Archaeological Study Of Cremation Tombs In The South Of The Great Wall In Song And Yuan Dynasties

Burning bones by fire can be traced back to the prehistoric period.As a form of funeral,cremation is contrary to the traditional Confucian theory in China.It has not been understood and accepted by the public for quite a long time and only exists in some remote minority areas.By the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties,the cremation records of the Han people began to appear in historical documents,and a small number of archaeological examples were found.Since the Song and Yuan Dynasties,although rulers and bureaucrats tried to prohibit cremation in order to maintain ethical norms and rule order,cremation was not only repeatedly prohibited,but became an important form of funeral at that time because of the comprehensive effects of many factors,such as the increasing secularization and popularity of Buddhism,the low economic level of ordinary people and the advantages of cremation itself.Zhi had a profound impact on the funeral system and social customs of later generations.By systematically sorting out the relevant archaeological materials,adopting the method of archaeological typology,and according to the unified classification criteria and principles,this paper classifies the types of tombs and burial implements in the area south of the Great Wall in the Song and Yuan Dynasties,and divides the crematorial tombs in the area south of the Great Wall into five regions,namely,the north to the south of the Great Wall.Areas,the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River,the upper reaches of the Yangtze River,the eastern coastal areas and Lingnan areas.At the same time,for regions with abundant materials and complete chronological sequence,the sub-regions and stages are further divided,and the characteristics of each region are summarized.On the basis of familiarity with the features of cremation tombs in Song and Yuan dynasties,this paper combs the reasons for the popularity of cremation in Song and Yuan dynasties,and deeply analyses the causes of the differences in the regional characteristics of cremation tombs in Song and Yuan dynasties from the aspects of traditional bony tombs and the religious beliefs of the tomb owners,with a view to deepening the academic circles' understanding of the south of the Great Wall in Song and Yuan Understanding of regional cremation tombs.