Study On The Tombs Of Nanpanjiang River Valley During The Warring States Period In Qin And Han Dynasties

Nan Pan River is the only great river of eastern Yunnan, its lower reaches flow through Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi provinces. Locating in southwest China, it is the heartland of Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and the pivot of political, economic and cultural exchange since ancient times.This thesis first tries to analyze the tombs of Qin-Han period and Spring and Autumn period by studying Nan Pan River reaches basing on former researches. It systematically studies the upper reaches and the lower reaches over time. Time and features are key points of this thesis. The tombs will be divided into three periods:the early time, the middle time and the late time according to the evolving features of tomb structure and funerary objects. The features of early time are aboriginal and have little to do with Central Plain. For middle time, aboriginal features coexist with Central Plain features. For late times, Central Plain features predominates the aboriginal. The mid to late period of West Han Dynasty is the turning point of changes showing that the aboriginal features are gradually disappearing with Central Plain features increasingly dominating by studying overall tomb structure and form, texture, building craft and so forth of funerary objects.Moreover, the social group model, economic development and cultural landscape reflected by tombs are another focus of this thesis. In regard to social group model, Nan Pan River reaches are governed by several chiefdoms in early time and ruled by former chiefdoms coexisting with the central and local administrative system in middle and late time. Concerning economic development, agriculture, handicraft industry and stock farming are developing to some degree in early time, and hunting and fishing are important. Agriculture and artisanship industry are greatly developing and agriculture gradually dominates in middle and late time. For cultural landscape, it has a rich art culture in early time. In middle and late time, the introduction of Chinese characters exponentially speeds up cultural development. At last, the thesis discloses that the culture of Nan Pan River reaches is not single but influencing, colliding and blending mutually by an avalanche of cultures.