without any peculiar smell, and it is a rare and excellent drinking water.

In October 1942, Hitler's Nazi soldiers broke into the village of Alishultesh, urinated and on the sarcophagus, dumped sewage, and soon the strange phenomenon of the spring drying up appeared. A few years later, when the villagers thoroughly washed the sarcophagus, the spring water returned to life, and to this day, it continues to flow day and night.

In July 1961, two engineers arrived from the French city of Grenoble, determined to reveal the secret. After some painstaking research, they asserted that the spring water was a combination of groundwater that seeped into the coffin, rainwater, and moisture in the air. They had the sarcophagus raised in the air with bricks and wood, wrapped in plastic wrap around it, and guarded it themselves to prevent others from pouring water into the lattice from the bend. However, the assertions of the two engineers were denied by the facts. They worked hard for 40 days, and the spring still flows.

In 1970, the British newspaper The Times offered a reward of $100,000 for revealing the mystery of the sarcophagus. As a result, more than 100 experts and scholars from 19 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, and Belgium, came to explore the secrets, but all failed.