kaoguxuebao 2006-4

 

 

KAOGU XUEBAO

(Acta Archaeologica Sinica)

No. 4, 2006

 

 

Contents

 

Research Center of Borderland Archaeology, Jilin University,

    A Study of the Egg-shaped Urn ------------------------------------------------------(  )

Gao Zhixi,

On the Evolution of the Mourning and Burial Institutions in the Pre-Qin and

Han Periods -----------------------------------------------------------------------------(  )

Nanjing Museum, Wuxi Municipal Museum and Xishan District Commission

for the Preservation of Ancient Monuments

Excavation on the Pengzudun Site at Xishan in Wuxi, Jiangsu -----------------(  )

Wang Yu,

Survey of Rock-carved Buddhist Images of the Tang Period in the Chongqing

Three Gorges Reservoir Area --------------------------------------------------------(  )

 

 

 

 

 

 Abstract:

 

A STUDY OF THE EGG-SHAPED URN

Research Center of Borderland Archaelofy, Jili University

 

 

By means of archaeological typology, the egg-shaped urn can be divided into two types: the round-based and the flat-based. The latter is rare, while the former occurs in a great number and can be roughly divided into 12 sub-types in the light of its variation in shape. It came into being in the Longshan period (ca. 2300 BC) and gradually went out of use in the early Spring-and-Autumn period (ca. 600 BC), undergoing four phases of evolution: from the late Longshan period to the early Xia Dynasty; from the middle Xia Dynasty to the early Shang Dynasty; from the late Shang Dynasty to the beginning of the Western Zhou Dynasty; and from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the early Spring-and-Autumn period.

In regionalization, the egg-shaped urn falls into five areas, namely central and southern Inner Mongolia, the Yellow River valley in Shanxi and Shaanxi, central and southern Shanxi, southern Hebei and northern Henan, and Guanzhong area.  Comparison of pottery urns of early and middle Longshan period unearthed from central and southern Inner Mongolia, northern Shaanxi and Central Shanxi suggest   that the egg-shaped urn very probably originated in central Shanxi, and that the round- based urn with basket impression in this area must have been its prototype. In the light of the development and dynamic mode of the matter, it can be inferred that the spreading course of egg-shaped urns in the early and late phases might have reflected the migration of ancient populations.

The egg-shaped urn was used mainly in three respects, i.e. as storage utensils, coffins and funeral objects. It changed with the spreading course, and finally went to vanish. Moreover, this paper discusses the factors of the vanishment of the egg-shaped urn in different areas.

 

 

 

ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE MOURNING AND BURIAL INSTITUTIONS IN THE PRE-QIN AND HAN PERIODS

 

by Gao Zhixi

 

    The pre-Qin mourning and burial institutions were greatly changed in the Qin and Han period, with traditional ritual and customs gradually replaced by newly formed ones.

    During pre-Qin times, mourning ritual included bathing the corpses, putting the face covering and mouth-, ear-, eye- and hand-pieces in corresponding positions of their body, and then holding the corpse dressing-and-tying and en-coffining rites, which are all reflected in tombs of the Western and Eastern Zhou period. In the Han period, these pre-Qin ritual and customs still prevailed in some areas, as exemplified by the common practice of the corpse dressing and tying customs in Wu’s Changsha Princedom. But there arose the institution of using jade shrouds for higher-rank noblemen, such as princes and marquises, which reflected a considerable change of mouring ritual in Han times.            

   The burial ritual of the Zhou period was embodied in the institution of using inner and outer coffins. The rites include corpse en-coffining, outer coffin examining, and inner coffin moving into the ancestral temple, decorating and loading, leading to the burial pit, and lifting and entombing. In the Han period, changes appeared mainly in the internal building of the tomb. The grave was built as a rock-cut cave, a vaulted brick chamber or a stone cist or furnished with a cypress-block structure, and generally consisted of a tomb-passage, a corridor, a tomb-gate and a chamber. These newly arising features reflected the thorough change of the coffin using institution and burial ritual of pre-Qin times.

