The Study On The Tombs Of Yan Culture Pottery Vessels In The Northeast Area

During the Warring States period,elements of Yan culture began to be seen in the hinterland of the Liaohe Plain.At the same time,many burials following the rituals of the Yan culture occurred in the cemeteries of the indigenous culture in the western part of Liaoning,which was at the forefront of cultural exchanges with the Central Plain.From the mid to late Warring States period onwards,along with the successful ruling over five minorities by Qinkai,the establishment of the Great Wall and the setting of the "Five Northern Counties" by the state of Yan,a large number of typical remains appeared in the western Liaoning and Liaohe Plain regions.The Central Plain’s cultural power gradually entered the Northeast,laying the foundation for the cultural unity in the Qin and Han dynasties that followed.Based on published sources about the remains of the Yan culture in the north-eastern region,this dissertation defines over 30 ritual burials with Yan-style pottery,and classifies them into the Early Warring States,Early Middle Warring States,Early Late Warring States and Late Warring States through typology on the pottery excavated from such burials.The burials were then divided into a number of classes according to different chamber sizes,pottery assemblage,and talc funeral objects,followed by a systematic analysis of their cultural factors and a summary of their chronological changes.From the early to late Warring States period,elements of Yan culture gradually increased along with Yan’s domination of the north-east;indigenous cultural types continued to develop in the region,so ritual burials with Yan-style pottery also coexisted in the same cemeteries as burials of the local indigenous culture.The pattern of Yan’s domination in the north-east was based more on the deep approval of the Yan cultural ritual system by the local communities rather than on ’exclusive military expulsion’ in the traditional sense.