Research On Elite Women Tombs During The Western Zhou And The Spring And Autumn Periods

During the Western Zhou and the Spring and Autumn Periods,as a part of the higher class of the society,elite women had privileges in social and economic life,meanwhile,there was gendered distinctions within the nobility.This study examines the changes in burial treatment of noble women and couples during the first half of the 1^st millennium B.C.E.,and discusses the relationships between the status of elite female,gender differences in the aristocratic-class and the political environment,political marriages and the inheritance system.This dissertation is divided into six chapters.The first chapter is an introduction,clarifying the spatial and chronological scope of the research,defining the main concepts and research themes,summarizing the previous research,and presenting the methodological choices of this study.In the second chapter,the author establishes systematic criteria for determining the gender of the deceased in individual and couples’burials before analyzing the funerary data.After discussing the published tombs and cemeteries,the burial data are divided into six periods based on the defined criteria.The third chapter focuses on the burials of elite women.First,the tombs are divided into two levels based primarily on the social rank of the deceased.Then,the changes in tomb furnishings are disccussed,dividing two levels in human and animal sacrifices and burial goods during the different periods.This chapter also explores the reasons for the different treatments in burials and the appearance of bronze weapon in lower-class women’s tombs.The fourth chapter focuses on the burials of elite couples.Based on the standards established in the third chapter,these burials are divided into two levels.And the differences and changes between the two levels during the six periods are analyzed.Subsequently,this section provides a new understanding for the appearance of the paired tombs of noble couples during the Western Zhou period.On the basis of this research,the fifth chapter offers a deeper discussion of status differences between noblewomen and political marriages.The status of an elite female actually relates to the political and economic power of her husband,father and sons.Based on the analysis of the number of occurrences of paired tombs which only have one male and one female tombs and burial goods,it is clear that the majority of noblewomen who’s tombs are near their husband’s tombs are legal spouses,and that the paired tombs is a new form of expression to convey certain information of patriarchal system within the aristocracy.Furthermore,this research sheds a new light on the bronze inscriptions mentioning alliances between states through marriage.By taking in account both the archaeological data from excavated burials data and the inscriptions,this research shows that the changes of status of elite women during Late Shang and Zhou periods is in correlation with the rule of forbidding intermarriage within the same clan and with the patriarchal system of the Zhou culture.Finally,through a comparative study of the marriage alliances in Maya culture and the Zhou culture,this research sheds light on the importance of the relationships between the statues of noblewomen,the political marriages and the political contexts.The sixth chapter is the conclusion of this study,providing a synthesis of the research results and pointing out its limits and further possible developments.