Dongyang Mound Tombs

Dongyang Mound Tombs

Dongyang Mound Tombs are mainly distributed in Jiangbei street, Liushi street and Weishan Town. There are five well preserved Mound Tombs, which are shijiaoshan Mound Tombs in Xianghu, shilongdongshan Mound Tombs in paiyuan, yinjiaoshan Mound Tombs in Shizhai, Qianshan Mound Tombs in xiamachai natural village in paiyuan and Jiaojian Mound Tombs in guyuantou. These tombs are located on the top of the hill, east-west, large-scale. The three stone chamber Mound Tombs in shijiaoshan, paiyuan and yinjiaoshan are all made of huge stones. Most of them are plate-shaped, strip-shaped or square. Some of them are several meters long and weigh several tons, which is rare in other places.

There are three types of tomb plan: concave, convex and strip. Qianshan mound tomb was excavated in 2003 in conjunction with the construction of Yongjin expressway. It is a rectangular wooden coffin tomb with shallow earth pit. However, the corridor is built into a stone chamber with special shape and structure. The burial objects unearthed in the tombs are also quite special. There are no common daily necessities such as printed hard pottery and primitive porcelain found in the Mound Tombs of the spring and Autumn period of the Western Zhou Dynasty, but all of them are jade products. Except for a jade bottle and jade wear, the rest are a large number of small ornaments such as tubes, beads, strips and pieces, which are very rare. After excavation, the tomb was protected in situ. Jiaojiejian mound tomb is a large-scale mound tomb sealed with plaster and well preserved. It may be a typical stone chamber mound tomb.

These Mound Tombs in Dongyang not only have a large scale, but also have several different types of tombs, including typical Mound Tombs and stone chamber Mound Tombs, as well as several transitional forms between different types of tombs, which are rare and important examples of the development and changes of tombs in the spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period in our province.

