Brief Report on the Excavation of Tombs of the State of Zeng in the Yidigang Cemetery in Suizhou City, Hubei in 1994    (4)

    Being one of the burial sites of the aristocrats of the State of Zeng during a long period (from the middle Spring and Autumn Period to the early and middle Warring States Period), the Yidigang Cemetery is located at Dongcheng District of Suizhou City, Hubei Province. In the southwest of the whole area about 180,000 sq m, there are three tombs excavated in 1994. The unearthed objects include potteries, bronzes and jades. Most of the bronzes bear inscriptions which provide information of the occupants of the tombs. Judging by the tomb structure and funeral objects, the tombs can be dated back to the late Spring and Autumn Period. There are some bronze vessels with their own names inscribed on them. It is a remarkable phenomenon that such inscriptions appear frequently in Chu - style bronzes. So it can be seen as one of the characteristics of Chu - style bronzes of the late Spring and Autumn Period.

 

Two Tombs of Yuan Dynasty with Stone-Reliefs and Murals in Changqing County and Pingyin County, Shandong   (41)

    From the year 1998 to 1999, two stone - chambered tombs were excavated in Shandong Province. The one located in Changqing County has a single round chamber, with the door built in imitation of a wooden structure and painted in colors, and little decoration in the chamber. According to the skeletons excavated, archaeologists suggest the tomb belongs to a family. The tomb in Pingyin County has three rectangular chambers, decorated with bas – reliefs and few paintings. It is probably a husband and wife tomb. The decorative themes include flowers, daily life (including open – door picture), and stories of piety. In the relief images, several figures are in clothes of the Yuan Dynasty. Though there is not any inscription in both tombs, the structures of the tombs and characters of the funerary objects indicate that they were built in the Yuan Dyansty.

 

The Inscription “Jing Zhi Ding” and Relevant Historical Events    (56)

    An inscription of 21 characters was referred in the essay A Tentative Explanation of Inscriptions on the Group of Chu- Style Bronzes Discovered Recently published in Cultural Relics, No.1, 2008. In the inscription, the phrase “Jing Zhi Ding”(Ding of Jing) has the same meaning with the phrase “Jing Ping Wang Zhi Ding” (Ding of King Jing Ping of the State of Chu) on the chime bell excavated at Jijiahu in Dangyang City. It means “the son of King Jing Ping of the State of Chu, named Ding”, and its grammar structure is similar to “Pan Wang Zhi Dang” (Dang of Pan Wang) in ZuoZhuan which means “the son of Pan Wang, named Dan”. The relevant historical event of the inscription is the war between State Chu and State Jin, in the 25^th year of King Zhao of the State of Chu(491 B.C.), which is for the Man clan of Rong nationality, and recorded in the inscription on the chime bell excavated from the No.1 tomb at Changtaiguan, Xinyang City. In terms of shape and decoration, some of the bronzes are similar to the excavations of the tomb of Marquis Zhao (518~419 B.C.) of the State Cai in Shou County, Hubei Province. So the date of these bronzes can also be proved by archaeological typology method.

 

A Review of Report of Archaeological Excavation at Famen Temple (2 vol.)    (81)