A Preliminary Study of Tombs of the Southern Xiongnu Du Linyuan* Key words: Eastern Han Dynasty; Southern Xiongnu; tombs Xiongnu is an ancient ethnic group living in the North- Shang Sunjiazhai Cemetery in Datong County, Qinghai ern Frontier Zone of China and Eurasian Steppe area. Province; Tomb No. 1 in Zhanglonggedan, Machi In the end of the third century BCE, it established a vast Township, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia and Han Cem- steppe empire covering the area from Yalu River in the etery in Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province. east to the Pamirs in the west and from Lake Baikal in The scholars of relevant disciplines have done plenty the north and Ordos Plateau in the south. Since the of identification and researches on the Southern Xiongnu middle period of the first century CE, because of the burials in the Eastern Han Dynasty and given very good internal conflicting and the external pressure from Han explications and conclusions including the differentia- Central Government and other nomadic groups such as tion between Xiongnu (both Southern and Northern) Xianbei, Xiongnu declined and was forced to move burials and Xianbei burials, which laid firm foundations westward, and retreated from historic stage gradually. for further researches. However, the past identifications The “Southern Xiongnu” mentioned in this paper re- and researches did not establish a set of criteria of eth- fers to the eight tribes living to the south of Gobi Desert nic attribution identification by analyzing the cultural which submitted to the Eastern Han Government in 47 connotations of Southern Xiongnu and Han-styled buri- CE under the command of Bi, the King of Rizhu of als themselves. Therefore, it is necessary to study the Xiongnu, who rebelled against the Punu Chanyu who Southern Xiongnu burials in a comprehensive way with lived to the north of Gobi Desert, the other Xiongnu references to historic literature and draw universal rules people surrendered to Eastern Han in later times, who to identify and confirm Han-styled Southern Xiongnu were settled down by the Government in eight frontier burials from burials of Han people. commands and prefectures, and descendants of these The Characteristics of Southern Xiongnu Xiongnu tribes and people. “Burials of Southern Xiongnu” refers to the burials of Xiongnu ethnic group Burials dated as in the middle and later periods of the Eastern The five localities of Southern Xiongnu burials found Han Dynasty within present-day China. so far in China are distributed in the northern and north- western frontier zones of the Eastern Han Dynasty, which Discoveries and Researches well matched the records in historic literature about the Although many Xiongnu burials of the Western and settlement of the new-submitted Xiongnu tribes and Eastern Han Dynasties have been found in present-day people by Eastern Han Government, as well as the dates China, very few of them could be confirmed to be that of these burials, which were mostly the middle and later of the Southern Xiongnu in the Eastern Han Dynasty. periods of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Moreover, the fu- The important ones are: five tombs at Lijiataozi, Tongxin neral custom, burial article assemblages and the exist- County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region; nine tombs ence of objects exclusively made and used by Xiongnu in Budonggou, Dongsheng City, Inner Mongolia; the people all helped us to confirm that the burials in these * School of Humanities, Yan’an University, Yan’an, 716000, China (Email: [email protected]) 190 Chinese Archaeology five localities belonged to Southern Xiongnu people. lower statuses; the stone slab tombs found in Lijiataozi The comparative analyses to these tombs lead us to these had shapes and structures similar to that of the Xiongnu points: tombs found in Transbaikal (Figure 1). 1. The tomb structures were almost completely in Han 2. The tombs had burial article assemblages and typi- style: most of them were brick-chambered tombs with cal burial articles different from those of the Han-styled mounds and slope passages, which were usually double- tombs of the same time. Generally, the assemblages chambered, with few single-chambered cases and some were gradually changing into the Han-style, which means decorated with stone relief. Joint burials were very popu- that the Han-styled burial articles and the Han cultural lar with supine extended position and very random head- elements associated with burial articles took increasing ing directions. These tombs would have been of the portions while the Xiongnu-styled artifacts and cultural noble people of Southern Xiongnu. Besides of the brick- elements were reducing accordingly. However, the con- chambered tombs, some straight pit tombs, wooden- crete assemblages were still not completely the same chambered tombs and stone slab tombs were also found. with the pure Han-styled burials of the same time: The straight pit tombs without mounds on the ground First, jars of various styles took the bulk in pottery which were found in Dabaodang and Budonggou would assemblages, both in types and amounts. The fine clay have been the tombs of Southern Xiongnu people with grey pottery jar of the type with small mouth, thin neck, N N 2 1 N N 4 3 N 6 5 Figure 1. The types of typical Southern Xiongnu burials 1. Plan of 98M2 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province 2. Plan of M25 at Sanduandi Cemetery, Dongsheng City, Inner Mongolia 3. Plan of M67 at Zhaowan Cemetery, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia 4. Plan of M3 at Budonggou, Dongsheng City, Inner Mongolia 5. Plan of 96SDM9 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province 6. Plan of M1 at Budonggou, Dongsheng City, Inner Mongolia. Volume 8 191 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Figure 2. The typical burial articles in Southern Xiongnu burials (pottery jars) 1. 