The Luoyang shovel is an elliptical shovel used by Luoyang native Li Yaya for digging pits and planting piles in the 1920s and 1930s when tomb robbing was popular in Beimang Mountain, Luoyang. Improved on the shaped shovel. I saw this kind of shovel being used by civilians when I was doing excavations in Xiangyang recently. As mentioned in other answers, probes, underground detectors used for tomb robbing, have been used as early as the Ming Dynasty, but the emergence of the Luoyang shovel has greatly improved the efficiency of tomb robbing, because the probe can only detect whether there are masonry underground. A kind of hard object, and the Luoyang shovel improved by Li Yaya can bring up the soil from deep underground. Experienced people can judge whether there is a tomb underground and what period it is based on the color, texture, inclusions, etc. of the soil. tomb. By arranging the positions according to a certain density and sequence, the scope of the tomb, the location of the opening, etc. can also be judged based on the changes in underground accumulation at different locations. It can be said that since the invention of the Luoyang shovel, the tombs in Beimang Mountain, Luoyang, have suffered catastrophe.

At the beginning of the founding of New China, in order to cooperate with the large-scale economic construction across the country, archaeological work in various places was arduous. The Luoyang shovel can quickly, conveniently and relatively accurately determine the status of underground relics and relics in a certain area, so it is used on a large scale for exploration work before archaeological excavations. The first generation of explorers in many archaeological research institutions are former tomb robbers. Since then, the Luoyang shovel has officially become the main tool for archaeological exploration, with the official name "exploring shovel" and a series of operating methods.

In archeology, the principle of using Luoyang shovel is very simple. Just like core sampling in geology, the exploration shovel actually samples the underground soil layer at a fixed point and a certain depth. From this, the layer, soil quality, and soil color of the underground cultural accumulation of a certain site can be observed, and according to each type of soil, The inclusions determine the age of each layer of cultural accumulation. If the drilling holes are distributed in a certain direction (mostly north-south direction) and a certain density (commonly used are 5 meters and 10 meters), the distribution of underground cultural accumulation in a certain area can be inferred based on the changes in the drilling soil samples at different locations. situation, so as to prepare for the next step of work, such as finding the tomb opening in a cemetery for the next step of cleaning, finding a suitable location to conduct excavations, etc. In addition to looking for tomb openings, traditional archaeological exploration mostly only provides a rough judgment on the accumulation status of various parts of the site and the distribution of remains. Some recent exploration shovels are equipped with RTK satellite positioning systems, which can accurately locate the location of each exploration hole, greatly improving accuracy. Since Professor Zhang Changping of Wuhan University took over the Panlongcheng site in Wuhan, Hubei Province, he first conducted a large-scale universal exploration of the entire site, used RTK to accurately locate each exploration hole, and recorded the soil sample information of each exploration hole in detail. An exploration database and retrieval system have been established so that the distribution of underground accumulations in each area of ??the site can be better observed. This is an archaeological exploration work that has achieved significant results in recent years.

Attached are photos of archaeological exploration work:

General exploration is conducted at a site in Shandong. This kind of exploration usually involves several people standing in a row, distributed at a certain distance, and pulling the net forward or backward. style exploration.

I was doing exploration in Xiangyang last year. The soil samples from the exploration holes were arranged in order from shallow to deep, and the changes in underground soil color can be clearly seen.

The carbides contained in the soil samples may be ash pit soil.

The red-burnt soil contained in the drilling soil samples is related to the abandonment of buildings.

Friends who often read tomb robbing novels will be familiar with it. In all kinds of tomb robbing works, tomb robbing thieves have one essential artifact, which is the "Luoyang shovel". With this shovel, the ancients will The location of the tomb can be determined in minutes. What kind of artifact is this Luoyang shovel? How can a shovel determine the location of an ancient tomb?

The magic of the Luoyang shovel is that it can easily and completely remove underground soil samples in just one sentence! Neither a steel shovel nor a short-handled hoe can do this. Tomb robbers will conduct a simple on-site analysis through the soil they brought up. The lingo in the circle is called "looking at the soil". If they find mature soil that has been disturbed by humans, then there may be tombs or ancient buildings underground. If you have a good eye, It is even possible to determine the age of the ancient tomb, what funerary objects it contains, and what direction the coffin is facing. This is more accurate than using modern exploration instruments to analyze and measure.

So the question is, why can the Luoyang shovel bring soil completely, but other shovels cannot? Observing the Luoyang shovel carefully, we can see that the shovel head of the Luoyang shovel is this U-shaped. It uses the tension of soil particles squeezed against each other after they are pressed into the U-shaped tube to fix them in the tube and cannot move. This way the soil layer can be brought up completely. However, the arc during molding is very critical. If you are not careful, the shovel will not be able to carry the soil. Usually, making a small shovel requires a full 20 processes such as embryo making, calcination, heat treatment, shaping, and sharpening. Because of this complexity, it can only be made by hand at present. Nowadays, there are only a few workshops in Luoyang that can make Luoyang shovels.

Nowadays, the practical value of the Luoyang shovel has been fully recognized by the archaeological community. When the Chinese archaeological delegation visited Albania in the early 1970s, they even presented an exquisitely crafted Luoyang shovel as a gift to their colleagues in the country. , from tomb robbing to archeology, Luoyang Shovel relied on its own strength to make a magnificent turnaround.

