KAOGU XUEBAO
(Acta Archaeologica Sinica)
No. 4, 2015
 

content
Xu Longguo,
A Research of the Gateways of the Ancient Capital City Gates of China ……………………………………………………………………………(425)
Bi Jingwei,
A Study on the Bronze He-bowl ……………………………………………… (451)
Yuan Yanling, zhang weijie
The Periodization and Chronology of the Bronzes of the Chu System…………………………………………………………………………(475)
Research Center for Chinese Frontier Archaeology, Jilin University and Liaoning Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology,
The Excavation of the Miaopu Cemetery of the Stone Tombs of the Han
Dynasty to the Three-Kingdoms Period in Liaoyang, Liaoning in 2008………(505)
Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology,
The Excavation of the Burials of the Three-Kingdoms to the Sixteen-Kingdoms
Periods in Kucha, Xinjiang in 2010……………………………………………(537)

abstract
 

A RESEARCH OF THE GATEWAYS OF THE ANCIENT CAPITAL CITY GATES OF CHINA
by
Xu Longguo
 

This paper discussed the evolution process of the forms of the gateways of the capital city gates from the Three-Dynasties Period (the pre-Qin historical period) to the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The paper consists of four parts: 1. Comprehensively trimming the discoveries of the gates of the capital cities from the pre-Qin period through the Sui and Tang Dynasties and elucidating the developing procedure from single-way gates to multi-way gates; 2. Examining the reasons for the emergence of the multi-way city gates, and the emergence of the multi-way gates to the designing ideas of the capital cities; 3. Exploring the political and ritual functions of the multi-way city gates; 4. Concluding the main viewpoints of the entire paper, which are: 1. With that of the capital city of the Western Han Dynasty as the border, the gateways of the capital city gates of ancient China could be divided into the early and late phases, the gates in the early one of which were mainly single-way gates and that in the late one of which were mostly multi-way gates (the mainstream of them were three-way gates). 2. The three-way city gates had nothing to do with the numbers of the steps of the palace; strict three-flight-step system has not been established in the Three-Dynasties Period, and the contents related to the three-flight-step system in the extant historic literatures might be the doctoring of the Confucian scholars of the Han Dynasty to the ancient canons and scriptures; 3. The emergence of the multi-way gates and the designing of “three gates on each side (of the capital city)” provided conditions for the forming of the central axis layout for the ancient capital cities and the establishing of the designing principle of “jianzhong liji (building the main hall of the palace in the center of the capital and setting a central axis pointing to the pole star)” for the palaces.
 

A STUDY ON THE BRONZE HE-BOWL
by
Bi Jingwei
 

The bronze he -bowl was invented by Dong Yi (lit. Eastern Barbarians) people around the Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou Periods, and diffused into the Central Plains and other regions in the early to mid Spring-and-Autumn Period and got popular there, and gradually vanished in the late Warring-States Period. The quantity of he unearthed was only second to that of ding-tripods and vases among the bronzes in the Eastern Zhou Period, from which the importance of he can be obviously seen. The bronze he was the most popular and existed the longest in present-day Shandong, followed by Henan and Shanxi; in Hebei, Beijing and Hubei, some he have been unearthed; while in Shaanxi, Gansu, Jiangsu and Hunan, only very few samples of he have been found. By the foot shapes, he can be mainly divided into three types: the flat-bottomed footless he, the ring-foot he and the he with the animal-shaped feet, and the quantities of these three types are descending from the first to the last. Seen from the bronze vessel assemblages and the shapes of related bronze vessels, the function of he should be wine vessel. The ranks of he-users ranged from low to high as reflected from the grave goods. The regional characteristics of bronze he was only clear in Shandong, but not very obvious in other areas. In term of genders of he-users, the proportion of men buried with bronze he was higher than that of women, but the contrast was not sharp. It is noticeable that when the bronze he diffused westward into the Central Plains, they made important influences to the emergences of the oval fu-cauldron, oval eared cup, oval ding-tripod, oval gui-tureen with ring foot and other oval-shaped bronzes in northern China. The phenomenon of “Eastern wares diffusing to the West” caused by the large-scale westward diffusion of bronze he was significant: this meant that Dong Yi had certain impacts on the Central Plains in the Eastern Zhou Period, and the cultural interchanges between the two regions were bidirectional, the results of which were not the single Zhou-stylization of the Dong Yi culture, but the culture of the Central Plains also had phenomena of “barbarization”. During the process of the conception and development of Huaxia civilization, the nutrition from Dong Yi culture was consistent.
 

THE PERIODIZATION AND CHRONOLOGY OF THE BRONZES OF THE CHU SYSTEM
by
Yuan Yanling  zhang weijie
 

