According to the results of the archaeologists' investigation, the soil of Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum is more than 50 meters high, the bottom is 350 meters long, and the width is 345 meters. The total area has reached 120,000 square meters , which is equivalent to 17 football fields .

Under the seal of the Qin Mausoleum, there is a group of rammed earth buildings 30 meters above the ground. The outside is in the shape of 9 steps, which is equivalent to the height of a ten-story building.

At the same time, archaeologists also detected a large amount of mercury in the central area of ​​the tomb's sealing soil, that is, mercury. They found that the mercury content under the sealing soil was more than 20 times higher than that in the surrounding land .

People in the past buried mercury with a concept that it was used for antisepsis , and the ancient people built their tombs very deep, the reason is to isolate them from the air and prevent the remains from rotting .

Here is a case of successful anti-corrosion. A family tomb was excavated from Changsha, Hunan. For many years, Mrs. Xin Zhui in the coffin is still well preserved. When Mrs. Xin Zhui was unearthed, the subcutaneous soft tissue was soft and elastic, the joints could move, the blood vessels were clearly visible, the hair was still there, and the lines on the fingers and toes were clear.

The reason why Mrs. Xin Zhui has not rotted for thousands of years is because of the low temperature, anoxic and sterile environment formed by sealing and deep burial . Archaeologists speculate that Mrs. Xin Zhui died about 168 BC . Considering that Qin Shihuang died in 210 BC , they died not far apart, and Qin Shihuang was also buried in an underground palace 30 meters below the surface. It was not stolen, and it was also a low-temperature, hypoxic and sterile environment. Would it be the same as Qin Shihuang and Mrs. Xin Zhui, the remains would not rot, and the joints could still move?

Although this conjecture is very good, it took about 2 months for Qin Shihuang's body to be put into the underground palace after his death, and it was May when he died, which is almost summer. Maybe before being put into the underground palace, the body had already Rotten.

The real use of mercury in the underground palace of the Qin Mausoleum

As mentioned earlier, archaeologists have detected a large amount of mercury under the earthen seal. This mercury is caused by the volatilization of mercury in the underground palace and rising to the surface of the earthen seal along the cracks in the earthen seal. The underground palace uses mercury as the hundreds of rivers, rivers and seas, so it is speculated that the mercury in the underground palace is at least dozens of tons.

And what is so much mercury used for? Some people say that mercury is used for anti-theft or anti- corrosion . The answer is no . In the Qin Dynasty, people at that time did not know the functions of mercury. I only know that the raw material of mercury is cinnabar , which can be used as a pigment.

Knowing that mercury can keep the body from corruption for a long time, this phenomenon only appeared after the Song Dynasty . Knowing that mercury is highly toxic , people realized that mercury can prevent theft since the Han Dynasty , due to the large-scale prevalence of alchemy .

Regarding the real use of mercury in the Qinling Mausoleum's underground palace, the answer may be found in history books. Li Daoyuan of the Northern Wei Dynasty said in "Shui Jing Zhu" that the Qinling Mausoleum's underground palace uses mercury as a geographical force for the four rivers, five mountains and nine states.

Wang Jia of the Eastern Jin Dynasty said in his book Supplementary Notes that it is the shape of mountains in the Jianghai Chuandu series.

These works have all mentioned, "Mercury is the rivers and seas of hundreds of rivers", so it can be inferred that this is a reproduction of the geographical territory of the Qin Empire , and this inference is also well-founded.

In the 1970s in Tianshui, Gansu Province, a group of tombs from the Warring States Period were unearthed, and a map of 1/300,000 was unearthed in these tombs. In the early Western Han Dynasty, Changsha Mawangdui tomb also unearthed "Cheng Yitu" topographic map.

This can show that although the accuracy of the map was limited at that time, the people of Qin had the ability to simulate it in the tomb , with the empire's water system as the skeleton , and the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang followed the principle of "death is like life" , that is to say After death, it must be the same as before life, so the underground buildings and burial daily necessities of Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum are all imitations. When Qin Shihuang was still alive, the mercury in the underground palace simulated the territory of the Qin Empire . It also means that even if he is an emperor underground, he must rule his own country.