It was not invented in Luoyang, Henan. It is a production tool for the people in the loess land along the Huaihe River and the wisdom of the working people. The Luoyang shovel is mainly used to dig wells in the Huanghuai area. The wellhead is small and the well water is deep, which is inconvenient for personnel. To enter, you can only use the tool that the shovel should turn into to remove soil. Later, the well was no longer needed, but the Luoyang shovel was used for digging soil, robbing tombs, and archeology.

Hello everyone, we meet again. I am Uncle Tong, an aborigine from Luoyang.

Is the Luoyang shovel the "fifth greatest invention" in ancient my country? What is it mainly used for?

Uncle Tong tells you that this iron alloy shovel is now mainly used for soil drilling, cultural relics archaeology, and foundation drilling.

In the early years, Luoyang people invented an iron detector. Because of the place of origin, everyone called this iron detector "Luoyang shovel". That should be the case. If foreigners invented it, After getting this thing, according to our custom, this thing is called "foreign shovel".

The "Luoyang shovel" has been officially used as a special tool for field archaeologists. Drawings are drawn in textbooks to introduce its use and its use is promoted throughout the country. As a result, it has formed a unique tool in China. Archaeological drilling technology has also become a symbol of China’s archaeological drilling tools.

In the past few years, during the period of rapid urban construction development in the Hanhe area of ??Luoyang, blacksmith shops that made Luoyang shovels could often be seen on the roadside.

It can be said that the "Luoyang shovel" is also one of the best archaeological tools in the world. Luoyang shovels are widely used in national infrastructure, scientific research and industry.

A Luoyang shovel travels through thousands of years.

In recent years, "Luoyang Shovel" has been given more cultural symbols. For this reason, in Luoyang, the "Luoyang Shovel" Museum also came into being.

At present, the Luoyang Shovel Museum has been approved by the municipal cultural relics department and reported to the Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau.

I will tell you the most reliable answers to all your questions about Luoyang. As long as you want them, I will have them.

Suggestion: People in Luoyang should stop posting posts like this. It is a matter of clear distinction between right and wrong. It is not worth letting a bunch of trolls ferment Henan and Luoyang.

The Luoyang shovel is not an ancient invention, something from the early Republic of China. In the past, people in Luoyang called it: shovel. The name was changed after the reform and opening up.

The leader who changed the name also considered that its archaeological effect is greater than tomb robbing. After all, after liberation, archaeology and infrastructure were used a lot.

There are several manufacturers in Xiaoli Village. How can it be sold publicly if it is just a tomb robbing tool? Everyone still has a registered trademark.

When we were traveling to Sanmenxia, ??the little girl wanted to tell us about Luoyang shovel. We all laughed and refused because we knew very well that the village where Luoyang shovel is made is only one kilometer away from us.

The discussions and comments about the Luoyang shovel on the Internet are a bit extreme. Tomb robbers are not new to today. There were still tomb robbers in the dynasties before the Luoyang shovel was invented.

Luoyang shovel is not necessarily required to explore the tomb, but its effect is recognized by the industry and is very powerful and scientific. In addition, the tomb explorer’s sight, smell... judgment and theoretical experience on Feng Shui treasure land and site selection ... Experts can basically tell where there is a big tomb.

There are also Japanese and horse shovels poking around and probing at night...

The Luoyang shovel is a tool invented by Li Yaya, a tomb robber in Luoyang. Luoyang has been built by emperors since ancient times. Luoyang is the capital city, so there are many tombs of emperors and generals around Luoyang. However, Luoyang is also often invaded by wars. With the change of dynasties, once war breaks out, the people flee in all directions. At the same time, no one cares about the tombs of emperors and generals. At this time, the tomb robbers will show off their skills. In order to make the tomb robbing more convenient and accurate, they invented the tomb robbing shovel. This kind of shovel is driven into the ground and brings up the underground soil. Experienced tomb robbers can bring it up according to the The soil quality of the soil layer was used to determine whether there were tombs underground. Later, at the beginning of the 20th century, a man named Li Yaya near Luoyang invented the "Luoyang shovel" based on the ancients.

The tombs on Mang Mountain in Luoyang, Henan are so rugged that there is almost no place for cows to lie down, and the underground burial objects are extremely rich. After Zheng He's seven voyages to the West, China's ancient cultural relics and exquisite handicrafts were valued by Western businessmen, who "spended a lot of money to buy them on the black market." Due to the need to secretly dig out artifacts from ancient tombs, Luoyang's concave shovel became popular among the people in the middle of the Ming Dynasty.

Since then, Luoyang shovel has been gradually improved by future generations. The first place where it was widely used was naturally in tomb robbing, but now it has become an archaeological tool. After the famous archaeologist Wei Juxian witnessed tomb robbers using Luoyang shovel in 1928, he used it in archaeological drilling and played an important role in the excavation of famous ancient city sites such as Yin Ruins and Yanshi Mall in China. Nowadays, learning to use Luoyang shovel to identify soil quality is a basic skill for every archaeological worker.