The Research Of Han Tombs In The Guangzhou Area

Based on the studies on the structure of the tombs and the combinations of burial pottery, this paper reveals the tendency of the change of tombs' structure in the Guangzhou area of the Han Dynasty and the interaction of the local culture and the Central Plains culture making use of the archaeological materials of Han tombs in the Guangzhou area.The excavation of the tombs in the Guangzhou area of the Han Dynasty can be separated into three phases according to the different objects and districts, they are the years from 1952 to 1983, the years from 1983 to 1995, and the years from 1995 to today. According to the difference of the objects of studies, the studies of the tombs in the Guangzhou area can be separated into three types, they are the studies on the burial objects, the studies on structure and age of the tombs, and the analysis in terms of culture. This part points out the goal of the studies and the potential discoveries after reviewing these studies objectively and reflecting on the problems and drawbacks.Chapterâ… is about the structure of tombs in the Guangzhou area. According to the difference of the building materials, the tombs in the Guangzhou area of Han Dynasty can be separated into three types, they are shaft tombs, wooden chamber tombs and brick chamber tombs. This chapter analyses the structure of tombs and classifies them using the methods of the typology in archeology. This chapter then makes statistics of the tombs according to the age of tombs in the tombs' reports, and make a judgment on whether the separation of the tombs' age is correct and whether the classification of the type of structure of tombs is appropriate. Each type of tombs prevailed in some time, shaft tombs only existed in the early and middle Western Han Dynasty; wooden chamber tombs existed in the period between late Western Han Dynasty and early Eastern Han Dynasty and it prevailed in the middle and late Western Han Dynasty; brick chamber tombs only existed in the Eastern Han Dynasty. In terms of the structure of the tombs, wooden chamber tombs and brick chamber tombs showed the similar transformative tendency, that was the function of coffin chamber became simplified, burial objects were separated from coffin chamber and the special space for burial objects, such as side box,box for burial objects appeared, the fact that burial objects were placed in the front chamber reveals that the space for burial objects became mature.Chapterâ…¡studies the combinations of burial pottery. This chapter analyses the local pottery, pottery ritual vessels and pottery models. Local pottery represented the local culture, pottery ritual vessels represented the culture of Central Plains, and pottery models came from the Central Plains and assimilated the local culture at the same time. Through making statistics, we can find out the existing period of these pottery and their ration in the burial objects in various kinds of tombs. Their existing period showed the prevailing period of the culture they represented. Pottery ritual vessels came into fashion since the early Western Han Dynasty, and prevailed in the early Eastern Han Dynasty, which means the culture of Central Plains exerted an increasing influence to the Guangzhou area. The localization of pottery ritual vessels means the introduction of the culture of Central Plains was also influenced by the local culture. Pottery models were changing continuously and prevailed in the period between late Western Han Dynasty and late Eastern Han Dynasty, and some of them assimilated the local culture. The culture of Central Plains impacted the local culture greatly when they were introduced into the Guangzhou area, but the local culture influenced the culture of Central Plains also, which brought the localized culture of Central Plains. So, the influences were interacted.Chapterâ…¢tries to separate the tombs in the Guangzhou area into several periods based on the studies in the previous chapters. According to the rule the tombs' changed, the tombs in the Guangzhou area can be separated into three periods, they are "the period with no space for burial objects", "the period with the space for burial objects appears" and "the period with the space for burial objects is matured".In addition, according to the difference of the combinations of the burial objects, the tombs in the Guangzhou area can be separated into two periods, they are "the period of local pottery" and "the period of pottery models". The two periods were intertwined, the period when there was no space for burial objects and part of the period when there was space for burial objects in in shaft tombs and wooden chamber tombs belong to "the period of local pottery"; part of the period when there was no space for burial objects and the period when the space for burial objects matured in wooden chamber tombs and all brick chamber tombs belong to "the period of pottery models".The epilogue makes a conclusion of the studies of the paper, and argues that the local culture in the Guangzhou area never vanished and kept developing in different ways in the context of the cultural unification.