旅游英語景點介紹—馬王堆漢墓

　　　【簡介】馬王堆漢墓位于中國湖南省長沙市芙蓉區東屯渡鄉(今芙蓉區馬王堆街道)境內，臨瀏陽河，為西漢時期長沙國丞相利蒼、利蒼妻子辛追及其子利狶或兄弟三座墓葬。1971年12月，湖南省博物館開始對該墓葬的一號墓進行發掘，并于1973年至1974年對二號墓和三號墓進行發掘。在這幾次發掘中，墓葬內出土了一具保存完好的女尸(為長沙國丞相利倉之妻辛追)和頗具研究價值的眾多隨葬品。這些出土文物使這次發掘成為世界一次重要的考古發現，同時也于2009年被列為“近年來長沙市十大考古發現”。2013年5月3日，中華人民共和國國家文物局將馬王堆漢墓列入第七批全國重點文物保護單位名單中。馬王堆在北宋初年時被稱作“雙女墓”，構成馬王堆的兩座土堆一度被認為分別是漢朝長沙王的兩位妃子唐姬和程姬的墓葬。“馬王堆”這一名稱的來源有兩種說法，一種認為兩座土堆相鄰形似馬鞍，原名應為“馬鞍堆”，但由于在當地口音中“馬鞍堆”與“馬王堆”相近，時間一長就被訛化成了“馬王堆”，這一點在1972年時馬王堆附近的解放軍366醫院(今武警湖南省總隊醫院)門牌“馬鞍堆2號”上得到了印證;另一種說法認為該名稱來源于當地史料，在清朝中晚期的地方志中，馬王堆相近的位置被標注為五代時期的楚王馬殷墓(或疑冢)，“馬王堆”一名即由此發展而來。
From 1972 to early 1974, chinese archaeological workers excavated three tombs of the western han dynasty at mawangdui and achieved tremendous results which attracted attention at home and abroad. the more than3,000 cultural relics and a well-preserved female corpse unearthed from the tombs are of great value in studying the politics, economy, military, affairs, culture, science and technology of the early western han period.

Mawangdui is located in the eastern outskirts of changsha, about four kilometers from the center of the city. for centuries it was said that king mayin of chu of the five dynasties period was buried here and hence the name "mawangdui". formerly there were two earthen mounds closely linked together in the shape of a horse saddle, thus it also called "maandui". in some historical documents it was called "erfeimu", and "shuangnvfen". it was said that lady tang, the mother of liufa, prince din of changsha in the early han, and another imperial concubine, lady cheng, were buried here. yet another record said that these were the tombs of prince liufa and his mother lady tang.

The opinions about who was buried here varied widely and the truth did not come out until the excavations began in 1792. it turned out that there were three tombs at mawangdui. the eastern mound was known as tomb no.1, and the western mound as tomb no.2. the third tomb was located to the south of tomb no.1 and covered up by the sealing soil of the latter so there was no visible trace of its existence. the three seals unearthed from tomb no.2 "chancellor to the prince of changsha", "state the marquis of the dai", and "licang" indicate that mawangdui was the burial ground of licang, chancellor to the prince of changsha stare and marquis of dai in the early western han dynasty, and his family. the historical records give licang's death as occurring in the second year of the reign of empress dowager liu. he occupant in tom no.3 is believed to be his son. unearthed form the tomb was a wooden tablet inscribed with the burial date.

After careful textual research this was identified as the twelfth year of the reign of the han emperor wen di. the corpse in tomb no.1 is that of licang's wife, whose personal name, according to an unearthed seal, was xingzhui. a study of the stratigraphical relation of the tombs and the burial objects led to conclusion that tomb no.1 date from about the sixth decade of the second century b.c, a little later than tomb no.3.

The three han tombs were immense. tomb no.1 preserved very well. tomb no.2 the coffins were mostly rotted. most of the funeral objects were damaged and the corpse was totally decomposed because the tomb had been robbed in the past. the construction of tomb no.3 remained that of tomb no.1 but it was slightly smaller in size and there were only three steps at the mouth of the pit. there were three coffins in the wooden chamber but only a skeleton remained in the in the innermost coffin because the sealing was not tight enough. the funeral objects unearthed are abundant. there are paintings, books, maps, weapons, musical instrument, silk fabrics and so on. both the innermost coffins of tombs no.1 and no.3 were covered by a t-shaped.

Color painting on silk. the two paintings are of similar subjects. the heavenly world, human society and the nether world are depicted. the top section portrays the sun, moon, stars, a big tree of a mythic island, celestial beings, heavenly gate guards, etc. the middle section depicts a scene of the tomb occupant offering sacrifices to gods. the bottom section represents a giant standing on the back of a pair of big mythical fish, holding up the earth. well balanced and ingeniously composed, the paintings harmoniously interweave fairy tales with reality. the artistic skill of the paintings makes them masterpieces of ancient art. judging from the shape, content, and the positions where the paintings were placed in the tombs, we know that they were a kind of funeral banner called "mingjing". these banners were used in funeral ceremonies to usher the spirit up to heaven, reflecting the superstitious thinking of the feudal rulers.