Dou Wan's burial is one of few Han elite burials that have not been robbed. The wealth represented by her and Liu Sheng's tombs was unprecedented when it was excavated, with Dou Wan's burial alone containing a total of 5,124 artefacts, including
jade,
silk,
lacquer, and
bronze.
Location The tomb of Dou Wan is located on the eastern slope of a hill known locally as Lingshan (), which lies to the south-west of the
Mancheng County seat in
Hubei Province, to the east of the
Taihang Mountains. In the
Western Han, this area was part of Beiping County () in the north of
Zhongshan State. Dou Wan's tomb is located approximately 120 m north of her husband's, and 18 other members of Liu Sheng's family were buried on Lingshan's southern slope.
Discovery Archaeologists excavated the tomb of Liu Sheng in 1968. When finishing the excavation, they noticed signs of stone cutting on a hill several hundred metres to the north. Test excavations revealed the presence of another large tomb and full excavations were conducted from August to September 1968.
Tomb structure Dou Wan was buried separately from her husband but their two tombs together form a pair. A 6–14 m wide stone-cut path links the entrance to Dou Wan's tomb with her husband's.
Burial goods Dou Wan's body was encased in a
jade burial suit constructed from 2,160 pieces of jade stitched together with gold thread. The suit was intricately constructed to fit her body, and the head part is shaped to represent eyes, ears, a nose, and a mouth. Hers and her husband's were the first jade burial suits to be discovered by archaeologists. These burial suits were made to protect the people from the flesh-soul. The common belief of this period was that every human being owned two souls: a flesh-soul and a breath-soul. The breath-soul escapes after the death of a person, but the flesh-soul remains in the body for a period of about a year. The flesh soul was supposed to be very malignant, so the wealthy were plated in jade suits to prevent it from escaping the body. Inside a back chamber of the grave, a house-like construction was found, built to imitate the outside world. Amongst the inventory there was also a number of sexual tools. ==Notes==