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The old leads into the new in ChangshaProvincial Museum: Ten Major Discoveries- Part III
The sixth site, at Gaoshaji (Shengli village, Gaotangling, Wangcheng County) from the Shang and Zhou eras has produced some unremarkable bronze dings (tripods) but little you can't see elsewhere.
The seventh site at Liye town (Longshan county, east of the Youshui river) was conducted as a rescue excavation when the Wanmipo dam was being built in 2002. The excavations uncovered substantial amounts of records carved on bamboo and wooden tablets, discovered in an abandoned well, and have revealed new information about the local context of Emperor Ershi's reign from 222BCE to 208 BCE. A number of these tablets are on display, but about 29,880 are not!
The eighth site is the royal tomb of local queen Yuyang (202 - 157 BCE) at Gufenyuan, Wangchengpo in Changsha City. The ten hectare tomb site is not as spectacular as those at Mawangdui, but still provide an interesting perspective on life at that time. Despite earlier tomb-thieves making off with a lot of the goodies, a lot remained in the huge. This exhibit is worth visiting to compare it with the Mawangdui finds. The simple lacquer dishes and bowls are as attractive as ever.
The ninth site of Hunan's "Ten Major Archaeological Discoveries" is the tomb of the Marquis of Yuanling (Huxishan, Yuanling county) a local laoban from the Western Dynasty, which as at Liye, revealed vast quantities of tablets and information about the local economy, military situation and social situation of the area. Many of today's local dignitaries, I am sure, will be buried in the carton of a large Karaoke TV, with the keys to their Audi and the wordsheets to popular contemporary songs. Such is the decline in civilization, eh!
