Archaeologists claim to have have found body of China's Cao Cao

PanARMENIAN.Net - Archaeologists are convinced they have found the remains of Cao Cao, the most prominent warlord in China 1,800 years ago, South China Morning Post reports.

Experts at the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology recently concluded that the remains of an adult male in his sixties found at a burial site in central China was Cao Cao, the news portal Red Star News reported on Sunday.

Cao Cao was a central figure in China’s Three Kingdoms period (220-280) and later featured as a central character in the classic novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

The archaeologists said they had discovered the ruins of a massive mausoleum park that included two constructions as well as a tunnel.

Experts said that such massive mausoleum was unusual at that time, which indicates Cao’s great power.

The discovery, made during an archaeological dig that took place in 2016 and 2017, has only just been made public.

Historical texts say that Cao made a will that ordered that his burial site should not be marked, but Zhou Ligang, a researcher at the institute who is in charge of the archaeological programme, said that the latest findings showed that Cao Pi, the son who succeeded him, did not follow his father’s will but built a great cemetery to honour his father and emphasise his filial piety.

But experts believe that the son later ordered the destruction of the monuments on the surface for fear that his father’s tomb would be targeted by opponents or robbers.

This would also explain why experts did not find massive piles of debris at the site.

“This means that the demolition was not an act of revenge but was planned,” Zhou said.

“If the construction was knocked down by his opponents, there would be plenty of debris at the scene, but at Cao Cao’s mausoleum that is not in that case.”

To honour his father, Cao Pi must have ordered that all the debris be cleared, Zhou said.