辽祖陵黑龙门遗址发掘报告

THE EXCAVATION OF THE “BLACK DRAGON GATE” SITE OF THE ZULING MAUSOLEUM PRECINCT OF THE LIAO DYNASTY

辽祖陵遗址位于内蒙古巴林左旗查干哈达苏木石房子嘎查西北的山谷中(图一)。辽祖陵是辽代第一个皇帝耶律阿保机的陵寝。《辽史·太祖本纪》载,天赞五年,即太宗天显元年(926年)七月,耶律阿保机率军征服渤海国后,在班师回朝的途中,猝死于扶余城。九月丁卯,耶律阿保机“梓宫至皇都,权殡于子城西北。己已,上谥升天皇帝,庙号太祖。”天显二年(927年)八月,“葬太祖皇帝于祖陵,置祖州天城军节度使以奉陵寝”。

The Zuling Mausoleum of Yelti Abaoji,the founding emperor of the Liao Dynasty,is located in a small basin to the northwest of Shifangzi Gaqaa(Village),Qagaan Qada Siim(Township),Bairin Left Banner,Inner Mongolia.The Zuling Mausoleum precinct is surrounded by mountains,and only has a narrow passage on the south side.Between the steep cliffs flanking this passage,the mausoleum precinct gate was built,which was the“Heilong Men(Black Dragon Gate)”recorded in Liao shi辽史(The History of Liao).In the year 2010^the Black Dragon Gate site was excaved and got important results.The Black Dragon Gate was a timber frame three-gateway gate consisting of the rammed-earth gate body,gateways and ramps reaching them,ramps mounting the gate top,gate tower,culvert,etc.The Black Dragon Gate was magnificent and well preserved;its fagade is more than 80 m at the widest place,and the extant height of the gate body above the present ground is about 8 m,and some architectural remains are still preserved atop the gate body.The base of the gateway was made of stone ground sills laid along the sides of the gateway?on which wooden ground sills were laid again;atop the wooden sills,mortises were opened to receive the supporting pillars of the gateway.To the south of the gateways,the well preserved hexagonal ramps paved with bricks with grooves are found,which matched the term“wu-ban chanchi mawdao五辨蜂翅慢道(five-petal cicada wing ramp)”recorded in Yingzao营造法式(Treatise on architectural methods),and this is the first case of this type of ramps found in archaeological excavations.The Black Dragon Gate is the first scientifically excavated imperial mausoleum precinct gate of the Liao Dynasty,which has significant academic values for the researches on the layouts and evolutions of the imperial mausoleums and the forms and building methods of the large-scale architecture?and the archaeology,history and architecture of the Liao Dynasty.