Waterproof Measures for the Underground Palace of the Qin Mausoleum

Sima Qian recorded in the historical records, "" more than 700,000 people from all over the world were sent to wear three springs, and copper was used to form the outer coffin. "Wear" means excavation.

After exploration, archaeologists found that from below 40 meters underground, there are three relatively thick water filtration layers , that is to say, the groundwater from the direction of Lishan Mountain came to the vicinity of the Qinling Mausoleum through these relatively thick three-layer sand layers. . These three layers of water filtration layers are the three springs that Sima Qian said.

The first problem in the construction of the underground palace is that in the process of digging, there will be a steady stream of groundwater at different depths . The craftsmen of the Qin Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago were very clever and they came up with a way. Excavate the canal horizontally to guide the groundwater to the canal and then discharge it to a relatively low place in the northwest. This drainage project is more than one kilometer long , and the main drainage canal is located on the east and west sides of the underground palace.

When the depth of the canal exceeds the depth of the underground palace, when it can ensure that the surrounding groundwater will not enter the underground palace again, the canal will be filled with a kind of green paste mud , which is equivalent to the east, south and west sides of the underground palace. , A cement dam with a height of 40 meters was built . The design idea of ​​this building waterproof project is still in use today.

Are there ever-burning lights in the Qin Mausoleum Underground Palace?

According to the literature, there is, "Use the mermaid ointment as a candle, and the immortal will last for a long time." The ointment here refers to oil , and the mermaid, some people think it is a female whale, and some people think it is a salamander.

Some people speculate that whale oil is used in the underground palace of the Qin Mausoleum. If a candle made of whale oil burns for an hour, it needs about 8 grams. One cubic meter of whale oil can burn for 5,000 days. It is almost impossible to become an ever-burning lamp under the condition of gradual hypoxia, because there is no oxygen.

How to explain the Qin Mausoleum's underground palace with astronomy on the top and geography on the bottom?

It has astronomy on the top and geography on the bottom. This should mean that the top of the underground palace is decorated with pictures simulating astronomical and astrological phenomena . The eight-constellation diagram, the twenty-eight constellations are twenty-eight star regions divided by ancient Chinese astronomers for observation, the movement of the sun, the moon and the five stars.

Archaeological data show that the names of the twenty-eight constellations were found on the lacquer box of the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng in Hubei in the early Warring States period.

Therefore, it is entirely possible that there is a relatively accurate astronomical star map on the top of the Qinling Mausoleum 's underground palace .

Let's imagine again, the bottom of the Qin Mausoleum's underground palace is rectangular, and the top is drawn with a circular astronomical and astrological map. The combination of one side and one circle seems to bring the cosmology of the round sky and the earth together underground.

What funerary objects are there in the Qin Mausoleum Underground Palace?

Because the Qin Mausoleum has not been excavated yet, everyone does not know, but archaeologists have given their own speculations based on historical experience and historical documents.

There are all kinds of utensils that match the emperor through the ages, such as gold and silver wares, pottery, wood, bamboo , and various silk fabrics . Qin Shihuang likes to read, so he will definitely place a lot of books in the underground palace.

In addition, archaeologists speculate that perhaps Qin Shihuang was buried in a golden jade garment because the Han inherited the Qin system.

After the death of the emperors of the Western Han Dynasty, they wore gold-threaded jade clothes. The golden-threaded jade clothes were mortuary clothes made of jade pieces.

In the 1960s, a huge cliff-cave tomb was discovered in Mancheng, Hebei. According to textual research, the owner of the tomb was Liu Sheng, King Jing of Zhongshan, and the golden jade clothes recorded in the literature were unearthed here.

Therefore, it is very possible that Qin Shihuang's body wore a golden jade garment, and the golden jade garment also has the function of delaying decay . This may be the earliest golden jade garment in China.