Analysis Of Burial Elaboration In The Bronze Age At Xiabandi Xinjiang

Xiabandi Cemetery Site is located in Xindi and Xia Baldir Villages,Baldir Town,Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County,Xinjiang.As most of the tombs are located in Xia Baldir Village,the cemetery is named as "Xiabandi".In 2001,the sites in the inundated areas of reservoir on the two banks of Taxkorgan River were investigated by archaeologists. They found 14 cemeteriesand named themXiabandi Cemetery Site.The Bronze Age 92 tombs were mainly distributed in the cluster of A ?,only one tomb(AIDM1) was in the cluster of AID.This article studies the 92 tombs belonging to the Bronze Age.There are five chapters in the article.The first chapter providesa basic introduction of Xiabandi Cemetery Siteincluding the tombs of the Bronze Age and grave goods that were found in AID and A? cemetery. It also includes a literature review which summarizes relevant research on 92 tombs and the relationship between the tombs and Andronovo Culture.The second chapteraddresses different periods of the tombs.There are 89 tombs in phase I and 3 tombs in phase ?.Phase I represents a large number of tombsand a diversity of burial customs and cultures.In phase ?,potteries with flat bottom were the main grave goods.Most of the potteries were jars with contracting neck,which are typical features of Andronovo Culture.On the other hand, they were crudely madewith no ornamentation. This could be due to the influence of the declining period of Andronovo Culture.Sets of bronze jewelries were found in adult female tombs.The earrings with broad lip were typical objects of Andronovo Culture.Where they came from,however, needs further investigation.Three tombs in phase II were vertical earth pitwith marks on the surface.In phase ?, potteries with round bottomswere the main grave goods. One Pottery Fu with a parallel broken line was foundwhich showed the influence ofKarasuk Culture.The third chapter studies these tombs by classifying them into different Groups accordingto the age of occupant and sexual statistics. There were a large number of minor tombs in phase I. The death rate of minors was much higher than of that in the other sites at the same time.More importantly,almost all the minors in these tombs were infants.This phenomenon indicates that ancestors in Xiabandi were of poor health condition.It is also found that minor tombs were located closely in vertical arrangement at the edge of cemetery, usually two or three tombs made up a group.Each group of minors might be in close kinship or the burial time of them was close. Sets of silverware and bronze appeared in female tombs but hardly in other tombs. This indicates that because of the high death rate of infants,adult females attained high status and they owned more wealth.Looking at the statistics of tombs, cremation tombs reached up to 1/6.There were two forms of cremation tombs,one was to bury directly after cremation in the tomb chamber and the other was to bury again through picking big exhumations after cremationJoint burial tombs were in highgrade.Chapter four demonstrates quantitative research with focus on tombs in phase ?.Firstly,I classify tombs into three grades according to the grave goods.First grade tombs were abundant in grave goodsand located at the edge of the cemetery with a long distance from others.Second gradetombs were found in northeast and south of the cemetery around the first grade tombs.Third grade tombs were with limited grave goods,having only one or none.They were the main components of the cemetery.Secondly, I classify these tombs into large,medium and small tombs based on quantitative analyses onGrave value.It is found that only cremation tombs and single female tombs are large tombs.People paid more attention and more manpower to burial ceremony than that of burial tombs,which clearly showed the interaction between the living and the dead.Single female tombs were in high grade and located in the south of the cemetery.It reflects that the females attained high social status and they owned most of the wealth. Medium tombs were located in the south of the cemetery.There was a large number of low grade and small tombsshowing that most ancestors here were poor indicating alarge gap between rich and poor and a very clear class differentiation.Most of the first and second grade tombs were found in the south of the cemetery which reflects the phenomenon of gathered high grade tombsbegan to appear in this cemetery.The sixth chapter was the epilogue.It summarizes major findings and conclusions of author. It also outlines remaining questions and further research orientations.