Knowing The Xiongnu Culture In Eastern Tianshan Mountain From Tomb Heigouliang And Dongheigou Site At The Beginning Of Xihan Dynasty

Xiongnu, the first great empire on the grassland, greatly influenced the course of human history. By now, the Eurasian archaeological work has been very productive, but many questions have been raised at the same time. It has been found that there exist both regional and period varations concerning Xiongnu culture, however, few thorough discussions about a certain period of acertain region have ever been conducted. So, here, Tomb Heigouliang and Dongheigou site will be studied as two examples to show the unique cultural features of Xiongnu in the eastern part of Tianshan Mountain.First of all, Tomb Heigouliang and Dongheigou Site are of great similarities. The both locate in Barkol county in Xinjiang. Besides, they belong to the same culture of a same period. According to the unearthed relics, they can be traced back to the same period of time, that is, the early stage of Xihan Dynasty. Also, human sacrifice remains have been found at both places.Besides, these two sites show great cultural diversities. Apart from the aboriginal culture and Xiongnu culture, which are two prominent cultural representative, traces of Subeixi cultural, Chinses culture and many newly appeared cultures were also discovered there.In addition, the culture of these two places is a combination of the local aboriginal culture and Xiongnu culture. According to some historial records and some archaeological researches, especially researches on the relation of tomb owners to human sacrifice remains, the relation between Xiongnu and the local aborigines is a relation of conquering and being conquered, ruling and being ruled. But, the Xiongnu remains of the Mongolian plateau is quite different historical backgrounds.Lastly, at its earlier days, Han Empire made various divided cultures a unified one. Similarly, Xiongnu may also have seen the same kind of unification. The discovery of Heigouliang and Dongheigou serves as a typical example of the regional cultural phenomena. But Heigouliang and Dongheigou also formed a quite critical link in the whole chain of the unification of Xiongnu culture. After Xiongnu occupied the eastern part of Tianshan Mountain, they stuck to some parts of there own culture, absorbed some parts of the aboriginal culture and brought in many alien cultures. Thus, a number of new cultures appeared. But, on the whole, all the cultural diversities were moring for a unified Xiongnu culture.The study on Heigouliang and Dongheigou has revealed a lot about the regional similarities, the diversities, the content and the unification of the Xiongnu civilization. But, to set the final frame of the whole Xiongnu cunture, archoologists still have a long way to go.