Underground: the burial chamber
the excavation team discovered the coffins of Emperor Wanli and his two empresses, which contained bones, fabrics and accessories.
leading into the tomb was blocked by a slab of stone from the inside. Excavators used a wire to move the slab aside.
reminded excavators of a secret tunnel. After two hours of digging, they unearthed a stone stele.
are the only traces remaining of the grandiose wooden palaces that graced Dingling Mausoleum. Second chamber Stone gate and ‘impregnable wall’
Burial mound Wooden palaces site Third chamber First chamber Excavation area Entrance Treasure City Worldly tower
of Emperor Wanli and his empresses, as seen today, now reside in the third chamber.
and white dust left in circular shapes — remnants of paper coins meant for the dead — covered the first chamber.
comprised of big stone blocks once resided here. Excavators pulled them out one-by-one like drawers from a chest.
separates the circular and rectangular halves of the mausoleum. The sections represent heaven and earth. form the backdrop to the entrance to Dingling Mausoleum and the rest of the tombs that make up the Ming Mausoleum.
However, a promising beginning did not lead to a quick ending. After digging for months and finding nothing, the team jumped ahead and dug more along that same route, but still found nothing.
“It seemed that they had assiduously followed this clue that rolled out before them like thread from a skein, only to arrive at the end and find nothing but the end of the thread. It was in July and August, with rainwater constantly filling the trench. Yet just when most people were about to give up, the emperor, if you like, sent another beckoning.”
The team unearthed a second stele. Inscribed on it was a line of words that translates as: “From here to the wall, the horizontal distance is 53.28 meters, and the vertical distance is 11.66 meters.”
Today the stele, lying in a glass cabinet in one of the two exhibition halls of the mausoleum, is presented by tour guides to visitors as “the key of Dingling”. And the wall mentioned is the one that separates the burial chambers of the emperor with the tunnel that leads to it.
“Elated by the new find, the team started digging its third and last tunnel from where the second stele was found, at the back of the Worldly Towers. Not long into digging, they discovered another tunnel — not a brick one but a much sturdier stone one that ran toward the center of the burial mound.
“It’s clear now that the stone tunnel constitutes the last section of the journey taken by Emperor Wanli and his empresses en route to their final resting place,” Yang says. “The team could not find the stone tunnel initially because there is a turn between the brick tunnel and this stone one.”
At the end of this 40-meter long tunnel lies “the wall”, called jin gang qiang, or “the impregnable wall”. Made of big stone blocks, the wall