Abstract for presentation at Spatial Sciences Institute International Biennial Conference

Exploring Xuzhou's Guishan Hanmu from a surveyor's perspective

  • Chengxuan Luo, China University of Mining Technology, China
  • Kazhong Deng, China University of Mining Technology, China
  • Shubi Zhang, China University of Mining Technology, China
  • Yunjia Wang, China University of Mining and Technology, RMIT University Senior Visiti, China
  • Kefei Zhang, RMIT University, Australia
  • Gang-Jun Liu, RMIT University, Australia

    • Xuzhou occupies a very important position in China historically, culturally and military-wise. As a city, Xuzhou’s history goes back to 2800 years ago when it was known as Peng Cheng, the capital city chosen by the famous West-Chu Overlord, XIANG Yu ( 232BC – 202BC) after the Qin Dynasty (221BC – 206BC) was overturned. As the home town of LIU Bang, the first Emperor of the Han Dynasty (202BC – 220AD), Xuzhou is the cradle of Han civilisation, a very influential civilisation to the development of Chinese culture. Due to its unique geographical location and environments, Xuzhou has been the focal point of military strategists both in the past and at present.
    Archaeological efforts in the early 1980s at a tortoise-shaped limestone hill, a few kilometres to the north of Xuzhou, found inside the hill a magnificent Han Dynastic tomb (called Guishan Hanmu in Chinese), built between 128BC and116BC. The tomb occupies an area over 700 m2 and a volume over 2600 m3. It has two almost parallel corridors and 15 connected chambers of various sizes and designated functions. Each corridor is 56 m long, 1.06 m wide and 1.78 m high, with a maximum horizontal deviation of 5 mm from its centre line. The two corridors are 19 m apart with an error of parallelity of only 20 seconds.
    Many mysteries surrounding the tomb have yet to be demystified. From the perspective of surveying, for example, it is very hard to figure out how the measurement precision was achieved in the excavation of the tomb’s corridors more than 2000 years ago. Even with currently available advanced surveying technologies and measuring techniques, such precisions are still regarded as incredible. Utilities of 3D laser scanning, close range photogrammetry, global positioning systems, geographical information systems and virtual reality may be leveraged to clarify the situation by providing some useful supports for gathering relevant spatial data and producing some maps, charts and 3D models.This paper outlines a research design aiming at the demystification of some ancient surveying mysteries surrounding the Guishan Haimu with the support of spatial information technologies.
    Key word: Xuzhou, ancient tomb, surveying, precision, spatial information technology

    Conference Organiser - ICMS Pty Ltd