Hot water tombs

Hot water tombs

The tomb group is located in Shuishui Township, Dulan County, Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. It was discovered in 1982,

It is a large group of Tubo tombs in the early Tang Dynasty. It is also the first Tubo tombs found in China, with more than 200 tombs.

The excavation of the hot water tombs in Dulan, Qinghai, is of great value to the study of the history of Tubo civilization, the shape of tombs in Western China in the Tang Dynasty, the cultural exchange between the region and Central Asia, and the origin of the Tibetan nationality.

Historical overview

The hot water tombs are located in the hot water Township of Dulan County, Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, and are mostly distributed between 3340-3500 meters above sea level. Since its discovery in 1982, hot water tombs have carried out four large-scale archaeological excavations, excavating nearly 100 tombs, unearthed artifacts such as silk, millet gold and silver, agate beads, red flower beads, copper fragments and bronze water bottles, which effectively proves that this area is an important node on the Silk Road - Qinghai Road.

The excavation of the hot water tombs in Dulan, Qinghai, is of great value to the study of the history of Tubo civilization, the shape of tombs in Western China in the Tang Dynasty, the cultural exchange between the region and Central Asia, and the origin of the Tibetan nationality.

Located about 10 kilometers southeast of Chahanwusu, Dulan County, the Shuishui Tubo tombs group is a large-scale group of Tubo tombs in the early Tang Dynasty. It is also the first Tubo tombs found in China, with a total of more than 200 tombs.

Hot water tombs are distributed in hot water, zhamari, shaertang and xiewiao villages with a length of about 7 km, including 165 tombs of various types, most of which have been excavated. From 1982 to 1986, the Institute of cultural relics and Archaeology of Qinghai Province excavated and sorted it out. The tombs in the tomb area are mainly divided into trapezoidal and circular. The tombs are made of rammed earth or filled with gravel. The back cover is rammed earth, and the rammed layers are paved with Salix branches.

Under the rammed earth, there are stone walls with isosceles trapezoid plane, with adobe or mud ball on the edge and red stone powder on the outside. The chamber is made of stone and consists of a passage, a middle chamber, left and right chambers and a back chamber.

There are sealed mounds in the hot water tombs. Before the sealed mounds, there is a huge sacrificial pit. There are wooden cars, wooden slips, silk goods, glassware, gold and silver utensils and other relics unearthed in the pit. The shapes and patterns of some unearthed objects have a strong central Asian artistic style.

archaeological discovery

Most of the tombs were buried by the people living in the mountains and facing the rivers, with mounds sealed. Some large tombs also had sacrificial buildings on the tombs. The tombs are located under the middle of the trapezoidal stone wall of the earth sealing mound. The tomb is covered with cypress. The cypress is covered with another layer of gravel. The bottom of the tomb is usually paved with stones and boards. Martyrs are more common. Martyrs were also found in xiariha No.1 tomb and zhigari No.3 tomb.

One of the largest tombs is located on a natural hill, with its back against the hot water mountain and facing the Chahanwusu river. It is more than 30 meters above the ground, and looks like a city palace. The mound is 11 meters high, 55 meters long from east to west and 37 meters wide from north to south. Under the mound are three stone walls made of mud and stone, each of which is about 1 meter high and 3 meters wide. Above the mound are mud and stone concrete ramming layers, and the tomb walls made of sand and stone ramming layers and ramming layers. From the top to the bottom, every one meter or so, there is a layer of wood arranged neatly across the mound. There are as many as nine layers, all of which are cypress. This kind of building form and style of earth sealing mound is only seen in the past archaeological excavations in China.

Made of stone

About 6 meters down from the top of the mound, the tomb is a rectangular animal burial tomb. It is surrounded by stones. There are several large cypress trees in the shed above the entrance of the tomb. There are several animal skeletons in the tomb, including more than 70 animal corpses such as cattle, horses, sheep, dogs and deer. About 9 meters away, there is a cross shaped accompanying tomb. The accompanying tomb is 21 meters long from north to South and 18.5 meters wide from east to west. It is composed of the tomb gate, the screen wall, the East chamber, the west chamber, the middle chamber and the South chamber. Each chamber has a door and is connected by an ambulatory.

The middle chamber is a wooden coffin chamber, and the other chambers are stone chambers. Among them, there are many animal bones buried in the East chamber, a large number of animal bones stored in the west chamber, and a large number of wool, silk fabrics and various wooden structures unearthed in the middle chamber and the South chamber. In the cloister, a large number of wooden pieces, silk and wool fragments were excavated, showing the richness of funerary objects.

Historical relics

Among the numerous funerary objects, there are ancient leather boots, ancient Tibetan wood chips, ancient Mongolian wooden slips, painted wood chips, as well as gold ornaments, wooden bowls, wooden dishes, wooden birds and animals, and a large number of colorful silk relics. These silk relics are of good material condition, clear patterns, gorgeous patterns, bright colors, complete varieties, exquisite weaving skills and long time span (from the end of the sixth century to the second half of the eighth century). They are rare and precious historical relics.

The unearthed silk varieties include brocade, silk, Luo, Kesi, silk and yarn. Among them, zhijinjin, Kesi, chimeric tissue xianhualing and Su Ling are first found in China. There are a large number of Sogdian brocade with strong exotic style in Western brocade. A brocade woven with the boluopo script used by the middle Persians is the only confirmed Persian brocade in the world in the 8th century. Patterns have a variety of exotic flowers and plants, rare birds and animals, chariots and horses, and so on. Among them, Buddha statues, hunting figures, images of people from western regions, brocade stockings and so on are the first treasures found in China. Only the tombs of dignitaries were found with grain.

Cultural relics protection

In 1982, when the Qinghai provincial cultural relics and Archaeology team carried out an ancient cultural investigation in Reshui Township, Dulan County, they accidentally found the ancient tombs here. These tombs are close to mountains and rivers, and the terrain is dangerous, 30 kilometers away from Dulan county. The excavation of this group of tombs is of great value to the study of the history of Tubo civilization, the shape of tombs in Western China in the Tang Dynasty, the cultural exchanges between the region and Central Asia, and the origin of the Tibetan nationality. A large number of silk fabrics unearthed from the tombs strongly prove that from the late Northern and Southern Dynasties to the middle Tang Dynasty (from the end of the sixth century to the second half of the eighth century), the Silk Road Qinghai Road was an important trunk line of the Silk Road and a transit station for East-West trade, and its status was no less than that of the Hexi corridor.

It was recognized by the Ministry of culture as one of the six important discoveries in 1983. In the 1990s, new achievements were made in the archaeological excavation, which became one of the ten major archaeological discoveries in China in 1996 and is now a key cultural relic protection unit of the state.

Address: Shuishui Township, Dulan County, Delingha City

Longitude: 98.179313659668

Latitude: 36.210933685303

Ticket information: free.

Chinese PinYin : Re Shui Mu Qun