Mining process

With the progress of the excavation of the No. 4 pit of the Western Zhou tombs buried at the top of the mountain, a period of history 2800 years ago, which has never been recorded in historical data, has gradually opened the tip of the iceberg. Since June 10, 2006, the Provincial Institute of cultural relics and archaeology, together with Dongyang cultural relics office, has been working on the excavation of the ancient tombs of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Many important discoveries in Pit 1, Pit 2 and pit 3 have left many mysteries to be solved. Therefore, the excavation of pit 4, which is considered to be the highest position in this group of ancient tombs, is particularly important. After six days of painstaking work by archaeologists, the excavation and cleaning of pit 4 was basically completed on July 23. Three human skeletons and 105 precious cultural relics including a tripod porcelain tripod were unearthed. Chen Yuanfu, deputy director of the Provincial Institute of cultural relics and archaeology, gave a high evaluation of the ancient tombs of the Western Zhou Dynasty. He believes that the tombs of the Western Zhou Dynasty in Dongyang have a large scale and a large number of unearthed cultural relics (one of the tombs with the largest number of unearthed cultural relics in the province). It is the first time in our province that there are many human skeletons without any utensils. It is extremely rare to find so many and complete human skeletons at one time. Therefore, this group of ancient tombs is of great cultural value. However, many questions in the minds of experts are still unanswered. According to the Dongyang cultural relics office, pit 4, like pit 1 and pit 3, is paved with cobblestones, but the pit is much larger, 3.2 meters wide (wider than the Qianshan tomb excavated in 2003) and 12 meters long. Among the unearthed artifacts are two copper rings, as well as primitive porcelain such as tripod, pot, bowl, plate, bowl, cup and bean, and 105 printed pottery, jade beads and jade tubes. There are three places where primitive porcelain is concentrated, especially in the northeast corner where there are 54 pieces less than one square meter. These primitive porcelains are exquisitely made with rich patterns and bright glaze colors, and their types are more abundant than those unearthed in Pit 2. Most of the base of the original porcelain is engraved with some symbols, but it is difficult to know whether it is the ancient symbols or the original words. However, the original porcelain of the Western Zhou Dynasty, with a symbol at the bottom, is rarely found in Zhejiang Province. The most important discovery of the unearthed objects is the primitive tripod porcelain tripod. The tripod has always been a symbol of ancient monarchy. In the south, the status of the original porcelain tripod is the same as that of the bronze tripod in the north. Therefore, the discovery of this primitive porcelain tripod proves that the tomb owner of pit 4 has a very high identity and is likely to be the supreme ruler of a place. What is puzzling is that there are fragments of a tripod scattered in the middle of the tomb, and there is no sign of the sealing soil around it. It can be concluded that it was incomplete when it was buried. Chen Yuanfu believes that the original porcelain in the Western Zhou Dynasty should have just been invented and created. It is a rare good thing in archaeology, even comparable to the bronzes in the Central Plains. It is a very important phenomenon that so many primitive porcelains have been unearthed from the tombs of the Western Zhou Dynasty in Dongyang, which shows that the identity of the owner of the tombs is by no means ordinary civilians, at least aristocrats at that time. There are three skeletons unearthed in pit 4. One of them is relatively complete, which can be seen as "lying on the back with straight limbs". The others are scattered and severely calcified. These skeletons are smaller than those of modern people, which shows that the ancient Yue people were not burly. The discovery of such well preserved ancient bones in the tombs of the Western Zhou Dynasty in Dongyang is indeed a miracle, because in the rainy south of the Yangtze River, coupled with the heavy acidity of the laterite, the ancient bones of the Western Zhou Dynasty are extremely rare in the whole province. There are 5 pieces of printed pottery, which are all distributed in the middle part. They are large in shape. One of them is intact. The decorative patterns are mostly checkered and palindromic. One of them is like the spittoon now. In addition, there is a string of hanging ornaments with jade beads, jade tubes, etc. The special shape of the tomb is the first in the province. Experts believe that according to the unearthed artifacts and the characteristics of the tombs, No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 are all from the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the early spring and Autumn period. Among the two tombs with artifacts unearthed, tomb 4 is earlier than tomb 2. According to the location of each tomb, Pit 1, Pit 3 and pit 5 (temporary name, not yet excavated) are in the shape of "pin", all facing pit 4. Pit 4 is located behind Pit 1, with the highest terrain, which is obviously the center of the tombs. Zhao Yixin, deputy research librarian of Jinhua cultural relics department, told reporters that the important tombs are on the top of the mountain, which reflects the ancient people's worship of the sun. The closer people are to the sky, the more respected they are. Zhao Yixin also put forward a detail, several pits are sitting east to west, slightly south, this position is consistent with the direction of the sun rising at the summer solstice. The excavated pits No. 1 and No. 3 have only bones, and there are no other burial objects. Among them, pit No. 1 is full of children's bones. However, so far, there is no sufficient evidence to prove that pit 1, Pit 3 and pit 5 are sacrificial pits or sacrificial pits. It is understood that there are many such Mound Tombs in the hills of Dongyang Beijiang basin. Next to tomb No. 3, there is a mound tomb in mawushan, with a height of 10 meters. In the 1950s, people took soil to build houses. The collapse of the mound also killed Jin, a villager in yuangan. 300 meters to the east of tomb No. 4, a bronze sword was excavated in the 1960s. Chen Yuanfu, deputy director of the Provincial Institute of cultural relics and archaeology, believes that the tombs of the Western Zhou Dynasty in Dongyang are very important discoveries in the archaeological circles of our province in terms of the scale of the tombs, unearthed cultural relics and relics inside the tombs. First, it is the first time that the tomb form with multiple human skeletons without any utensils has been found in the whole province. Whether it is a special burial custom at that time or a sacrificial pit needs further study. Second, the human skeletons of the Western Zhou Dynasty have been unearthed sporadically before, but this time, complete human skeletons have been unearthed from the four pits, and each pit has been relocated. This is extremely rare in the province, which is worthy of further study It provides an important basis for studying the burial custom and system of the Western Zhou Dynasty. In view of the relationship between the various tombs, why there are so many people in the tombs and other funeral customs, the Provincial Institute of archaeology is going to hold an expert demonstration meeting. At the same time, the excavation of tomb No. 5 in the north will be carried out, hoping to further solve the mystery of Dongyang Mound Tombs. Zhao Yixin has been paying attention to the stone chamber Mound Tombs in Dongyang since the 1980s. The discovery of the ancient tombs in the Western Zhou Dynasty further confirms his conjecture that there should be an entity similar to the "vassal state" in Dongyang since the late Western Zhou Dynasty. Zhao Yixin said that many large-scale ancient tombs discovered in Dongyang in recent years, including the spring and autumn tomb in Qianshan, xiamazhai village, Liushi street, are basically within the range of 5-10 km in diameter with the so-called "Wuning ancient city" site as the center. In ancient times, the city and the tombs were closely combined, and the tombs were usually on the edge of the city. The discovery of so many large tombs of high standard in Dongyang shows that the city at that time was not an ordinary city, but had a status similar to that of "vassal state". In addition, from the history of Dongyang, some unusual bronzes, such as chariots and horses, chimes and bronze swords, have been unearthed, especially chariots and horses, which are a symbol of identity. This also reflects the possibility that such a "city" existed in Dongyang in ancient times. Chen Yuanfu also agreed with this view. He believes that the number of tombs is closely related to human activities. The discovery of many large tombs indicates that Dongyang was an important place with a lot of human activities during the Western Zhou Dynasty. It is likely to be a regional political, economic and cultural center. However, there is not enough evidence to support this claim. Up to now, the conjecture related to "vassal states" is still only conjecture, and the relevant records in historical materials are blank. However, Zhao Yixin believes that the discovery of the ancient tombs of the Western Zhou Dynasty is of great research value to the exploration of the local cultural origin of Dongyang, and even to the cultural diversity and ethnic integration of early China. Therefore, there is a lot to do in this regard. Some experts point out that according to relevant historical materials, the ancient Yue State was far away from the Central Plains, and there was no connection in blood or culture. It is said that the ancestor of Yue State was Wu Yu, a commoner of Shaokang in the Xia Dynasty. At that time, the Chinese people

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