the excavations at the western zhou dynasty mound tombs at

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New Archaeological Findings

The Excavations at the Western Zhou Dynasty Mound Tombs at Longtou Mountain in Nanling County, Anhui ProvinceAnhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology

Nanling County Cultural Relics Administration

T he Longtou Mountain mound tombs are located between Pailou and Zhangxi administrative vil-lages in Sanli Town in Nanling

County, Anhui Province, next to State Road 318, about one kilometer north of the Chengqing River (Figure 1). Between May 2010 and January 2011, Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, jointly with Nanling County Cultural Relics Administration, conducted excavations of the mound tombs within the right-of-way for the proposed High Speed Railroad between Hefei and Fuzhou, and carried out detailed surveys in the Longtou Mountain area. Survey results show that the spread and distribution of the Longtou Mountain tombs is about two square kilometers, with over 400 existing mound tombs (including the excavated section). Below is a summary report of the excavation’s findings: Figure 1: Map of the mound tombs site location

Zhanghe River

Dagong Mountain copper mine ruins

Nanling County

Qianfeng Mountain mound tombs

Jingxian County

Sanli Town

Xinyi VillageHuamei mound tombs

Eling Village (aka Eling Laojie)

Longtou Mountain mound tombs

Pailou Village

Chinese Cultural Relics No. 1, 2014. Copyright East View Press. All rights reserved. www.eastviewpress.com/Journals/CulturalRelics.aspx

www.eastviewpress.com/Journals/CulturalRelics.aspx

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Western Zhou Dynasty Mound Tombs

OVERVIEW OF THE BURIALSA total of 67 mounds were excavated. Unearthed

artifacts include stamped hard pottery, coarse sand pottery, proto-porcelain, lithic tools, jade and small bronze artifacts.

The advanced experience gained during the excavations of earth mound tombs in Jiangsu Prov-ince and other regions were demonstrated in these excavations, using test units during the excavations and maintaining baulks in positive directions. Large mounds to be excavated were divided into four units, and smaller ones into two units, and the baulks were determined by the directions of the mounds and the natural direction of the ridge. The divided units of each mound were excavated simultaneously. Atten-tion was given to the piling conditions of the mounds, various features, inclusions inside the mounds, the base conditions of the mounds, etc. Once excava-tion reached the bases of the mounds, mound profile views were drawn and mound piling information was recorded before removal of the baulks, until the en-tire mound was cleaned. Thus complete information on all the mounds and tombs would be obtained.

The mounds of the Longtou Mountain tombs are mostly bun-like and rounded, and some are oval; base diameters are 5.5 meters to 23 m, and existing heights are 0.3 m to 4 m. The mounds’ dirt piles typically consist of two to four strata, occasionally containing sherds, lithic tools and a large amount of gravel of various sizes unevenly distributed, which is consistent with the composition of surrounding soil on the ridge. No evidence of ramming was found in any of the mounds; they were simply piled up with the dirt nearby. Bases of the mounds were mostly leveled by adding padding soil to the lower areas to build the tombs, and then more dirt was piled into the mounds.

Mound D69, for example, is located in the cen-tral area of the cluster of the mound tombs with its mound well preserved. It is oval in plan view along the same direction as the ridge. Its east-west cross

is slightly longer, about 14.6 m, and its south-north length about 10.5 m with a height of 1.85 m. Ac-cording to the different soils, soil color tones and inclusions, the mound consists of three strata. Stra-tum (1) is more mixed, mainly consisting of loose, yellowish-brown fine sandy loam in addition to a small amount of dense, reddish-brown sandy loam with a small amount of gravel of various sizes, as well as a large amount of roots. Stratum (2) consists of loose, yellowish-brown sandy loam with a small amount of reddish-brown sandy loam containing a large amount of gravel. This stratum only exists in the central area of the mound and was severely disturbed by termite nests. Stratum (3) consists of loose, yel-lowish sandy clay. It is the padding soil stratum of Tomb D69M1. Based on the original topography of the mound, we speculate that the builder of this tomb prepared the area by cleaning down to the sterile subsoil, leveled the ground by filling in the lower spots with padding soil, then dug the burial pit on top of the padding soil, eventually piling the dirt onto the mound (Figure 2).

