A Study On Hollow Brick Tombs In Central China Of The Warring States,Qin And Han Dynasties

Hollow bricks are clay-fired bricks with hollow interiors.Hollow brick tombs are tombs constructed of hollow bricks,including tombs constructed entirely of hollow bricks and those constructed of hollow bricks mixed with other materials(small solid bricks or wood).The hollow brick tombs were popular mainly from the Warring States to the Han Dynasty.This paper is dedicated to the study of hollow brick tombs in central China from the Warring States to the Han Dynasty.There are the introduction,the four chapters as the main part and the conclusion.In the introduction a brief explanation of the hollow brick tombs is given.Then the discovery and excavation of the hollow brick tombs are sorted and the previous study of the hollow brick tombs is teased out.In Chapter One,the shapes and structures of the hollow bricks are analyzed.According to different tomb structures,the hollow brick tombs that have been discovered are divided into three types,namely,the A-type vertical-pit hollow brick tomb,the B-type cave hollow brick tomb with vertical-pit tomb path and the C-type hollow brick tomb with slope tomb path.According to the different shapes of tomb roofs A-type tombs are further divided into three subtypes;according to different widths of tomb paths and tomb chambers B-type tombs are further divided into three subtypes two of which are further divided according to different shapes of tomb roofs.The changes of shapes and structures are simply summarized after the typology analysis of the tomb shapes.In Chapter Two,the funerary objects in the hollow brick tombs are analyzed.Firstly,numbers and types of funerary objects in the hollow brick tombs are summarized.Then six kinds of pottery(pots,jugs,tripods,boxes,warehouses,stoves)which are predominant in numbers are selected for the typology analysis.Objects of each kind are classified according to their different shapes and the coexisting relationship between each type and the hollow brick tombs is studied.At last,the combinations of the pottery objects in the hollow brick tombs are analyzed and it is found that they can be divided into two categories:sacrifi cial vessels represented by tripods,boxes,pots,Fangs,jugs and the household utensils represented by warehouses,stoves,wells,furnaces and Lians.Chapter Three is about the periodization of the hollow brick tombs.Dozens of tombs with comparatively clear shapes,structures and funerary objects are selected as the representatives.These hollow brick tombs are divided into four phases.The first one is the middle and late period of the Warring States.The second period is from the end of the Warring States to the early Western Han Dynasty and the third one is the middle period of the Western Han Dynasty.The fourth one is the late Western Han Dynasty.After the periodization,the developing and ch angin g process of the hollow brick tombs in terms of their shapes and structures is concretely analyzed,and several trends in the chronological order during this development are pointed out.In addition,a comparative analy sis of Zhengzhou,Luoyang and Xianyang where large amoun ts of the hollow brick tombs have been found is made and some differences are shown in the shapes,structures of these hollow brick tombs and in the types of the funerary objects.In Chapter Four,an analysis of the appearance,development and decline of the hollow brick tom bs is given.Firstly,it is found that people in Han State in the middle period of the Warring States substituted the hollow brick tombs for the wooden coffins due to the shortage of wood resources,thus inventing the hollow brick tombs.Next,the development and spread of the hollow brick tombs are analyzed,including the trend of "homestead-ize" during the develop ment and the trend of the expansion of the hollow brick tomb own ers' classes At last,the decline and extinction of the hollow brick tombs are an alyzed and a speculation is given about the reasons of its decline.In the conclusion the research content of this paper is summarized and the existing problems are pointed out.Overall,in this paper the materials of the hollow brick tombs that have been discovered are comprehensively teased out.The shapes,structures and typical funerary objects are studied by the method of archaeological typology;the periodization of hollow brick tombs is given and a comparison between districts is made.Then the causes of its appearance,development and decline are explored.With these findings the development of the hollow brick tombs is basically clarified,and the whole developing process can be understood.