Xiabandi Cemetery in Xinjiang

Compiled by
Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology

( Abstract)
    Xiabandi Cemetery was located in the Xindi and Xia Baldir Villages of Baldir Township, Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County, Xinjiang. This cemetery was on the secondary terraces on the two banks of the middle reach of Taxkorgan River in the northeast of Pamir Mountains. To coordinate with the construction of the Xiabandi Water Control Project, in 2003 through 2004, Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology excavated all of the 178 tombs of this cemetery. In these tombs, 28 had mounds on the ground but neither graves nor grave goods found, therefore only 150 real tombs were excavated in this cemetery, from which 191 pieces (or sets) of grave goods made of pottery, wood, bronze, silver, stone, glass, iron, etc.  were unearthed.
    The whole cemetery consisted of ten clusters containing various numbers of tombs. The popular burial types were direct burials with some exceptions of cremation burials. The use of this cemetery lasted for very long time and could be roughly divided into three phases corresponding to the Bronze Age, the Han to Tang Dynasties and the Ming and Qing Dynasties. 92 tombs belonging to the Bronze Age were mainly distributed in three clusters including AII and AID; the 27 tombs belonging to the Han to Tang Dynasties were mainly distributed in three clusters which were AI, AII and AV; the 31 tombs belonging to the Ming and Qing Dynasties were mainly distributed in six clusters including BI, BIV, BV and BVI.
    The 92 tombs belonging to the Bronze Age could be divided into two sub-phases; the absolute dates of the 89 tombs of the sub-phase I were around 3500 - 3300 BP and that of the three tombs of the sub-phase II were around 2600 BP.
    The 89 tombs of the sub-phase I of the Bronze Age showed strong consistency and local characteristics in funeral customs. The direct burials mostly had small mounds on the ground and their orientations were mostly northwest. They seldom had burial furniture; some tombs were covered with a layer of wooden boards, wooden posts or stone slabs and a layer of reeds were padded on the bottom. Most of the tombs were single primary burials in flexed on side position with few exceptions of secondary burials. Among the grave goods, the jar with contracting neck, bowl, trumpet-shaped earring and wide-band-shaped bracelet are the typical ones similar to their counterparts in Andronovo Culture, because of which we named this sub-phase as Xiabandi Type of Andronovo Culture.
    The tombs of the Han to Tang Dynasties could be dated into two sub-phases: sub-phase I had 26 tombs, the absolute dates of which were around 1800 BP; that of the one tomb of sub-phase II was around 1400 BP.
    The tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties represented by the clusters BI and BVI provided valuable materials for the researches on the distribution of the ethnic groups, the ethnic composition and folklore in the Pamir Mountains.