Kaoguxuebao 2011-1

Contents

Chen Shengqian,
         The Adaptive Changes of the Prehistoric Cultures in the Zones along the Yangshan Mountains and the Great Wall …………………………………………………………… ( 1 )
Lian Shaoming,
         The Baiji (Supplicating Sacrifices) and Yuji (Exorcising Sacrifices) of the Shang Dynasty ………………………………………………………………………………… ( 23 )
Liu, Zunzhi,
         The Researches on the Mausoleums of the Feudatory Princes of the Western and Eastern Han Dynasties ………………………………………………………………………… (57  )
Academia Turfanica, Xinjiang and Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Excavation on the Yanghai Cemetery in Shanshan (Piqan) County, Xinjiang ………………………………………………( 99 )

THE ADAPTIVE CHANGES OF THE PREHISTORIC CULTURES IN THE ZONES ALONG THE YANSHAN MOUNTAINS AND THE GREAT WALL
by  Chen Shengqian

      The zones along the south and north sides of the Yangshan Mountains and the Great Wall were important ecotone in China, the environment of which is very instable and sensitive to external changes but the natural resources of which are plentiful and diversified. As the Cultural Ecology Theory on the hunter-gatherers, the hunter-gatherers could deal with the instability of the resources by increasing mobility and storage, extending diet pattern, improving exchanges with other human groups and intensifying the utilization of some resources; compared to those of the non-exotone zones, the frequency and scale of these methods would be both larger. As for the food producers, they would rely on pluralistic subsistence styles; meanwhile, along with the increasing population, the people would seek for the extension of production scales; if the conditions permitted, the people would also more effectively utilize the social resources, which included developing specialized subsistence, forming symbiotic relations with the stable agricultural people, or seizing profits through warfare, to deal with the risk of instable resources. The archaeological researches revealed that in the late Paleolithic Age, the most important adaptive strategy of the people living in this area applied was increasing mobility. With the ending of the last glacial stage, the food producing economy and the warmer and moister environment created new ecological space in which the Xinglongwa Culture prospered. During the entire Neolithic Age, the main adaptive strategy in this area was the pluralistic subsistence with higher proportion of hunting-and-gathering economy. At the time of Lower Xiajiadian Culture, along with the domestication of horses, the animal husbandry appeared as an economic type, and then developed into nomadic economy. At the same time, the dry farming system based on the cultivation of crops, especially the soybeans, and animal husbandry was established in the North and formed a symbiotic relation with the nomadic economy. The ecological bottleneck of this zone forced the people living here to utilize the steppe resource which was much richer and to construct new subsistence style.

THE BAIJI (SUPPLICATING SACRIFICES) AND YUJI (EXORCISING SACRIFICES) OF THE SHANG DYNASTY
by  Lian Shaoming

      The bone divination inscriptions unearthed from Yinxu in Anyang reflected that in the Shang Dynasty, the sacrificing ceremonies were frequently held to both the favorable and evil supernatural beings. In addition to the annual sacrifice, the most important sacrifices in the Shang Dynasty as the oracle bone inscriptions were Baiji拜祭 and Yuji御祭, the intentions of which were completely opposite: Baiji was held to pray for blessings and Yuji was held to get rid of misfortunes. Xu Shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty glossed in Shuowen Jiezi说文解字 (Commentary of the Explanation and Study of Principles of Composition of Characters) that “Fu福 means You祐 (blessing of the favorable deities)” and “Huo祸 means Hai害 (harm, disaster) and the deities not bless”. Huo祸 and Fu福 were just the ominous and auspicious things. Sacrifice was an important content of political activities of the Shang Dynasty. Most of the royal ancestors could be offered with Baiji individually while sometimes some of the royal ancestors were also offered with Baiji collectively; anyway, the goal of the Baiji was the same to supplicate for favorable weathers and good harvests. The deities of mountains and rivers and other natural objects were also offered with Baiji in diversified ways and complicated procedures. In the Shang Dynasty, the Heaven’s revelations were also offered with Baiji, as well as military actions for victory. The Yuji was just the sacrificial ceremonies of averting or exorcising, the goals of which were to avoid disasters and warfare and to get rid of devils and diseases. The large-scale Yuji would be held for several days and large numbers of animals would be paid as sacrifices. In the divination inscriptions of Li Group unearthed in Yinxu, the records of holding Yuji to a Father Ding mentioned that over 100 heads of cattle were used as sacrifices. The Shang Kings usually held Yuji for some specific reasons, such as the severe disease, body disease, tooth disease, finger or toe disease, ear disease, etc. Many aristocrat titles and names appeared in the divination inscriptions about Yuji, which might hint that these Yuji ceremonies were held by the Shang Kings for the sake of these aristocrats. Just like Baiji, Yuji was also held for deities of natural objects, such as that of rivers, the soil, the directions (e.g. the God of the East), the sun, etc.