Of the 67 excavated mounds, 43 were single-tomb mounds, three were double-tomb mounds, and two were triple-tomb mounds. In the remaining 19 mounds, no burials or artifacts were found.

Figure 2: Plan view and profile of Mound D69

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Chinese Cultural Relics » Issue Number 1, 2014

DESCRIPTIONS OF SAMPLE TOMBSExcept for the 19 mounds where no signs of

burials were found, 55 tombs were excavated in the other 48 mounds. There are three burial styles in these tombs: 38 shallow pit burials, nine with gravel beds, and eight without pits. Most tombs are ori-ented east-west and are consistent with the direction of the ridge. Only a few are south-north. No burial containers or human skeletons were found.

A total of 200 pieces of grave goods were un-earthed in these tombs, including stamped hard pot-tery, coarse sand pottery, clay pottery, proto-porce-lain, stone tools, jade, etc. They are predominantly stamped hard pottery and coarse sand pottery, as well as a few remnants of bronze objects. Stamped hard pottery includes guan-jars, tan-jugs, bu-vases, yu-basins, etc. The decorations consist mainly of labyrinth fret, triangle lines, mats, thunder patterns, etc. Both the clay and coarse sand pottery are mainly reddish-brown in color, mostly broken, and very dif-ficult to repair due to the poor quality of the pottery. These potteries include curved-handled he-pitchers, yan-steamers, dou-stemmed bowls and yu-basins. Proto-porcelains are mainly dou-stemmed bowls with low stems and everted bellies. The amounts of grave goods found in these tombs varied widely from only one piece to as many as 10 pieces. Unearthed

object sets basically consist of stamped hard pottery double-eared guan-jars, proto-porcelain (or clay ce-ramic) dou-stemmed bowls and coarse sand pottery curved-handled he-pitchers (or yan-steamers).

1. Shallow pit burials consist of pits, mostly rectangular or trapezoidal in shape with depth ranging from 0.1 m to 0.3 m, the deepest one mea-suring 0.46 m. One type was first cleaned down to the original sterile subsoil, with uneven lower spots

subsequently covered with padding soil. A shallow pit was then dug on top of the padding soil, sometimes breaking sterile subsoil. The other type was made by cleaning the original surface down to the sterile subsoil and digging pits directly into the sterile subsoil.

Mound D13, for example, is a sin-gle-tomb mound. The mound is nearly oval in shape, with an existing height of about 1.6 m, divided into three strata. Tomb D13M1 is located in the north-east part of the mound, with a rectan-gular plan view, oriented east-west. The Figure 4: Tomb D13M1 (photo facing south)

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Figure 3: Plan view and profile of Tomb D13M1

t 1, 8. Stamped hard pottery double-eared guan-jars t 2. Hard pottery yu-basin t 3. Pottery he-pitcher t 4. Stamped hard pottery guan-jar t 5, 6. Pottery dou-stemmed bowls t 7. Proto-porcelain dou-stemmed bowl

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tomb opening is 1.9 m to 2.1 m, width 1.22 m to 1.24 m, and depth 0.16 m to 0.24 m. The depth from the opening of the tomb to the mound surface is 1.2 m. The tomb opening is located in Stratum (2), filled with loose, tessellated fine sandy loam and with gravel of similar size. There are two termite nests 8 centimeters deep in the eastern part of the burial pit. Tomb D13M1 was built by first slightly leveling the ground surface and then piling more soil to level the area; digging the burial pit into the padding soil; and then piling up the mound. The burial pit does not break into the sterile subsoil layer, and the bottom of the pit is 0.2 m to 0.3 m above the sterile subsoil layer (Figures 3 and 4).

