A Preliminary Study On The Oxcart Clay Figures Unearthed From The Tombs Of The Three Kingdoms Period, Two Jin Dynasties, The South And The North Dynasties

The three kingdoms, two Jin dynasties, the South and the North dynasties is a period when great abruption appeared, the regime was divided, dynasties emerged one by one and minorities moved toward central China which made great influences on the tomb system of this period. However, the modern archaeological study on this stage is very weak.From 1950s, especially from 1980s, more and more oxcart clay figures were found. The author will arrange these materials systematically and then make further archaeological observation.For the first, the clay figures which take oxcart figures as the center are a dynamic combination. It means that they are from different period and have different forms. Thus the author gives a typological analysis on these oxcarts, horses and clay figures at first, and then, on this base, the author divides the development of the clay figures combination of this period into three stages: 1) The Initial Stage: from the three kingdoms period to the two Jin dynasties. 2) The Silver Age: from east Jin dynasty to the 16 kingdoms period. 3) The Height Stage: the South and the North dynasties.The second issue is the study on the oxcarts figures from the history of transportation. Oxcarts took place the carriages and became the popular vehicle took by scholar-bureaucrats. It is very interesting, why carriages were taken place by oxcarts? Many scholars focus on this issue and put forward different views. In this article, the author starts from the archaeological materials and researches the configuration of the oxcart and the newly added desk ( Ji) and concludes that: 1) the changes of the framework and the development of the oxcart are the reason that the oxcart took place the carriages. 2) the changes of the inside of the oxcart maybe another reason that the carriages were taken place by the oxcarts.The importance of the clay figures of oxcarts and horses embodies not only in the studies of the history of transportation, but also in the studies of the tomb system. The author observes this question from the historical view and concludes that: 1) From its function as a kind of vehicle, the oxcart clay figures were buried in the tombs, which is the inheriting and the development of the ancient tradition. 2) The oxcart clay figures are a dynamic combination which expresses the status of the owner of the tomb. 3) In fact, the oxcart clay figures represent the procession ceremony of the owner of the tomb.