Jiaole Tomb Cluster

　　In early 1987, public security authorities cracked a case involving the theft of the Han Dynasty Longshujiao Tomb in Jiaole Township. Cultural relics management departments conducted clearance and excavation of four tombs, including Tomb No. 10 and Tomb No. 14. It was discovered that this was a joint burial tomb for a couple, with the male chamber being robbed while the female chamber remained intact. Nearly a hundred cultural relics of 45 types were unearthed. Among them, the multi-chamber Tomb No. 14 is the largest Han Dynasty tomb excavated in Guizhou to date. It has been referred to by experts as “a rare find nationwide and unique to Guizhou.”

　　The Guizhou Provincial Museum excavated five of these tombs, which included brick-chambered tombs, stone-chambered tombs, and combined brick-and-stone-chambered tombs sharing a single mound. Tomb No. 2 was a brick-chambered "big-character" shaped tomb, divided into a passageway, main chamber, left side chamber, and right side chamber. Tombs No. 1 and 4 were brick-chambered "convex-character" shaped tombs. Tomb No. 3 was a square-framed stone-chambered tomb, while Tomb No. 5 featured a combined brick and stone chamber sharing a mound. Among the five robbed tombs, the unearthed artifacts included bronze basins, bronze bowls, bronze belt hooks, ring-handled bronze knives, fragmented bronze knives, bronze chickens, and money tree pedestals. Other finds included wuzhu coins, huoquan coins, bronze plates, silverware, amber, lion ornaments, glass-bead earrings, small bone-and-bronze bead necklaces, and jade plaques. These tombs date back to the reign of Emperor He of the Eastern Han Dynasty (89–105 AD), and possibly as late as the periods of Emperors Huan (147–167 AD) and Ling (168–189 AD).

　　A “Great King’s Myriad Wealth Seal” was unearthed from Tomb No. 10. Among the second batch of excavated tombs, located approximately 1 kilometer southwest of Jiaole Village, there was a burial mound about 20 meters in diameter. The tomb chamber faced east and was oriented along a north-south axis measuring 12.8 meters and an east-west axis of 8.75 meters. It was divided into two chambers, north and south, each consisting of a passageway, main room, side chambers, and two rear chambers. The layout was symmetrical and parallel. Except for the front chamber, which had a dome ceiling, the rest had corridor-style brick structures. The floor was paved with bricks in a herringbone pattern, featuring diamond-shaped designs. The tomb showed signs of looting, and most of the originally buried artifacts had been stolen. In the northern passageway, fragments of a bronze horse-drawn carriage were found, while several bronze and pottery items were unearthed from the front chamber. A “Bajun Shoucheng” (Governor of Bajun Commandery) gilded bronze seal was discovered in one of the side chambers.

　　This excavation lasted one month, during which 12 Eastern Han Dynasty tombs from the middle to late periods were cleared. To this day, the main artifacts unearthed from the Jiaole Han Tombs include: bronze horse-drawn carriages, branching lamps, zither-playing figurines, the Bajun Shoucheng seal, the Great King’s Myriad Wealth Seal, a lidded engraved bronze cosmetic box, bronze figurines, a bronze bowl with wuzhu coin patterns, money trees, engraved bronze vases, bronze steamers, pottery stoves, pond-and-farmstead models, and pottery money tree pedestals.

　　The artifacts unearthed from the Jiaole Han Tombs hold significant research value. In 2006, the Jiaole Tomb Cluster was listed by the State Council as part of the sixth group of Major National Historical and Cultural Sites, recognized as Han Dynasty burial sites.