Unearthed artifacts from the burial pit include two pieces of stamped hard pottery double-eared

guan-jars, one proto-porcelain dou-stemmed bowl, one red coarse sand pottery he-pitcher, two fine sand pottery dou-stemmed bowls, one hard pottery yu-basin, and another stamped hard pottery guan-jar that is severely damaged beyond repair.

Stamped hard pottery double-eared guan-jars (2 pieces): Artifact D13M1:1 is gray hard pottery. The artifact has a wide opening, high neck and rounded shoulder; a round belly with a small clay pie attached on each side of the ears; and a small concave bottom. The neck of the object is decorated with a string pat-tern, and the body with triangle and labyrinth fret patterns. The diameter of the opening is 19.2 cm, belly diameter 32.4 cm, bottom diameter 17.6 cm and height 31.6 cm (Figure 5:1 and Figure 6). Arti-fact D13M1:8 is gray hard pottery. This artifact has

Figure 5: Artifacts unearthed from Tomb D13M1

t 1, 2. Stamped hard pottery double-eared guan-jars (D13M1:1, 8) t 3, 4. Pottery dou-stemmed bowls (D13M1:5, 6) t 5. Proto-porcelain dou-stemmed bowl (D13M1:7) t 6. Hard pottery yu-basin (D13M1:2) t 7. Pottery he-pitcher (D13M1:3); (1, 7 scaled approx. 1:8, the rest approx. 1:4)

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a wide opening, high neck, rounded shoulder, ob-late spheroidal belly and concave bottom. The neck of the object is decorated with a string pattern, and the body with a labyrinth fret pattern. Its opening diameter is 14.2 cm, belly diameter 22.6 cm, bottom diameter 11.6 cm and height 17.8 cm (Figure 5:2).

Gray hard pottery yu-basin (1 piece: D13M1:2): The artifact has an expanding opening, short straight neck, oblique shoulder, abacus bead-shaped oblate bulging belly and flat bottom; the bottom and belly junction has joining marks. Its neck and shoulder are decorated with several lines of string pattern sepa-rated by comb-like short diagonal lines. Its opening diameter is 10.8 cm, belly diameter 14.8 cm, bottom diameter 8.2 cm and height 7.2 cm (Figure 5:6 and Figure 7).

Red coarse sand pottery he-pitcher (1 piece: D13M1:3): The he-pitcher has a receding opening and narrow waist, with a round grate embedded at the waist. Its lower portion resembles the shape of a li-cauldron, with tripod cylindrical legs and blunt toes, a curved handle and a small clay pie attached at both sides of the upper end of the handle. The lower portion of the pitcher is decorated with a labyrinth fret pattern. Its opening diameter is 12.4 cm, waist diameter 9.2 cm, belly diameter 15.4 cm and height 24 cm (Figure 5:7 and Figure 8).

Pottery dou-stemmed bowls (2 pieces): Artifact D13M1:5 is gray fine sand pottery. It has a receding opening, receding arc belly, curved bottom and short ring foot. It is a plain ware. The dou-stemmed bowl is well made, with fine string pattern traces left on the surfaces by a retouching process on a slow-turning pottery wheel. Its opening diameter is 11.2 cm, belly diameter 11.6 cm, bottom diameter 8 cm and height 5 cm (Figure 5:3). Artifact D13M1:6 is gray fine sand pottery. It has an expanding opening, reced-ing arc belly, curved bottom and short ring foot. It is a plain ware. The dou-stemmed bowl is well made, with fine string pattern traces left on the surfaces by a retouching process on a slow-turning pottery Figure 8: Pottery he-pitcher (D13M1:3)

Figure 6: Stamped hard pottery double-eared guan-jar (D13M1:1)

Figure 7: Hard pottery yu-basin (D13M1:2)


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el to form a rectangular gravel bed, about 2.6 m in length, 0.65 m in width, oriented east-west. In the surrounding area of Tomb D28M1, there is also a very dense distribution of gravel within an oval area of 2.6 m radius. The gravel here is slightly larger than the particle sizes inside Tomb D28M1. One hard pottery yu-basin was unearthed from the tomb (Figure 9).

