China continues to learn Cao Cao's grave

Chinese archaeologists will continue to excavate the grave believed to be Cao Cao and analyze and verify documents to determine the identity of the man in the grave.

A portrait of Cao Cao.Photo: cri.cn.

Recently, Chinese archaeologists said preliminary, the tomb of the 3rd century discovered in Ha Nam province in central China is exactly the tomb Cao Cao searched for thousands of years, the results discovered This was recognized by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences as one of the six largest archaeological discoveries in 2009. After the conclusion of the publication, the grave attracted strong public interest. But there are also many skeptics whether it is not Cao Cao's grave.

Cao Cao is a politician, a military house and a famous literaryist during the Three Kingdoms period. The tomb is said to be located in the south of Tay Cao Huyet village, An Phong commune, An Duong district, Ha Nam province. At the excavation site of Cao Cao tomb, there are actually 2 large tombs, about 20 m apart. They are parallel to the east-west direction. Earlier, two graves were repeatedly excavated by grave thieves, China International Radio said.

"From 2006 to 2008, two graves were dug many times. In order for the ancient artifacts to continue to be destroyed, Ha Nam Department of Archeological Research began to excavate the tomb from mid-December. / 2008 after receiving the approval of the State Department of Antiquities, until the end of December 2009, the work of unearthed excavations " , Phan Vi Bo, a researcher of Ha Noi's Department of Archeology and Archeology Nam, said.

Phan Vi Ban published photos of archaeological excavations at an academic conference. The researcher said that unlike Cao's tombs, Cao Cao's plane is a Chinese "Armor". The tomb is built of bricks and has a monumental scale, complex structure, It consists of a road to the grave, two rooms in the front and back and 4 rooms on either side. The slope to the grave is 39.5 m long and 9.8 m wide. The deepest place is 15 meters from the ground. Stone paving in the tomb is a large stone with a length of 95 cm and a width of 90 cm. They are very elaborate. The door to the remaining tomb has beautiful stone carvings with rich content, skillful craftsmanship. The above things all show the special status of the person buried in the grave.

Liu Chan Dong, an expert at the Department of Archeology Research of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that many of the evidence made him affirm that the large tomb belonged to the period of the late Chinese Han Dynasty. The excavated artifacts are also consistent with the historical record of Cao's "simple burial" policy.

The room in front of the grave is said to be Cao Cao.Photo: China Daily .

The large tomb in Tay Cao Huyet village possesses the features of a tomb built with bricks, with many rooms during the Dong Han period. It has a path to the grave, two main compartments and four sides. This is a common feature of a large tomb during the Eastern Han Dynasty. But this grave is markedly different from the tomb of Dong Han. It has no corridors, the room in the back is like a square.

In terms of time, the grave lies in the transition period from the burial practice of Han Dynasty to the customary life of Tan, so it is reasonable to speculate that this tomb belongs to the last years of Dong Han. Combining documents to record, custom of burial during the Cao Wei period, a fundamental change occurred, the form of burial under the ground changed. For example, in the Western Han Dynasty and Dong Han, the burial of jade garments is quite common. That is an important factor to express the caste system. But by the time of Cao Wei, people no longer buried under clothes made of jade.

The leader unearthed his grave, Phan Vi Ban, said the team members found about 250 restored artifacts, including an inscription card that could prove the identity of the person buried in the grave. Other things - including weapons, pottery, jade stones - are everyday items of people buried in graves.

In the second excavated tomb, archaeologists also discovered some skulls, arm bones, and leg bones. Truong Quan, an ancient human research specialist at the Institute of Archeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, judged that this is the skeleton of a man and two women, men between the ages of 60 and 70. The woman female older than about 50 years old, and the other is only over 20 years old.

In the face of some ideas that DNA testing should be conducted, it can be concluded that this is Cao Cao's grave, Truong Quan said that it is difficult to do.

"Let us re-evaluate the feasibility of testing the bone skeleton of men discovered in the second largest tomb. First, the skeleton is poorly preserved, unable to provide satisfactory samples for testing. Because the skeleton is detected in muddy water, people must use clean water to wash.

Secondly, the tomb was repeatedly stolen so it was impossible to rule out the possibility of thieves leaving their DNA on the skeleton. Third, finding Cao Cao's true descendant was not an easy task. Fourth, technically, China still faces many difficulties in DNA testing techniques on ancient Y chromosomes , " Ms. Zhang said.

Mr. Vuong Nguy, director of the Chinese Institute of Archeology, said that in order to answer public questions, archaeologists continued to conduct grave research activities. After that process, the scientific community in the relevant fields will give conclusive opinions.