The Research Of Chu Tombs In Southwest Anhui Province

Having a superior geographical position, Southwest Anhui. with its north at the foothill of Dabie Mountain and its south bordering the north shore of the Yangtze River, is a transport hub between the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and a middle strip of cultural transmission. During the Spring and Autumn period, the two countries Wu and Chu had fought fiercely over Huaiyi in the region. At the reign of Emperor ChuCheng, Wan was eliminated, and Southwest Anhui was mostly under the rule of Chu. Relics found in Southwest Anhui were mainly Chu cultural relics and sites, and a number of Chu tombs were found mainly in Qianshan, Cong Yang and the urban area of Anqing. In Qianshan area, the data of unearthed Chu tombs is relatively rich and complete, the tombs are numerous and in concentrated distribution, and the burial period is not missing from mid-Warring States period to the end of the Warring States. On the contrary, in other regions of Southwest Anhui. although a lot of Chu tombs have been unearthed, these tomb materials are too simple for researchers to study further. Thus, this paper chooses Chu tombs in Qianshan region in Southwest Anhui as the main research subject and carries out the study from part to whole.According to the ratio between the length and the width. Chu graves in Qianshan region can be divided into three types--narrow pit tombs, wide pit tombs and quadrate or nearly quadrate tombs. Each tomb types, according to the Burial ancillary facilities such as head shrine, platform and tomb passage, is further divided into three subtypes: no ancillary facilities narrow pit tombs, shrine with head, or narrow platform pit tombs; no ancillary facilities wide pit tombs, shrine with head, or wide pit tombs with tomb passage; no ancillary facilities quadrate tombs or near quadrate tombs, quadrate or near quadrate tombs with tomb passage. The number of wide pit tombs is the largest while that of square or nearly quadrate tombs is the least. Narrow pit tombs only appeared in the mid and late Warring States period, and the number dwindled. Wide pit tombs appeared in the mid, late and the end of Warring States period, popular mainly in the late Warring States period. Quadrate or near quarate tombs only appeared in the late Warring States period. The grave scale of narrow pit tombs is relatively the smallest, that of square or nearly quadrate tombs is relatively the largest, and that of the wide pit tombs just lies between the two. Meanwhile, among the tombs with affiliated facilities, no ancillary facilities tombs have the largest number, concentrating in late and the end of Warring States period; tombs with tomb passage have the smallest number, appearing in the late Warring States period; the number of shrines with head or platform tombs lies just in-between, largest in the mid Warring States period and gradually dwindling. Extending from Qianshan to the whole of Southwest Anhui, the scale of tomb pits unearthed is normally small and there are a lot of shrines with head. Different from Anhui other regions, tombs unearthed in Southwest Anhui region have their own features.The burial objects in Chu tombs in Qianshan area are mostly potteries, the shape of many being ding, beans, pots and bowls. There are relatively few bronze objects among which many are bronze weapons and a few are bronze ritual vessels, the bronze instrument and horses and chariots. Meanwhile, a small number of painted woodwork, jade and stone objects and tomb guardian beasts have been unearthed. The objects are mainly of Chu culture, and part of them are of Yue culture, Qin chulture and local culture. Through the typological analysis of these burial objects, we found that objects of Chu culture and local cultures were throughout the Warring States period, while those of Yue culture and Qin culture only appeared at the end of the Warring States period. The burial objects in Chu tombs in Qianshan area are various in their varieties, different in their numbers and complex; in addition, most tombs have not been excavated. Therefore, this thesis chooses the number of and material burial objects unearthed in tombs as the classification standard and divides burial objects into six combinations:no ding combination, single pottery ding combination, double pottery ding combination, three pottery ding combination, four pottery and bronze ding combination. No ding combination appeared in the middle, late and the end of the Warring States period, declining from the highest proportion in the mid Warring States period to the lowest at the end of the Warring States period. Single pottery ding combination appeared in the middle, late and the end of the Warring States period, and contrary to no ding combination, developing from the lowest proportion in the mid Warring States period to the highest at the end of the Warring States period. Double pottery ding combination only appeared in the late Warring States period, slowly enhancing its proportion at the end of the Warring States period. Three pottery ding combination appeared in the mid Warring States period, slowly enhancing its proportion in the late and at the end of the Warring States period. Four pottery ding combination appeared the least in Qianshan area, only in the late Warring States period. Bronze ding combination is very small quantities, appears only in the late Warring States period, no law. In the mid Warring States period, no ding combination was the most popular followed by single pottery ding combination. In the late and at the end of the Warring States period, single pottery ding combination was the most popular followed by double pottery ding combination.The burial objects in narrow pit tombs are mainly made of no ding combinations, with a few single pottery ding combinations and double pottery ding combinations and without three pottery ding combinations or four pottery ding combinations. The burial objects in wide pit tombs are mainly single pottery ding combinations, and then a few double pottery ding combinations and three pottery ding combinations, while those in square or nearly quadrate tombs are mainly four pottery ding combinations. The burial objects in no ancillary facilities tombs are mainly single pottery ding combinations, with fewer no ding combinations and double pottery ding combinations while those in shrines with head or platform tombs are mainly no ding combinations. The burial objects in tombs with tomb passage are mainly double pottery ding combinations. The tomb pit scale of no ding combinations in tombs is the smallest while that of single pottery ding combinations in tombs is relatively larger; compared with the tomb pit scale of single pottery ding combinations in tombs, that of double pottery ding combinations in tombs is larger; the tomb pit scale of three pottery ding combinations in tombs is larger than that of double pottery ding combinations in tombs; and that of four pottery ding combinations in tombs is relatively the largest. In a word, the scale of tomb pit has a positive correlation with the number of ding in the burial objects.This thesis analyzes the tomb types, the scale of tomb pits and the burial objects and concludes that the specifications of Chu tombs in Southwest Anhui are generally low and that these tombs mostly belong to the nobles and civilians, thus enriching research on Chu tombs in the whole Anhui region.