.  In the Shang and Zhou periods, people stressed sacrifice to the spirit of the dead in ancestral temples. From the late Western Zhou period, with the disruption of the patriarchal system and ritual institution that served the Zhou ruler’s dominance, temple sacrifice began to be relaxed, and noblemen held sacrifice on their ancestors’ tombs rather than in ancestral temples controlled by the patriarchal system. Thus the grave mound came into being as a sign of aristocratic status and power. In the Warring States period, the rise of princes’ mausoleums and the construction of tomb gardens laid the foundation of the formation of the tomb garden building institution in the Qin and Han period. In this period, temple sacrifice and tomb sacrifice were harmonized and unified, which led to the final formation of the Western Han tomb, tomb garden and tomb temple building institutions.

 

 

 

EXCAVATION ON THE PENGZUDUN SITE AT XISHAN IN WUXI, JIANGSU

 

Nanjing Museum, Wuxi Municipal Museum and Xishan District Commission for the Preservation of Ancient Monuments

 

 

In 2000 to 2002, the Nanjing Museum and other institutions carried out three seasons of excavation on the Pengzudun site with remains of the Majiabang culture and the Shang-Zhou period. The vestiges discovered to be of the Majiabang period include a house-foundation, 12 ash-pits and 33 tombs. The whole Majiabang remains revealed fall into three phases: the first phase is represented by the pottery combination of fu cauldron, basin and cylindrical vessel, without dou stemmed vessel; the second phase, by the combination of fu, basin, dou, etc., with the dou and handled jar as new types; and the third, by the ding tripod, basin, dou, jar and ring-foot basin set. The appearance of ring-foot vessels indicates the first development of elements of the Songze culture. In date the second phase goes back to ca. 6300—6100 BP. Among the Shang-Zhou remains are 37 ash-pits and pottery fu, yan steamer, ding, jar and dou sets. Most of the vessels bear designs, including stamped geometrical patterns and cord marks. The combination with the fu as the main cooking vessel must reflect the development of the Maqiao culture and belong to the late Shang and early Zhou culture arising in the Taihu Lake area after the Maqiao culture. The excavation of the site provided important data for investigating the features of cultural distribution and the cultural multiformity of the transitional zone in the Taihu area during the Majiabang period. Meanwhile, the site reflects certain differences between the local and the Ningbo-Zhenjiang areas in the Shang-Zhou period I cultural aspect, which gives inspiration to the future work in the Taihu zone.

 

 

 

SURVEY OF ROCK-CARVED BUDDHIST IMAGES OF THE TANG PERIOD IN THE CHONGQING THREE GORGES RESERVOIR AREA 

 

by Wang Yu

 

 

    The Chongqing Three Gorges Reservoir Area covers some dozen counties and cities, including Wushan, Fengjie, Yunyang, Wanzhou, Zhongxian, Shizhu, fengdu and Fuling. Archaeological survey shows that there remain very rare rock-carved Buddhist images of the Tang period. The Tang cliff-side shrines and statues were discovered at four localities: Linjiangyan of Zhongzhou Town and Shifoyan of Shibao District in Zhongxian County, and Xiayansi of Shuangjiang Town and Dafotou of Yun’an Town in Yunyang County. These remains are largely of the middle to late Tang period and can be divided into three groups. The first group belongs to the early middle Tang from the Suzong to Shunzong reigns; the second to the late middle Tang from the Xianzong to Xizong reigns; and the third to the time from the late Tang to the final stage of the Dynasty. The statues are usually combined in the five-, seven- and three-image sets though there occurs the double-image set in a few cases. They represent Holy Triad of the West, Sakyamuni, Prabhutaratna Buddha, Maitreya Buddha (including statues of Maitreya Buddha and Crowned Buddha), Avalokitesvara, etc. On the whole, these works are roughly the same as those recorded in Sichuan both in content and form.