Abstract
The Mausoleum of the Dingtao King (termed ‘M2’) is a large-scale huangchang ticou tomb that dates to the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.–25 A.D.). It is the highest-ranking Han Dynasty tomb discovered to date. However, biodeterioration on the surface of the tomb M2 is causing severe damage to its wooden materials. The aim of the present study was to give insight into the fungal communities colonized the wooden tomb. For this purpose, seven samples were collected from different sections of the tomb M2 which exhibited obvious biodeterioration in the form of white spots. Microbial structures associated with the white spots were observed with scanning electron microscopy. Fungal community structures were assessed for seven samples via a combination of high-throughput sequencing and culture-dependent techniques. Sequencing analyses identified 114 total genera that belonged to five fungal phyla. Hypochnicium was the most abundant genus across all samples and accounted for 98.61–99.45% of the total community composition. Further, Hypochnicium sp. and Mortierella sp. cultures were successfully isolated from the tomb samples, and were distinguished as Hypochnicium sp. WY-DT1 and Mortierella sp. NK-DT1, respectively. Cultivation-dependent experiments indicated that the dominant member, Hypochnicium sp. WY- DT1, could grow at low temperatures and significantly degraded cellulose and lignin. Thus, our results taken together suggest that this fungal strain must be regarded as a serious threat to the preservation of the wooden tomb M2. The results reported here are useful for informing future contamination mitigation efforts for the tomb M2 as well as other similar cultural artifacts.
Highlights
The ‘M2’ Mausoleum of the Dingtao King dates to the Western Han Dynasty and is located 200 m northwest of the Lijiacun Village in the Maji Township of the Dingtao District of Shandong Heze City (Figure 1)
To investigate microbial deterioration of tomb M2, representative samples of the white spots that were present on the surface of the ticou wall were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
There were 114 fungal genera that were detected among the samples (Supplementary Table S2), and the dominant genera were similar in all samples (Table 1)
Summary
The ‘M2’ Mausoleum of the Dingtao King dates to the Western Han Dynasty and is located 200 m northwest of the Lijiacun Village in the Maji Township of the Dingtao District of Shandong Heze City (Figure 1). The site has been referred to as one of China’s 10 most important archeological discoveries due to its value toward research on the imperial mausoleums of the Western Han. Fungal Diversity in an Ancient Wooden Tomb. Huangchang ticou was a burial form in ancient China that emerged in the spring and autumn period (770–476 B.C.) and became prevalent during the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.– A.D. 25). Huangchang ticou consist of piled wooden walls of cypress heartwood timbers that encompass the inner and outer coffins of the tomb occupant. Ticou refers to the shape and structure of the piledup material, which largely comprises wooden cross-sections of yellow cypress that face the inside and outside of the chambers and form the ticou wall (Huang, 1998). There are about 10 huangchang ticou tombs from the Han Dynasty that are being excavated in China
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