A Study On The Han Dynasty Tombs In Wu Shan Area

Wushan area situated in the vital part of the Three Gorges, once was territory of Ba. In 633 BC, Chu eliminated Kui and occupied land of Wushan, until 277 BC. Qin took the place of Chu to occupy the land of Wushan, thus which belonged to Chu more than 300 years. From 277 BC to 202 BC, before the Western Han Dynasty built a state, Qin had a short reign to Wushan area. Since 202BC, the Han Dynasty ruled Wushan area.Wushan area bears variable regional characters, because of its unique geographical unit and the change of cultural property. Accordingly, this paper bases not only on former theoretical study, but new materials and new result. On the other hand, it uses archeology methods and cultural factor analysis and so on to sort out Han Dynasty tombs at grave and funerary objects in Wushan area. After comprehensive comparison and analyses, this paper reveals several cultures like Ba culture, Chu culture, Qin culture Central Plain culture, local culture and so on.As one of important carriers to ancient culture, tombs centre on every aspect of ancient society. The Han dynasty toms in Wushan area are in a large number and rich types. And they are mainly distributed in junction between the Yangtze River and the Daning River. On the other hand, it has quite rich funerary objects that offers a lucrative material for history study in Wushan.This paper has five parts. The first part introduces importance of Wushan at archaeological culture from historical document and geography. And then there is an overview of previous studies of archaeology.The second part, it introduces the Han Dynasty tombs and funerary objects which has obvious cultural factors in WuShan, initially found that there still are complex landscapes in Han Dynasty.The third part, based on the Han Dynasty tombs materials in WuShan area, it makes a stage to Han Dynasty tombs in this area. According to the preliminary stage from original report on the excavation, previous research findings and varying pattern of tombs and funerary objects in this area, the Han Dynasty tombs in Wushan area is divided into four phases:the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, the middle Western Han Dynasty to the late period, Wang Mang period to the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the middle Eastern Han Dynasty to the late period. At the same time, it makes a statistical analysis to funerary objects which has obvious cultural factors at each period. Through the cultural factors of graves and typical funerary objects, we can learn about the cultural outlook of the Wushan area in the Han Dynasty.The fourth part is a comparative study with East and west near region on tombs, funerary objects and burial rites in Han Dynasty. Through finding of the same points and different points, this paper will elaborate the situation of culture in small area.According to the change of the burial stage and funerary objects, there is a law that tombs from shaft tombs to the emergence of the soil cave tombs and Brick-chambered tombs, and then to rapid development of soil cave tombs and Brick-chambered tombs which of the two become a main stream. Funerary objects, at the very beginning, merely from the imitation of the copper pottery combinations then to the emergence of the model burials then to the main position by model burials, at the same time, imitation copper pottery combinations fades out from the ranks of funerary objects. According to the evolution of tombs and funerary objects, the cultural evolution of the local area is divided into three stages:the early Western Han Dynasty, the middle Western Han Dynasty to the early Eastern Han Dynasty, the middle Eastern Han Dynasty to the late period.The fifth part has a review and summary to the main features of the Han Dynasty tombs in Wushan area, with a reflection at the history and culture of the Han Dynasty and cultural exchange in the process of burial development. At the same time, it points out the deficiency of the paper.As an important area of the Three Gorges, archaeological studies of Wushan area must be an important part of the regional Archaeology in Xiajiang. Through studying cultural characteristics of Han Dynasty tombs in Wushan area at each stage,it can explain the historical process of the formation of the multi national unified nation from one aspect. This paper hopes for archaeological research of the Han Dynasty in WuShan area to further enrich the cultural types of Eastern Chongqing.