A large tomb of Eastern Zhou under barren mound | 荒土墩下发现大墓

　　The name of Cangbu (仓埠), located in Xinzhou District, translates into "granary" and "commercial port" in English. It has been an important distribution center for grain and commodities in eastern Hubei since the Ming and Qing dynasties.

　　位于新洲区的仓埠如其名——粮仓、商埠。明清以来就是鄂东粮食和商品的重要集散地。

　　Recently, a collection of Western Zhou ruins were discovered in Cangbu.

　　近日，一处西周环壕遗址群在仓埠被发现。

　　Longwang Dun in Jingshan Village Photos by Xu Weiwei

　　There is a circular mound called Longwang Dun (Dragon King Mound) in the middle of Jingshan Village in Cangbu Subdistrict. It is 3 meters high, has a diameter of about 23 meters, and is surrounded by buildings.

　　一座近似圆形的叫做龙王墩的土墩孤零零地“蹲”在仓埠街道井山村中央。它的墩顶距地表垂直距离约3米，直径约23米，四周环绕着村民小楼。

　　Pointing to a cross section that was excavated a few months ago, an archaeologist there said that the upper layer is made up of loose grayish red soil, which has been accumulated by later generations. The next layer is composed of fine yellow-gray soil on the ground surface used to seal a tomb. The third layer is hard and of dense yellow gray clay on the sub-surface also used to seal a tomb. The lowest layer is marbled soil, colored yellowish brown, grayish yellow, and reddish brown, used to fill the grave tunnels.

　　指着几个月前发掘留下的断面，考古专家一一细数：最上层是灰红色土，土质疏松，属于后代的人工堆积；下一层是黄灰色土，土质细腻，是当年的地上封土；再下一层是黄灰色夹灰白土，土质硬密，是当年的地下封土；最下层是黄褐色、灰黄色、红褐色等五花土，是墓道的填充土。

　　The cross section shows that this mound is a pile of man-made sealing soil, still well preserved. The archaeological team there inferred that there was a high-level aristocratic tomb of the Eastern Zhou dynasty buried at the foot of the mound, and there might be chariot pits around it. An ancient tomb so old and big has never before been found in Wuhan.

　　断面显示，这是一个人工堆积的封土无疑，而墓葬至今保存完好。 考古团队推断龙王墩下埋藏着一座高等级贵族墓葬，墓葬周围或有车马坑分布。 武汉市还没有发现过这么早这么大的古墓。

　　（Edited by Ye Shiyu）