96SDM5:10 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province 2. 96SDM4:7 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Prov- ince 3. 96SDM21:8 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province 4. M6:2 at Budonggou, Dongsheng City, Inner Mongolia 5. M1:3 at Lijiataozi Cemetery, Tongxin County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region 6. M72:2 at Zhaowan Cemetery, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia 7. M72:3 at Zhaowan Cemetery, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia 8. 96SDM18:10 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province 9. M91:15 at Zhaowan Cemetery, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia 10. M1:3 at Zhanglonggedan, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia 1 2 7 8 4 5 10 3 6 9 11 Figure 3. The typical burial articles in Southern Xiongnu burials (bronze and iron artifacts) 1. iron knife (M8:1 at Budonggou, Dongsheng City, Inner Mongolia) 2. iron knife (98M2:34 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province) 3. iron nail (98M2:36 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province) 4. bronze canopy spoke finial (98M2:17 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province) 5. bronze ring (98M2:16 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province) 6. bronze button (98M2:23 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province) 7. iron shovel (98M2:21 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province) 8. bronze horse curb (Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province) 9. bronze chariot fitting (M1:4 at Lijiataozi Cemetery, Tongxin County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region) 10. bronze clasp (98M2:32 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province) 11. iron cauldron (M5:2 at Budonggou, Dongsheng City, Inner Mongolia) 192 Chinese Archaeology polished surface decorated with wave patterns on shoul- der and/or belly and a hole on the bottom could be seen in almost every tomb, and pottery jar of this type has been believed as one of the representative vessels of Xiongnu culture. Moreover, the sizes of the pottery jars were larger than that in tombs of other cultures, and this is also a special feature telling the Southern Xiongnu 1 3 burials from burials of other people (Figure 2). 5 Second, large amounts of bronze and iron implements were found in these tombs. The bronze artifacts are knives, arrowheads, bells, rings, belt buckles, guard bor- ders and corner brackets and tube-shaped ornaments. The iron artifacts are horse curb bits, belt buckles, knives, arrowheads, swords, axes, shovels and nails. Burying weapons as burial articles was the traditional burial cus- 4 6 tom of Xiongnu and other nomadic people, but burying 2 agricultural tools as burial articles showed the changing of the subsistence of Southern Xiongnu people from Figure 4. The typical burial articles in Southern Xiongnu burials (ornaments) animal husbandry to agriculture, although the types and 1. bronze bracelet (M72:19 at Zhaowan Cemetery, numbers of weapons and tools varied in different areas Baotou City, Inner Mongolia) 2. bronze earring (M9:5 along the frontier zones (Figure 3). at Budonggou, Dongsheng City, Inner Mongolia) 3. Third, large amounts of personal ornaments in clear bronze ornamental Plaque (M9:3 at Budonggou, ethnic features were found. In the tombs confirmed to Dongsheng City, Inner Mongolia) 4. jade ear pendant be that of Southern Xiongnu people, ornaments made of (M74:7 at Zhaowan Cemetery, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia) 5. glass ear pendant (M93:3 at Zhaowan metal, glass, agate, jade, stone and bone, including Cemetery, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia) 6. crystal bead headgears, earrings, belt plaques and beads. The most (M16:13 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi significant ornaments are the beads made of various ma- Province) 7. cowry (from M1 and M2 at Lijiataozi terials and in different shapes, which are much rarer in Cemetery, Tongxin County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Han-styled tombs of the same periods. The situation of Region) burying large amounts of ornaments is also very popu- lar in Xianbei burials but the differences between and Semirechye areas in Russia, the customs of burying Xiongnu and Xianbei remains have been pointed out by arrowheads and horse curb bits or other weapons and scholars (Figure 4).