Cemerchak tomb

Chercek tomb is about 30 kilometers away from Altay City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and 15 kilometers away from the market town of qiemcek township. It is located in the transition zone from the flat Gobi to the mountainous area, with more than 100 tombs, covering an area of about 5 square kilometers. This tomb is the representative of grassland culture in Northern Xinjiang. There are large tombs, small tombs, some concentrated tombs and some scattered tombs. The larger one, about 65 meters long and 35 meters wide, is located in the west of hadinaer village, with an average sea level of 764 meters. In front of the tomb, there are four huge black stone steles, 1.5 meters high, 60 cm wide and 400 cm thick, with convex relief heads, Most of the smaller tombs are scattered in the commanding heights of the undulating mounds. There is a standing stone in front of the tombs, and most of the tombs are surrounded by directly planted stones, which are slightly higher than the ground level. In 1963, the Institute of Archaeology of the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences carried out part of the excavation in a planned way. It was found that there were two types of tombs: the tomb courtyard system and the single tomb system. Most of the surface of the tomb courtyard system was not sealed with soil, and there were many stone fences around it, while there were no stone fences around the single tomb system. However, the two kinds of tombs can be divided into sarcophagus and vertical hole earth pit. Some sarcophagus surface is sealed with earth, while others are not. Vertical hole earth pit is sealed with earth. The burial methods are: bending limbs, leaning straight limbs, bending straight limbs and random head burial. Unearthed cultural relics include stone tools, pottery, bronze, iron, bone head and so on. The period began in the Warring States period and extended to the Turkic period. For nearly a thousand years, in addition to the ancient tombs, there are also left characters, stone carvings and rock paintings in the tomb area. These may be the remains of the nomadic Xiongnu, Turks and other nationalities in this grassland. Some people in the archaeology circle call the cemerchak tomb the cemerchak culture, which shows its high status.

Cemerchak tomb

Cemerchek tomb is located 12 kilometers southwest of Altay City, surrounded by a large desert Gobi. This tomb is the representative of grassland culture in Northern Xinjiang. Tombs cover a wide range of ages, from the Warring States period to the Turkic period of the Tang Dynasty, nearly a thousand years. According to the artifacts excavated from the tomb, the owner of the tomb should be the local Huns, Turks and other ethnic minorities.

brief introduction

The terrain around the cemerchak tomb is flat, and the surface is desert Gobi. Tombs are distributed in a large area and last for a long time. There are two burial methods. One is a single coffin burial with a stone statue standing in front of the tomb facing east; the other is a double coffin burial with stone walls around the cemetery, and the stone walls are mostly about one meter of slightly processed stones, which are buried vertically in the soil for 60 to 70 cm, and the surface is only exposed for 30 to 40 cm. The length and width of a circle of stone walls vary from a few meters, and two sarcophagus are buried symmetrically in the center. Most of the stone figures are carved from local materials, including bust and whole figure, most of which are less than one meter high. It can be roughly divided into four historical periods. The earliest can be traced back to the Cypriots' culture around 1000 BC, and most of them are the remains of Turks' activities in Tang Dynasty. In 2001, "cemerchak stone man and sarcophagus tomb group" was listed as the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council.

Deer Stone

In addition to the ancient tombs, there are also mysterious deer stones in Altay. As the name suggests, deer stones are deer stones, but this is just a general term. There are many kinds of stone tablets called deer stones with no deer pattern on them.

Deer stones are widely distributed across the Mongolian Plateau, the Republic of Tuva in Russia, South Siberia and Altay in Xinjiang, passing through Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and the coast of the Black Sea to Germany and Bulgaria in Europe. At present, nearly 600 stone inscriptions have been found in the world, especially in Mongolia. It has a long history, which can be traced back to 3000 years ago. According to Russian and Mongolian scholars, it has a history of 3500-4000 years. The deer stone is generally in the shape of a rectangular stone tablet, with a circle on the top and a straight line or dot line on the bottom. Below the line, there are generally bird beaked deer flocks, with the head facing up to the circle for flying. Among them, the most typical one is carved with a patterned deer pattern. The so-called pattern is mainly reflected in the deer beak carved into a bird beak, and the deer head is also somewhat like the head of a bird, which can be said to be a kind of animal with the head of a bird and the body of a deer. These Deer Stone Steles are well decorated, and the steles found in Xinjiang are mainly knife shaped and square column shaped. As for the deer stone, some mystical researchers believe that it is a totem pole, a ancestor sacrificial pole and a horse stake tied by God and man, while others believe that it is a world mountain, a world tree and a man's root.

In the book "Shamanism research" published by the Institute of nationalities, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, it is believed that the carving of deer on the stone tablet may be related to the nomadic people's worship of deer as a psychic worship. The latter view is exactly the same as that expressed in the summary of Xinjiang deer and stone by archaeologist Wang Bo of Xinjiang Museum. He said: the deer stone may be a stone carving used to show the connection between heaven and earth and people. Besides worshiping and commemorating, it can also play the role of witchcraft.

Travel Tips

Transportation: from Altay to this place, there is asphalt road, you can charter a car, and the round-trip fare is about 40 yuan.

Adjacent scenic spots

Altay Mountain Alxa hot spring Erqis River Butterfly Valley birch forest park chemurchek tomb Wulun Lake

Address: qiemoercheke Township, Altay City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

Longitude: 87.982447197688

Latitude: 47.798376123199

Tel: 0906-2833020

Ticket information: 60 yuan

Chinese PinYin : Qie Mu Er Qie Ke Mu