THE RESEARCHES ON THE MAUSOLEUMS OF THE FEUDATORY PRINCES OF THE WESTERN AND EASTERN HAN DYNASTIES
by Liu Zunzhi

        Xuzhou is the location of important feudatory state of the Western and Eastern Han Dynasties, with only a brief interval in the Xin Dynasty between them. According to the rules of the Han Dynasty, the feudatories should be buried in their states after their death; except for the ones not buried in their feudatory states for the historic reasons, the Chu Princes of the Western Han Dynasty and the Pengcheng Princes and Xiapi Princes of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the capital of whose feudatory states were in the vicinity of Xuzhou, were all buried in present-day Xuzhou area. To date, more than 10 mausoleum yards of feudatory princes including almost 20 tombs have been found in the greater Xuzhou area.
More mausoleums of the feudatory princes of the Western Han Dynasty have been found in Xuzhou area than that of the Eastern Han; these mausoleums show the relationships of succeeding and developing. The typological analyses to the mausoleum structures showed that the plans of these burials were developing from symmetrical arrangement along the central axis to asymmetrical arrangement and the structures of them were changing from cave tombs with features of vertical shaft tombs to pure horizontal cave chamber tombs, and from the styles of the pre-Han periods to the Han style, which was imitating the residences of living people. From the angles of distances and positions, the relative distances were getting shortened, and the positions changed from the prince being set on the left of the princess to the prince being set to the right of the princess. The analyses to the unearthed artifacts, the attendant tombs and storage pits revealed that four mausoleums of the Chu Princes belonged to the early Western Han Dynasty and other four belonged to the middle and late Western Han Dynasty.
The mausoleums of the Chu Princes had both similarities and differences to the imperial mausoleums of the Western Han Dynasty and the tombs of the feudatory princes of other regions, showing the local characteristics during the process of the development of the unified Han Culture. The horizontal cliff tomb of the Western Han Dynasty in Xuzhou was a burial type of feudatory princes with the influences of the burial systems before then Han, especially the Qin Dynasty, as well as the local tradition of hewing the tomb chamber out of the cliff. This burial style strongly influenced the popularizing of the horizontal cliff tombs in the surrounding regions, but it is barely reasonable to say that it also has influences to the Baling Mausoleum of Emperor Wendi of the Western Han Dynasty. The horizontal cliff tomb as a burial style declined in late Western Han Dynasty and disappeared in the Western Han, which would be related to the transferring of political powers.
Fewer mausoleums of feudatory princes of the Eastern Han Dynasty have been found so far, but the burial system of them still could be discussed based on the known data, the occupants of the discovered mausoleums could be inferred and comparative studies could also be done with the imperial mausoleums and burials of the feudatory princes of other regions.

EXCAVATION ON THE YANGHAI CEMETERY IN SHANSHAN (PIQAN) COUNTY, XINJIANG
by Academia Turfanica, Xinjiang and Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology

         Yanghai Cemetery, which is located in Yanghaixia Village, Toyuk Township, Shanshan (Piqan) County, Xinjiang, consists of three zones neighboring to each other. Zone I which is located in the west has over 1000 burials, 218 of which have been excavated; Zone II has about 1500 burials, 223 of which have been excavated; Zone III has 500 burials, 80 of which have been excavated. The densities of the burials in these three zones are slightly different: the burials in Zone I are arranged the most densely, followed by Zones II and III in reducing order. The burials in each zone are arranged evenly and in tidy orders.
The excavated burials could be classified into four types. 29 tombs belong to Type A, which are oval earthen shaft tombs with second-tiers. 65 belong to Type B, which are rectangular earthen shaft tombs with second-tiers. 360 tombs are of Type C, which are rectangular earthen shaft tombs. 57 tombs belong to Type D, which are earthen cave tombs with shaft passages and sideway cave chambers. All of the tombs are dug as a vertical shaft pit first, and all of the tombs have covering matters made of wattles or reeds. These chronological sequences of these tombs are tightly jointed without gaps and therefore could be classified under a uniform standard. Type A was the earliest, followed by Types B and C, while Type D emerged the latest. 
The tomb occupants are buried in flexed and extended supine, flexed on side positions; secondary burials are also seen. Among the burial furniture, the wooden bed made out of log was the most peculiar one; the elaborately woven straw mats, screens and pads, leather pillow, felt and carpets were also rare artifacts.
Most of the grave goods are potteries and wooden wares; among the potteries, the cups with straight and flat ears, pots, pans and jars with ring feet, basins and single-lugged jars have clear features. Among the wooden wares, the buckets, basins, drills and fireboard for making fire, bows and arrows and horse bits are also very rare. The leather costumes, woolen textiles, bronzes, bone and horn implements and irons especially the costumes with gorgeous designs, the hunting tools, horse fittings, bronze weapons and animal motifs also bear some special features. Some grave goods are seldom seen in other places, such as harps, boomerangs, clay figurines, blast pipes, leather saddles, saddle carpets, leather archery targets, small bodkins, shaman’s cassock, long robe, etc.
The skulls of goat and sheep are also very often seen in the burials, as well as whole goats, mutton ribs or legs, ox heads, whole horses, horse ankle bones, jaws and scapulae, and dogs. Relatively fewer cases of botanical foods as grave goods have been found, the identified specimens of which are wheat, hulless barley, foxtail millet and common millet.
The archaeological discoveries of Yanghai Cemetery are very rich and reflecting multi-aspect cultural relations with the peripheral regions. The use of this cemetery lasted for 1500 years, from the 12th century BC to 2nd century AD.