Researches On The Burials Of Western Zhou Dynasty In The Region Of Fenghao

The region of Fenghao was the capital of Western Zhou Dynasty, and it was thepolitic, economy and culture center during the 300 years'reign of Western ZhouDynasty. This paper synthesizes the features of Western Zhou burials in this regionthrough the aspects of time, space and rank, then combines with the excavation datafrom sites, the historical documents, the inscription in bronze vessels and theachievements of history study, finally presents a comprehensive character of WesternZhou culture in the region of Fenghao.More than 1,000 Western Zhou burials in Fenghao region have been excavatedby now, but all the earlier studies were based on some parts of these burials, whichmeant we still need a systematic chronology based on all the burials. This papercollects all the burial data which have been publis ed, lists the type, quantity andblage of ceramics, analyzes all the ceramics using the method of typology, thencombines with the stratum evidence and the coexistence of different ceramic types inthe individual burial to draw a conclusion that the burials in the region of Fenghao canbe actually divided into 6 periods: first period is the earlier part of early Western Zhou,which is about the time of King Wu, Cheng and earlier time of Kang; second period isthe later part of early Western Zhou, which is about the time of the later time of KingKang and Zhao; third period is the earlier part of middle Western Zhou, which isabout the time of King Mu; fourth period is the later part of middle Western Zhou,which is about the time of King Gong, Yi, Xiao, Yi; fifth period is the earlier part oflate Western Zhou, which is about the time of King Li and Gonghe; sixth period is thelater part of late Western Zhou, which is about the time of King Xuan and You. This6-period division of the burials reflects the change of burials in phase, which can beviewed as the most comprehensive and particular chronology of Western Zhou burials in Fenghao region, and probably be taken as a standard of the Western Zhou culture, which will be helpful to the study of other regions. After the chronology, I also trace the ceramic features and their changes through time, including the decoration, the quantity of different ceramics types, the change rhythm of ceramics and the change of assemblage. All of the above studies give us an all-sided character of the ceramics in Fenghao region.Since the earlier study of culture elements analysis was only based on part of the burials, this paper gives a restudy of culture elements analysis based on all the burials, and firstly distinguishes the culture elements in Fenghao region into principle element and secondary element according to the difference of quantity and proportion. In this paper, I point out that the element from pre-Zhou and Shang, together with the element invented by Zhou people are the main body of Western Zhou culture. During the development of Western Zhou culture, it absorbed some elements from Laoniupo Culture, Lijiaya Culture, Siwa Culture and Datuotou Culture, and the Western Zhou culture in the region of Zhouyuan and east piedmont of Taihang Mountain also gave some influence to Fenghao region. Viewed through the character of ceramics, the Western Zhou culture in Fenghao region was born out of pre-Zhou culture and Shang culture, but the typical Western Zhou culture was actually forming in the process of getting rid of the influence of pre-Zhou and Shang culture. The decrease of pre-Zhou and Shang elements and the increase of the element invented by Zhou people can really account for the above conclusion. In addition, compared with Shang element, the influence of pre-Zhou element to Western Zhou culture was longer and deeper.Most of the earlier studies were limited to the typology of ceramics excavated from burials and the chronology based on the typology, there are almost no attention to the other aspects of burial. This paper pays much attention to the other facets of burial besides of ceramics, including the features of the structure, posture of the skeleton, burial object and sacrifice, and examines their changes through time. According to the change of these aspects of burial, I would like to say that there are two periods of transform, which is in the third period and the fifth period, then the Western Zhou burials in Fenghao region can be divided into 3 phases. This 3-phases division is different in change rhythm from the 6-periods division through ceramics analysis, which indicates the change sensitivity of ceramics. I would like to say that the chronology based on the change of ceramics is much more detailed, and the conclusion can be used to trace the change of other aspects of burial, but the ceramics buried in tombs are just one aspects of the whole burial custom, so we shouldn't neglect the change of other aspects.There are more than 20 excavations with different scale in Fenghao region since 30's in 20 century, but all the excavators had no idea to make clear the distribution of burials, and all the earlier studies had no discuss on it. This paper put all the burials together, and divides the burials into 10 districts according to the space and cluster of burials, then further divides the Fengxi A District and Fengxi C District which have more burials than the other eight ones into several groups according to space, the forming process of cemetery, the difference of burial customs etc. Compared with the typical Zhou burials and Shang burials in other regions, I point out that the burials in Fengxi A District mainly belonged to Zhou people, and the burials in Fengxi C District mainly belonged to Shang people. This is the first time to recognize some burials in Fenghao region belong to Shang people.Earlier studies lacked the analysis of rank difference, so it was hard to tell the society strata in Western Zhou Dynasty. This paper divides the Western Zhou burials in Fenghao region into five ranks according to the difference of shape, size and coffin, then point out that the status of Zhou people are higher than Shang people--the 'Wangchaoqingshi' are limited to Zhou people, 'Dafu' are mostly Zhou people, the main body of Zhou people are 'Shi'; there is no 'Wangchaoqingshi' among Shang people, 'Dafu' are rarely Shang people, and the main body of Shang people are commoners and the 'Shi' with lower status.The archaeology of gender rises recently in America, which can be taken as a new viewpoint for archaeology study. This paper tries to compare the difference of grave goods through gender, and points out the biggest difference of grave goods between male and female lies in that female tombs lack grave goods relating to war, which indicates female are absent in the arena of war in Western Zhou Dynasty. Then I point that the five thousands years' Chinese culture tradition for the roles of female probably origins from the idea 'hen shouldn't take charge of crowing' of Zhou people.According to 'Zhouli', the cemetery in Zhou Dynasty could be divided into 'Bangmu' and 'Gongmu'. This paper integrates all the investigated and excavated relics into a whole picture, including burials, the groundwork of buildings, hoards for bronze vessels, relics of handicraft, houses, wells and pits, then points out there were three centers according to the cluster of different relics: one is the center located in Fengdong region, including Doumen town, Huayuan village, Pudu village, Baijiazhuang, Luoshui village, Shangquanbei village, Xiaquanbei village. The other two located in Fengxi region, one is from the north of Dayuan village to Keshengzhuang village, the other one is around Xinwang village. The burials in Fenghao region also had three clusters which was consistent to the three relics centers, so I think the burials in Fenghao region can be divided into three "Bangmu" at least: the first one included Fengdong A, B, C, D District, the second one included Fengxi A, B, C ,D, E District, and the third one included Fengxi F District.There are more than 20 Western Zhou bronze vessels whose inscription mentioned 'Fang', but there are no consensus on whether this 'Fang' was just the 'Feng' capital or 'Hao' capital, or another capital besides of 'Feng' and 'Hao' capital. This paper points out that the 'Fang' was probably in the region of the western bank of Feng River, for that the Western Zhou burials and other kinds of relics in Fenghao region all converged into 3 clusters, which meant there were actually 3 centers in Fenghao region. The first and the second center can be considered as 'Feng' capital and 'Hao' capital, and the third one was probably the 'Fang' which was mentioned in the inscription.