Han Dynasty Daoist Scriptures Found in Ancient Well

Han Dynasty Daoist Scriptures Found in Ancient Well

During June of 2000 villagers of the town of Da'antuo outside of Tianjin discovered the mouth of an ancient well in the village fish pond. Upon further investigation of the wells, archaeologists found a wide array of artifacts. The most significant find consisted of sets of wooden Daoist slips dating to the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). This marks the first time that Chinese archaeologists have located such early documents regarding Daoist belief and methodology. Tianjin's History Museum, in conjunction with this excavation, has already launched several archaeological teams to uncover similar structures. So far these teams have discovered seven Warring States (475-221 BC) wells, eleven Han Dynasty wells, two cellars or storage pits, two sets of vehicle tracks, two ash pits and one Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) well (see photo). The Warring States wells extended 4-5 meters in depth and contained pottery guan and a variety of examples of red pottery axes. The Han Dynasty wells consisted of a mixture of brick and wood structures and provided examples of both square and circular mouthed wells. Of this group, Well 2 contained red pottery axes, gray pottery basins and boxes. Well 4 contained a dog's head, cane lined baskets, pottery jars and wooden harrows. Five hundred artifacts in all were discovered in this excavation including examples of stone, pottery, bronze, iron, bone, horn, cane, grass and bamboo. Well 6 was noteworthy, for it contained human remains. Due to the placement of the bones, researchers determined that the victim suffered a violent death. The skeleton consisted of two halves. The upper torso was intact but the bottom half of the bones were jumbled in a pile and placed to the right side of the upper half of the body. The use of these human remains as a sacrifice or punishment have yet to be determined. However, these wells all contain valuable information regarding time periods ranging from the Warring States to the Han and Ming Dynasties. They also provide valuable information regarding production, life, handicrafts, animal husbandry and water storage during ancient Chinese history. Most importantly, the Daoist wooden writing slips provide researchers with important texts elucidating early beliefs in Daoism.

Mei Pengyun, Sheng Lishuang, Jiang Baiguo, and Zhao Chengjiu, Zhongguo wenwu bao (24 September 2000), p. 1.
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