Tomb of Huo He

Tomb of Huo He

In March 1973, the late Western Han Dynasty Tomb of Huo He was excavated at the northern foot of Xiaojiao Mountain in Wantuan Village. Haizhou District is an administrative district of Lianyungang City, where the ancient county of Quxian was established during the Han Dynasty and belonged to Donghai Commandery. Wantuan Village is located outside the eastern gate of Haizhou and features a large cluster of Han Dynasty tombs, among which the Tomb of Huo He is one.

The tomb is a vertical pit with a wooden outer coffin and houses a joint burial of a husband and wife. The male coffin was placed at the center of the coffin chamber, while the female coffin was on its right (northern) side; both were oriented with the head to the east and feet to the west. The skeletons are well-preserved. Analysis shows that the male deceased was around 70 years old, while the female was approximately 40.

More than 90 funerary objects were unearthed, most of which are well-preserved. Based on material, they can be categorized into lacquerware, bamboo/woodenware, metalware, and pottery. There were 26 pieces of lacquerware, including food boxes, bowls, ear cups, and lacquered trays; 19 pieces of bamboo/woodenware, such as wooden beams, a wooden inkstone box, a crane-handled cane, combs, and bamboo boxes—among them, the crane-handled cane features a bird-shaped finial and is 2.08 meters in total length; 52 pieces of metalware made of copper, iron, and lead. Among the metal items are two bronze mirrors: one is a "Hundred Nipples Mirror" featuring nipple-patterned knobs and a back design mainly of raised dots interspersed with floral patterns; the other is a "Sunlight Mirror" with a hemispherical knob, fine spiral background patterns, and a main design of coiled dragons. There is also one bronze seal, with a tile-shaped knob, measuring 1.6 cm square and 1.3 cm high, engraved in intaglio seal script with the four characters “Huo He zhi Yin” (Seal of Huo He). This seal was found next to the left finger bone in the male coffin, clearly serving as the personal seal of the male deceased.

Based on the bronze seal found in the male coffin, we know the tomb owner's surname was Huo and given name He. There are no historical records about Huo He. Judging from the unearthed artifacts and the scale of the tomb, he was likely a local official with a salary rank of 3,000 bushels. The crane-handled cane (also known as a jade cane or royal cane) found in this tomb had the function, according to the “Book of the Later Han · Rites Records,” of being “bestowed upon those who reach the age of seventy.” This indicates that holding such a cane symbolized advanced age. Since Huo He lived to be 70, this aligns perfectly with the historical documentation.