On The Early Stage Of The Qin Culture

In the recent years a research program titled "the Investigation and Excavation of the Sites, Capitals, and Mausoleums of Qin Culture" has been conducted on the upper reaches of the Xihanshui and Niutou Rivers in the East Gansu Province by the Provincial Institute of Archaeology of Shaanxi, Provincial Institute of Gansu, the Department of Archaeology of Peking University, the Department of Northwest University, and the Department of Archaeology at the National Museum of China. Years of hard work has yielded some significant information on the early stages of Qin Culture, and thus lay a good foundation for further studies. In this thesis "the Early Stages of the Qin Culture" refers to the archaeological materials, artifacts and features, left by the Qin clan and its allies with a time span from the late phase of Shang Dynasty through the early phase of the Spring & Autumn Periods of Zhou Dynasty.The thesis consists of four parts.Part One, the chapter I is the foreword that deal with several issues such as the definition of the Early Qin Culture, the theory and methods used in the research, and the review of the study in this field. As to the theory and methods, the author paid more attention to the archaeological materials those reflect the spiritual or mental aspects of the Qin Culture, such as those related to the religion and burial practices. Since the Qin clan has been conceived to be the east origin, the thesis pays special efforts to distinguish the artifacts and features of Qin clan from those of the Zhou and other peoples of the local origin.Part Two is composed of chapters II and III. A detailed introductive narration of the important archaeological projects and findings is presented first. The ruins of the features of the Early Qin Culture can be divided into 5 groups: the ruins of cities, the settlements, the construction bases, the religious features and the graves. Within the graves were 5 small types according to their size, accompanying goods, and the burial custom. Later the thesis gives a painstaking analysis into the social classes respectively of the tombs of the 5 groups.Part Three consists of 6 chapters from Chapter IV to Chapter DC These chapters are dedicated to several relevant topics such as the mechanics of the movement of Qin Clan to the upper reaches of the Xihanshui River, the location and function of Xizhi, a kind of religious lieu (facility), the geographic site of Qinting, the economic and geographic environment of the early Qin Culture, burial rituals and practices of Qin people, and the interrelationship between the Qin Culture and the cultures of other clans around. Based on these analysis some conclusions were drawn as below.1. Qin clans had settled in the upper reaches of Xihanshui River as early as the late phase of the Shang Dynasty through the early period of Western Zhou Dynasty along with the expansion of the Zhou Culture. The march had been carried out on the basis of some settlements and shown characteristics of military colonization.2. Sacrificial pits unearthed at Xishan site in Iixian County, Gansu Province, were coincident with the records of historical literature about the religious belief and conducts.3. The location of Qinting, one of the most significant settlements of Qin clan in their early history, was not as some scholars believed in Waquan Village, Zhangjiachuan County. As a matter of fact, it was in the Liya site, west to the Qingshui County seat, Gansu Province judged by the new archaeological materials.4. The Qin territory at its early stage was an area of military significance and topographical and climatic variety thus made it possible for them to develop a multi-industry economy. The Qin clan lived a life of mixture of agriculture, pasture husbandry, handicraft, and trade. Both the Zhou and Qin peoples put emphasis on the salt resource of this area and the growth of Qin's husbandry owed much to it. The practice of using gold to a wide range told influence from the cultures of pasture tribes in the north-west part of China and Central Asia. Their use of iron was possibly a result of the Western impact.5. The traditional burial practice of Qin clan was the extended supine pose with waist pit and sacrifice of human beings. To bury the deceased in a contracted pose was not the Qin's tradition hence it should be expelled from the factors applied to identify the origin of Qin Culture. The dead were buried in groups respectively of their families and clans, but the location of cemetery was fixed with regard to the residences. Some efforts have been dedicated to the trenches of Qin's burial practice. Trenches enclosed cemeteries was supposed to demarcate the cemeteries as well as to be indication of social dignity. It was one of the traditions of Qin Culture with most probably a more ancient roots in prehistoric settlements.6. The early Qin culture built some close relationships with the Siwa, the Shang, the Zhou cultures, and that from the north-west grassland. The effect from Kayue Culture, Xindian Culture and Baoshan Culture was invisible so far.