An Archaeological Study Imperial Mausoleums Of The Liao Dynasty

The Liao Empire was a unified multi-ethnic state established by the Khitan people.It was founded in 916 by the Emperor Taizu of Liao,Yelü Abaoji,and fall to the Jin in 1125,lasting for more than two hundred years.There are six Liao imperial tombs according to the historical documentation and archaeological discoveries located in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Liaoning Province.Since the end of the Qing Dynasty,scholars began researching the location of Liao imperial tombs,warlords robbed the imperial tombs,and the Japanese in the 1930 s and 1940 s excavated the Liao imperial tomb Qingling and started the study of Liao imperial tombs;since the founding of PRC,the archaeological excavation of the Liao imperial tombs continued and achieved some results in the system of the Liao imperial tombs,the funeral customs,the case studies of Zuling and Qingling,and the study of the auxiliary tombs.This article takes Liao imperial tombs such as Deling,Zuling,Huailing,Xianling,Qianling,and Qingling as the research object.It divides the imperial cemetery into two parts,the area inside the cemetery and the area outside the cemetery according to the structural elements and characteristics of the cemetery.The structural elements inside the cemetery include the cemetery gate,spirit path,cemetery enclosure,inner and outer cemetery,the spirit path sculptures,funerary architectures,auxiliary tombs,and the tomb.The structural elements outside the cemetery include the outside architecture and the mausoleum town.According to the above summary,it is found that there are several structural variations among different Liao imperial tombs.In this academic paper,the Liao imperial tombs can be classified as from three phases in terms of the changes in different aspects,including the degree of openness,the distance to the Mausoleums,and the sacrificial buildings inside the cemetery,etc.The early phase includes Deling,Zuling and Huailing,which locates in Barin Left Banner and Barin Right Banner and is characterized by the closed cemetery,short distance to the Mausoleums,and sacrificial buildings mainly existing in the form of single buildings.Xianling,the sole example of the middle phase,situates in the Yiwulü Mountain of Beizhen,Liaoning Province,and is half open,principally constructed in the form of courtyard,far from the Mausoleums.Finally,Qianling and Qingling,which belongs to the late phase,situates in the Yiwulü Mountain of Beizhen,Liaoning Province and Barin Right Banner.Tombs in this phase has the characteristics of the open cemetery,long distance to the Mausoleum,and sacrificial buildings mainly existing as the courtyard building groups.The degree of openness of the cemetery and the distance to the Mausoleum may be related to the natural environment in which an imperial tomb sits,while the variation of architecture form probably is probably associated with the influence of other culture.The reasons for the formation and changes of the Liao imperial tombs may be related to the influence of foreign culture.This article believes that the construction method of the cemetery walls of the Liao imperial tombs is very similar to that of the Bohai King’s tombs,thus it might have been affected by the construction of the Bohai mountain city;the back half of the Liao imperial tomb is built into the natural mountain body,and the front half is a piled up grave mound.It may be influenced by the "making tombs by the mountain" way of constructing tombs of the Tang tombs;the cloister-style funerary architecture of the late phase of the Liao imperial tombs are similar to the Tang Dynasty’s imperial tombs,thus it should be the product under the influence of the Tang Dynasty’s imperial tomb system.The tombs of high-level nobles distributed inside and outside the cemetery of the Liao imperial tombs should be the auxiliary tombs of the emperor’s tomb.The establishment of the auxiliary tomb system was influenced by the burial system of the Tang funeral system.