09 11 月 The Stone Processing Site at the Emperor Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum
Pan An, a literary scholar of the Western Jin Dynasty, once recorded in The Records of Guanzhong: “When the stone is transported to the mouth of Ganquan, the Wei River is not flowing since it was blocked by the stones. Thousands of people sang of praise” This folk song depicts the painstaking and spectacular scene of stone transportation during the construction of the tomb of the First Emperor of Qin. The processing site of these stones is located in Zhengzhuang village at the north end of the west side of the outer wall of the mausoleum of the first emperor of Qin.
In the early 1970s, when Zhengzhuang villagers were levelling their land, they discovered stone tools and iron tools of various shapes one after another. After several investigations and test excavations, experts from the Qin Shi Huangdi tomb archaeology team discovered the site of this stone processing plant, with a total area of about 750,000 square metres. Based on the study of artefacts such as stone sewers, stone steps and stone thresholds already found in the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum, experts speculate that the processing of these building stones came from the Zhengzhuang Village stone processing site.
The stone processing site at the Emperor Qin Shi Huang mausoleum consists of three parts: the residential area, the stone stacking area and the stone processing area. Two house sites were found on the west and south of the site. There are approximately two rows of houses to the west and three house foundations to the south, with piles of rubble and ash, likely to have been the housing areas for the artisans of the stone quarry. In the middle of the site is a 400,000 square metre area of stone stockpiles, and within this area, many iron tools were found, as well as a large quantity of stone and stone blanks. To the east of the site, many ash pits of 1-1.2 metres in diameter and small fire pits of 0.26 metres in diameter (ash pits and fire pits are archaeological terms referring to the remains left by the production and living of the ancient people) were found. No house remains were found near the ash pits and fire pits, but a large number of stone building materials, semi-finished products, waste products, small stone dregs, etc. were unearthed. Various iron tools, iron torture instruments and pottery were also unearthed, and experts have deduced that this may have been a stone processing area at the time.
More than 200 artifacts of various types, including copper, iron, stone and pottery, were unearthed within the stone processing site. The bronze wares include spears and half Liang coins, while the iron wares include hammers, iron chisels, shovels, iron hooks and tools such as spades, sickles, daggers and sharpeners. Two of the hammers are 16.5 centimeters high, 8-9 centimeters in diameter, and weigh 6.8 kilograms. In 2000, after a metallographic study and analysis of the six unearthed ironware, experts found that the technology of making steel with pig iron had begun as early as the Qin Dynasty. Of particular note were the 10 iron torture instruments unearthed, including nine pincers and one shackle. Two human bones with incomplete limbs were also found in the ash pit of the quarry. In conjunction with the iron torture tools unearthed, experts deduce that a large number of criminals were engaged in productive activities here. These unearthed objects provide important physical information for the study of the building materials of the tomb of the First Qin Emperor and the identity of the people who built it.