Ancient Chinese Tomb: Precious information about the ancient sacrifice

Archaeologists have discovered an ancient tomb in east China, the 2,500-year-old tomb contains nearly 48 victims of human sacrifices and other precious relics, so it has important implications for Unveiled information about sacrifices from the Confucius period.

According to Xu Changqing, the archaeological team leader, the tomb was discovered in January 2007 after police arrested the bandits who attacked the area in Jiangxi province. The tomb is designed for the patriarch of a noble family and contains 47 corpses placed side by side.

One of the most impressive relics discovered in the throne is a black, yellow and red sword that sculpted dragons. Xu describes this 'most beautiful and best preserved sword ever discovered in this region of China.' In addition, there are gold and bronze relics along with exquisite silk suits.

But Xu, a scholar of the Jianxi Archaeological Institute, said the most surprising finding was that ' most of the corpses were sacrificed in order to serve their owners in eternal life.'

Relics found include bronze, gold and an ornate sword.(Photo: National Geographic)

Many aristocrats have arranged for their servants, concubines or close dead people to die after death so that they can travel to their next life. Xu explained: 'At that time, the rulers believed that they could live the next life similar to life on earth.'

The one in Jiangxi is one of the most important archaeological findings of the decade in this part of China.

Collective sacrifice

The practice is recorded in the first Chinese texts about 4000 years ago, around the Shang dynasty. The warring kings of the time relied on shaman to communicate with their ancestors and offer them animals or people to pray for victory in the battles and pray for rain to end the drought. Prayers for a supernatural force once recorded with hieroglyphs engraved on pieces of " prophetic bone " have been collected by archaeologists and museums during the last century.

Herbert Plutschow, expert of Chinese Shang Dynasty at UCLA, said: 'According to the deciphered pictograms, there are 37 grades of blood and food sacrifices in the Shang dynasty.'

Leaders rely on ritual battles, sacrifices, and the worship of ancestors to legitimize their rule and some people force their servants to follow them into the dead.

Plutschow said, 'The ancient China was built on the basis of sacrifices. And none of China's assumptions are made without mentioning the sacrifice or the sacrificial ideology. ' But during the construction of the tomb, philosopher Confucius began to condemn the sacrifice and called for the abolition of the order. Xu said: 'Confucius spent his life condemning bloody sacrifices.' However, Confucius' view came too late to save the people who were consecrated in Jiangxi's tomb and his doctrine took centuries to defeat this practice.

A 2,500-year-old tomb contains nearly 48 victims of sacrifices that have just been excavated in eastern China.(Photo: National Geographic)

History of sacrifices

Adrienne Mayor, a scholar of history and history at Stanford University, said that people are widely applied by many different civilizations but less popular in other cultures in the same era.'Many cultures around the world conduct human sacrifices for many different reasons, including China, Aztec, Rome, Greece, Egypt, Mongolia and Maya.'

Following this historical axis, sages such as Confucius in China, Germany in India and Socrates in Greece 'against the sacrifice and the custom of the people gradually became rare. Most civilizations replace human sacrifice with symbolic rituals. ' However, in China, the sacrifice lasted until the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, ie around 1368 to 1644 AD.

Emperor Yongle, who supervised the design and execution of the Forbidden City, Beijing six centuries ago decreed his concubines to follow him into eternity.

David Keightley, an expert on Chinese history at the University of California, Berkeley, said civil society emphasizes the importance of loyalty and responsibility in ancient China.'Offering human life refers to the degree of attachment of passion, obedience, which is said to be stronger than life itself.'