A Study Of The Architecture Structure And Technique Of The Brick Tombs In The Mid-lower Stream Of The Yangtze River In Han And Six Dynasties

Based on the material of the graves that have been officially unearthed, this paper aims toclarify the evolution of the brick tombs of the Han and Six Dynasties in architectural structure andtechnique. It targets on the following geographical areas: the whole central-southern and somenorthern parts of Hubei Province in the mid-lower stream of the Yangtze River; the wholecentral-northern and some southern parts of Hunan Province; the whole central-northern and somesouthern parts of Jiangxi Province; the southern parts of Anhui Province and Jiangsu Provinceincluding some extended areas around the West Lake; the whole central-northern and somesouthern parts of Zhejiang Province. The graves in question include brick-earth structure tombs,brick-timber structure tombs, brick-stone structure tombs and pure brick-constructed tombs. Inaccordance with the structural characteristics of the graves in different areas, there will be fivedevelopment periods of the architecture structure and technique to be discussed. In the meantime,the similarities, the differences and the connections of the graves in different time and region willbe elaborated in full details. It presents the analyses of the grave classification and their respectivecases with the observation of the structural styles and construction techniques including tombgallery, chamber structure, gully drain, and protection and solidation methods.Brick tombs include brick-earth tombs, brick-timber tombs and brick-stone tombs.Brick-earth tombs are the transition ones from vertical pit tombs to brick tombs. They follow thestyle of vertical pit tombs and appeared in the late periods of West Han and the early and midperiods of East Han. Brick-timber tombs are also the transition forms from vertical pit tombs andbrick tombs. They share the same period of the brick-earth tombs and can be classified into twotypes: the timber chamber-brickwall structure and the brick wall-timber head structure, both ofwhich are constructed by bricks except for the tomb furniture and the tomb head made of timber.More identical with the vertical pit tombs, they bear apparent differences from the purebrick-constructed tombs in their parts and affiliated facilities. The discovery of these tombsverifies the evolvement of the timber-chamber tombs to the pure brick-constructed tombs alongthe mid-lower stream of the Yangtze River. Brick-stone tombs are the continuity of the Hancarved-stone tombs, bearing most of the features of brick tombs other than the stone-made doorand some of the stone tomb furniture. They are similar to the brick tombs of the same period intomb head, tomb wall and the space layout and show apparent times of emergence and ending.They show the connection between the tombs in this area and those in the comparatively moregrave-civilized areas in the development of the grave construction.Pure brick-constructed tombs are the main topic of this paper. They have complicated gravestructures and bear rich architecture techniques with more developed brick construction and ableto meet the needs of the local burial customs and building environment. The regional features ofthe tomb gallery followed no certain obvious rules. The slope-tomb galleries were technicallyadjusted with different degrees to satisfy the local customs and the brick construction conditions.The transition from the vertical pit structure to the horizontal brick structure led to the form of the tomb gallery fitting into the latter. The tomb head had five varied types: the vaulted ceiling, thearch, the imbricated ceiling, the bilateral slope ceiling and the plane ceiling, among which thevaulted ceiling and the arch had the same structure in their emergence and continuation. Thedevelopment of the vaulted ceiling showed high stability, while the arch structure showedperiodical evolution in structure and was the most important characteristic of the grave structure inthis area. Its appearance and evolvement followed a clear time-space route. The arch structurecould be further divided into the four-side closed-top structure and the four-corner arch structure.Their emergences interlocked somewhat in time. The four-side closed-top arch was firstly seen inthe central and some northern areas and adopted to the graves in the mid-lower stream of theYangtze River from the early East Han period. In the mid and late East Han period, the four-cornerarch structure came to appear. Then these two structures were both adopted by the latergenerations. In the East Wu and West Jin period, the four-side closed-top structure began to loseground to the four-corner arch, whose emergence and popularity bears important meaning in thestudy of the grave structure in the mid-lower stream of the Yangtze River. According to the burialmaterial, it first appeared in the economically developed Nanyang area of Henan Province and itsvicinity, the Xiangfan area of Hubei Province. Meanwhile, it could