Archaeologists in Jiangsu Province in eastern China announced the discovery of a lavish Han-era mausoleum complex belonging to King Liu Fei of the ancient Jiangdu Kingdom. Laid to rest in 128 BC, Liu Fei was interred in a necropolis found to be composed of three main tombs and 11 attendant tombs, each containing a trove of gold, silver, bronze, and precious stones. Excavated from 2009 to 2011, the findings were published in the journals Kaogu and Chinese Archaeology.

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Modern historians know of Liu Fei through the writing of historian Sima Qian (145-86 BC), who recorded that  "Liu Fei admired daring and physical prowess. He built palaces and observation towers and invited to his court all the local heroes and strong men from everywhere around."

Qian also told how Liu Fei amassed great wealth, a fact his tomb confirms. Divided into three corridors with several adjacent chambers, the king was buried with all the necessities he would need in the afterlife. As Chinese believed the next world was a mirror to that of the living, Liu Fei had at the ready an armory of iron swords, knives, halberds, spears, and several other weapons, a fully-stocked kitchen complete with bronze cookingware, several life-size chariots along with their horses, a range of household items including musical instruments and an assortment of lamps, plus a treasury stocked with 100,000 banliang coins favored by Qin Shi Huang, the founder of the first unified Chinese state and whose own tomb is famous for its legions of terra-cotta warriors.

Although looted in antiquity, the newly-found tomb still contained over 10,000 artifacts. To their dismay, however, archeologists found Liu Fei's burial chamber badly damaged and his body missing. Nevertheless, the team found enough jade fragments and lacquer remains to deduce the king's body had been enshrouded in an exquisite jade burial suit, and that his coffins, one inside the other, were manufactured of the highest quality. The finding suggests that while Jiangdu was removed from the largest population and political centers of the Han Empire, a highpoint in Chinese culture lasting from 206 BC to 220 AD, the kingdom and its royals were still able to achieve a high level of sophistication and prestige. While covering several hundred square miles, the Han Empire was not a united polity. Provided they swore loyalty and obedience to the emperor, several smaller kingdoms such as Jiangdu continued to be ruled by their native nobility and governed their own internal affairs.

Tombs near that of Liu Fei contained notable discoveries as well. An anonymous burial dubbed "M2" was found to be largely undisturbed and held an intact jade coffin, the first to be found anywhere in China. Although its occupant remains a mystery, the opulence of the grave goods and the fact that it was found next to Liu Fei hints at an individual held in high regard. Another tomb was found to have the inscribed name of Nao, a name shared by a consort of Liu Fei, Lady Nao, whose beauty was so great she went on to be the consort of two other Jiangdu nobles, one being Liu Fei's own son, King Liu Jian.

Despite the political acumen of Liu Fei, Jiangdu was seized directly by the Han seven years after his death. Ancient writers tell how Liu Jian, upon taking the throne, doomed his kingdom by plotting against the Han emperor and going so far as to throw an orgy over his father's mausoleum.

TagsArchaeology