The quantity and completeness of the chronological sequence of the bronzes of the Chu System discovered to date are second to none of that of the states in the Eastern Zhou Period. The establishment of the chronological sequence of the bronzes of the Chu System is the basis of the in-depth researches on the Chu Culture, and a reference calibrating rod for the chronological studies on the bronzes of other states in the Eastern Zhou Period. This paper made a systematic study on the bronzes of the Chu System published before 2013, the results of which showed that since the mid Spring-and-Autumn Period, the relatively complete development sequence of the bronzes of the Chu System began to form, and the style of the bronzes of this system has lasted down to the late Warring-States Period. By type and assemblage, the development of the bronzes of the Chu System could be divided into seven phases. The bronze groups unearthed from burials of the people of different ranks had differences in terms of assemblage, type and decors. In the Spring-and-Autumn Period, the popular assemblage of the bronzes of the Chu System unearthed from the burials of people lower than dafu (grand master) rank was the assemblage of Category B, and in the Warring-States Period, the popular bronze assemblage found in the burials lower than dafu rank was that of Category C. In the burials of dafu and higher ranks, in addition to the above-mentioned assemblages seen in the lower ranking burials, the assemblage of Category A consisting of the waisted ding-tripods with flat bottom, gui-tureens and square vases was also unearthed together. In different phases, the assemblages of the bronze groups unearthed from these higher ranking burials also had changes: in the Spring-and-Autumn Period, the coexistence of assemblages of Categories A and B was popularly seen in these higher ranking burials; in that of the Warring-States Period, the popular bronze assemblage seen in the higher ranking burials was the coexistence of the bronzes of Categories A, B and C together, which is different from the opinion of some scholars that there had been no obvious changes. As for the types and decors, that of the bronze groups unearthed from the burials lower than dafu rank usually showed clear changes, while that of the bronzes of Category A unearthed from the burials of dafu and higher ranking people usually kept more traditional elements. 
 

THE EXCAVATION OF THE MIAOPU CEMETERY OF THE STONE TOMBS OF THE HAN DYNASTY TO THE THREE-KINGDOMS PERIOD IN LIAOYANG, LIAONING IN 2008
by
Research Center for Chinese Frontier Archaeology, Jilin University
and
Liaoning Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
 

The Miaopu Cemetery was located in the nursery of the Liaoyang Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences at Shuguang Town, Taizihe District, Liaoyang City, Liaoning. The terrain of the cemetery was the terrace on the west bank of the Taizihe River at the southeast corner of Liaoyang City. Covering an area of about 50 ha in total, the cemetery was about 1.5 km to the west of the course of the Taizihe River. In the past, burials of the Han Dynasty to the Three-Kingdoms Period had been found in the surrounding areas: about 50 m to its south, a mural tomb of the Three-Kingdoms Period had been excavated in 1996, and about 400 m to its north, a mural tomb of the Eastern Han Dynasty was excavated on the Nanjiao Street in 2004. The local residents recalled that when the nursery was opened, brick- and stone-chamber tombs had been found. To coordinate with the construction in the Liaoyang Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, in May through November 2008, Liaoning Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology conducted rescue excavation to this cemetery, which recovered 19 stone-built tombs. The structures of these tombs were diversified, including single-cist, single-chamber, triple-chamber and multi-chamber tombs. The single-cist tombs were in simple form without passage, and all of them were in rectangular plan; the single-chamber tombs were in P-shaped or凸-shaped plans, some of which had grave good platforms; the triple-chamber tombs were in III-shaped plan, the three chambers were built abreast and linked to each other through square holes, and grave good platforms were built in them. The multi-chamber tombs were in the 凸-, 工-, 土- or T-shaped plans, the structures of which were complicated, and the stone slabs or boards used to build them were regularly trimmed and laid firmly. Rich grave goods were unearthed from these tombs, most of which were pottery wares, including ding-tripods, pots, jars, vats, zun-wine vessels, lian-cosmetic cases, long-necked bottles, boxes, basins, plates, eared cups, drinking cups, vessel stands, models of pavilions, lamps, trays, wells, water-drawing buckets, braziers, boshan-censers, stoves, fu-cauldrons, zeng-steamers, yu-tray stands, chopping blocks, kui-dippers, spoons, gourd ladles, gui-shaped vessels, chamber pots, cooking racks, vessel lids, etc. There were also a few silver and bronze wares and stone and bone objects unearthed from these tombs, in total 438 pieces of grave goods were unearthed.
 

THE EXCAVATION OF THE BURIALS OF THE THREE-KINGDOMS TO THE SIXTEEN-KINGDOMS PERIODS IN KUCHA, XINJIANG IN 2010
by
Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
 

In July and August 2010, Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology conducted clearance to five tombs (numbered as M11 through M15) in the Youyi Road Cemetery at Kucha County. All of the tombs were brick-chamber ones with ramp passages, three of which were single-chamber tombs and two were double-chamber. The single-chamber tombs consisted of the ramp passage, entrance, screen wall, sealing wall, tunnel, tomb chamber and side chambers; the double-chamber ones consisted of the ramp passage, entrance, screen wall, sealing wall, tunnel, tomb chamber, corridor and rear chamber. Most of the tombs were collective multi-time burials, each of which contained more than 10 individuals. The grave goods were usually arranged nearby the skeletons or in the fill, in total 350 pieces (sets) were unearthed, including pottery and iron wares, bronzes and gold and bone objects, and most of them were pottery and bronze wares; the pottery wares were mainly the single-lug jars, plus double-lug jars, six-lug jars, bowstring-pattern jars, etc. The bronzes were mainly coins, plus hairpins, belt buckles, etc. The dates of these tombs were the same as that of the 10 tombs excavated in 2007, which were the Western Jin Dynasty to the Sixteen-Kingdoms Period. The excavation of these tombs enriched our understanding to the Kucha Civilization and the profound influences of the Han Culture to Kucha even the entire Western Regions, and provided valuable primary materials for the researches on the cultural communications between Xinjiang and the Central Plains during the historical ages.