be also found in the Changdearea of Hunan province, the mid-stream southern bank of the Yangtze River. Then it spread to theregions in the mid-lower stream during the East Wu and West Jin period. The influence of themid-stream burial customs on the lower-stream customs could be clearly seen hence. In addition,the plane ceiling and the bilateral slope ceiling reflected to some extent that the diverse tomb headceilings in central China areas were adopted in the south but did not reach popularity. Thestructure and the construction of the tomb wall in all the areas shared the same stablecharacteristics. The tomb wall structure came to be stabilized by the appearance of the Britishbrick-laying style. The emergence of the circular tomb wall in large scale featured the tomb wallstructure in this area. The factors that contributed to those structures are attempted from suchperspectives as burial customs, grave grades and construction efficiency. The decorations on thetomb wall also underwent a clear trace of development. Alcoves and imitated windows wereregionally prevalent and hanging brick lamp tables were only partly adopted. Brick columnsdistinctively reflected the regionality and the regional exchanges of the grave culture. Thestructure and technique of boturate walls share universality in all of the areas. The popularity ofthe British brick-laying acted on the laying of the boturate wall. The early style of the tomb doorwas influenced by the carved stone tomb and followed the same structure. The grave structure onthe while adopted the style of pure brick-constructed tombs, with the stone tomb door only in thetomb chamber. The grave structure in late periods in some of the regions possessed its owndistinctive background and evolution pattern. The grave custom of the Southern Dynasty adoptingindoor carved stone tomb door showed the intensification of the grave grade system or thetransformation of the local burial customs due to the historical attribute of the dynasty. The gullydrain displayed its uniqueness in structure, complexity in design and particularity in landconfiguration and earth quality, which were different from that of the graves in the north at thesame time. On account of the rainfall and the earth quality, the construction of the graves along themid-lower stream of the Yangtze River put great emphasis on draining. From the two Han periodsto the East Wu then to the Southern Dynasty, the procedures of the overall construction did notundergo dramatic changes. Only through the details could be seen its evolvement from clumsinessto delicateness. And some special draining facilities were put to use as a result of the special local land configuration and earth quality. Since the early East Wu period, the gable-brick paving cameto be prevalent in different areas. The brick paving methods could be temporally categorized bythe gable-brick paving and the multiple paving, evolving from billet paving to such decoratingmethods as zigzag design. The tomb furniture disposition facilities were widely used. But in someregions in certain periods, there were variations in structure and material due to the overt or covertsocial elements and the regionality of the burial customs, proving the diverseness in thedevelopment of brick-constructed tombs. The solidation and protection measures of the structurewere typical in the graves of these areas. The brick pointing appeared in graves of different timesbut lacked continuity in style and in time. The brick crack stuffing was among one of thesolidation measures and nearly the same in different regions despite of some nuances. Since thelate East Jin period, mud stuffing was widely used and took the place of porcelain stuffing andbrick or ceramic tile stuffing. The bulkhead was not prevalently seen in the whole mid-lowerstream of the Yangtze River. After the West Jin period, however, the bulkhead facilities in someareas developed into a particular structure system and came to be a construction symbol of theregional grave system in the mid and late periods of the Six Dynasties. In light of multiplebulkheads only seen in large-scale graves, such solidation measure was much likely to be anothersign of the grave grade. Though the waterproof measure did not follow a certain rule and displayregional balance, the technique in some graves was seldom seen in other areas and quite delicate,especially in those large ones of the East Jin and Southern Dynasty period. Its realization inarchitectural technique was directly related to the grave grade and the rank of the owner inNanjing area and influenced the graves in its neighborhood.Brick tombs in the mid-lower stream of the Yangtze River emerged and evolved followingtwo patterns. On one hand, they were influenced to different degrees by the predominant burialculture in the central China regions in the both early and late periods of development. While onthe other hand, the grave systems and burial customs in different areas were not in extremeconformity with each other and contributed to a unique cultural diversity.