On February 19, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences announced six "New Archaeological Discoveries in China in 2024". Among the six new archaeological discoveries announced this time, there is the archaeological excavation project of the No. 1 Wuwangdun Tomb in Huainan, Anhui. From 2020 to the present, more than five years of excavation and research have been confirmed that the Wuwangdun Tomb is the largest, highest-level and most complex high-level tomb of the Chu State that has been scientifically excavated so far. The excavation of the Wuwangdun tomb helped to uncover a new historical and cultural look after the Chu State moved eastward in the late Warring States Period.

Tomb No. 1 of Wuwangdun is a large "A"-shaped vertical pit tomb. The opening of the tomb is nearly square and the side length is about 51 meters. In the middle of the tomb pit, long strips of beams are built into a wooden coffin chamber with a "sia" shape, with a coffin chamber in the middle, with 8 side chambers arranged in the east, west, south and north.

In early 2025, the excavation of Wuwangdun No. 1 Tomb No. 1 was basically completed, and more than 10,000 artifacts were unearthed. Among them, the ritual containers are mainly buried in the east room, especially the East Room I, which are most completely preserved. 154 bronze containers of various types are unearthed, surrounding the bronze tripod, forming a basic tripod combination of nine tripods, eight guis, eight gua, seven tripods, six beans, six dungeons, three wok tripods, and three hoop tripods. These discoveries are completely different from the Chu tombs known in the past, showing the unique ritual system of the tombs of the Chu kings in the late Warring States Period.

The leader of the Wuwangdun archaeological excavation project Gong Xicheng: In the past, among archaeological discoveries, the most were the configurations of seven tripods and six gui. This time, the highest level was discovered, with the largest number of configurations. We can have a clearer understanding of these methods of use that are not very clear in the records of these control literature.

There are many silk and bamboo instruments

There are obvious traces of use

Music instrument cultural relics are also the main body of Tomb No. 1 of Wuwangdun. They are mainly buried in Room I, Room II and Room II, including two sets of 23-piece copper chimes, a set of 20 stone chimes, no less than 50 sets of lacquer wood ser and at least 5 types of drums, and no less than 10 sets of jiu. These ritual instruments are practical instruments, with complete pronunciation components, and obvious traces of use can be seen in some objects.

Ming Xicheng: One is that there are a large number, and the second is that there are also a large number of types. Compared with past discoveries, there are obviously more instruments of silk and bamboo. In-depth research and explanation will be made in the future in the future, whether it is the change in the ritual and music system or the changes in the characteristics of the times.

In addition, most of the lacquered fungus cups unearthed from the Tomb No. 1 of Wuwangdun have inscriptions at the bottom, and the content is the name of the object. They use the chronicle of King Zhaoxiang of Qin, reflecting the cultural exchanges between Qin and Chu in the late Warring States Period. Hundreds of divination oracle bones unearthed were the first discovery.