07 9 月 Lishan Food Official Ruins Were Discovered at Shi Huangdi Tomb
In the Shi Huangdi tomb, there were chambers and resting halls built for the emperor to live and eat, change clothes, and relax in the other world. So, where did the meals offered to the emperor’s soul come from? Today, let’s learn about the ruins site of the Lishan Food Official, which served meals to the first emperor of Qin.
In November 1981, Lishan food official ruins were discovered at Shi Huangdi tomb by the archaeological team. This construction ruins site covers an area of about 36,000 square meters, larger than the two Terracotta Warriors Pit 1, between the inner and outer city walls north of the western gate of the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum. The whole of the building on the site was so badly burned by the fire that it is impossible to understand its original appearance. Archaeologists have found 258 inscriptions on the bricks and ceramics excavated here, including the words “Lishan Food Official”.
The food officer, the official in charge of food and drink in the ancient court, was a subordinate official in charge of the sacrificial rites of the ancestral temple among the senior officials of the central government in the feudal society of China. Since the ancients believed in the funeral concept of “death is like life”, meals were naturally served in the emperor’s mausoleum, and there was a record in The Book of Han that the food officials were set up in the mausoleum. Therefore, experts deduce that this is the site of the Lishan Food Officer of the Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum, who was mainly in charge of the mausoleum rituals and served meals to the emperor’s soul, taking care of the emperor’s daily diet like a living person.
From the remaining ruins on the ground, we can roughly understand that this is a group of similar quadrangle-style buildings, with houses in the east and west, north and south, a courtyard patio in the middle, and a water well in the corner. The overall architecture of the house is very elaborate, for example, there is a complete drainage pipe laid underground, the promenade in front of the house is paved with broken tiles to spread the water, and the floor in the room is rammed hard and flat, and the roof is covered with neatly stacked slate tiles and barrel tiles and decorated with cloud pattern tiles.
In addition, the experts found not only the words “Lishan food official” but also “Lishan food official Zuo”, “Lishan food official You”, “chef”, “Lishan cook”, etc. in the collation of the writing on the excavated objects. “This shows that there were not only “Zuo” and “You” food officials, but also a large number of cooks. The number of cooks was also very large, thus truly reflecting the amount of food needed for the sacrificial activities in the mausoleum. In addition, a large number of daily necessities were unearthed at the site, such as pottery jars, porcelain pots, remnants of bronze vermilion lamps, and precious cultural relics such as the Qin Yuefu bell and the bronze scales.