Gray hard pottery yu-basin (1 piece: D28M1:1): The artifact has an expanding opening, short and straight neck, arc shoulder, oblate spheroidal belly with knife cutting traces noted on the lower belly area, and flat bottom. Its neck and shoulder are deco-rated with several lines of string pattern separated by comb-like short diagonal lines. Its opening diameter is 9.9 cm, belly diameter 10.8 cm, bottom diameter 4.9 cm and height 5.5 cm (Figures 10 and 11).

3. Burial sites without pits were made by first cleaning the original ground surface to sterile subsoil,

wheel. Its opening diameter is 10.8 cm, belly diam-eter 10.9 cm, bottom diameter 7.2 cm and height 5 cm (Figure 5:4).

Proto-porcelain dou-stemmed bowl (1 piece: D13M1:7): The artifact has a grayish-white body decorated with yellowish-green glaze, which is al-most completely peeled off. It has a wide opening, everted belly and trumpet-like short ring foot. The inner surface of the bowl bottom is decorated with a few lines of rough string pattern. The dou-stemmed bowl is well made, with fine string traces left on the surfaces by a retouching process on a slow-turning pottery wheel. Its opening diameter is 12 cm, bot-tom diameter 5.2 cm and height 5.4 cm (Figure 5:5).

2. Gravel beds for burials were made by first cleaning the original ground surface to sterile sub-soil, with slight leveling, and then adding a layer of unevenly sized gravel, forming beds; then artifacts were placed on the gravel beds. The plan views of the stone beds are mostly rectangular.

Mound D28 is an example. The existing height is 1 m and its mound is piled in two strata. Stratum (1) is yellowish-brown fine sandy loam containing a small amount of gravel and roots, piled in a wavy style. Stratum (2) is yellowish-brown fine sandy loam with much small gravel, but fewer roots. The opening of Tomb D28M1 is below Stratum (1), located in the southwest part of the mound. On top of Stratum (2) rests a layer of well-defined dis-tribution of evenly sized small gravel. Tomb D28M1 contains densely distributed small grav-

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Figure 9: Plan view of Tomb D28M1

t 1. Hard pottery yu-basin



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leveling slightly, and then placing artifacts directly and piling up the mounds.

Mound D14 is an example. The mound was piled into (1) reddish-yellow coarse sandy loam, (2) yellowish-brown fine sandy loam, and (3) loose grayish-brown loam containing gravel. At the center

of the mound below Stratum (2), a tomb (designa-tion number D14M1) was discovered. Seven pieces of artifacts are aligned east-west, with about 2.6 m between the artifacts on the far ends. The bottom of the tomb has a layer of padding soil, with sparse, unevenly sized gravel. It is speculated that it was built by paving a level plane on the original ground, then performing burial in this plane and piling dirt into a mound (Figures 12 and 13).

One stamped hard pottery tan-jug and three stamped hard pottery guan-jars were unearthed in the southeastern side of Tomb D14M1. One pottery dou-stemmed bowl was unearthed in the north side of the tomb’s central area. One proto-porcelain dou-stemmed bowl and one hard pottery yu-basin were unearthed in the west side of the tomb. The pottery yu-basin was found upside down in the bottom of the tomb, which is quite different from the positions of other artifacts unearthed; it was likely deliberately positioned.

Hard pottery tan-jug (1 piece: D14M1:1): The artifact is dark brown hard pottery, with uneven color tone. It has a wide opening, arc shoulder, deep round bulging belly and concave bottom. Its neck is deco-rated with a string pattern, and its body with a laby-rinth fret pattern. Its opening diameter is 21.6 cm, belly diameter 36.4 cm, bottom diameter 18.8 cm and height 37 cm (Figure 14:1).

Figure 12: Plan view of Tomb D14M1

t 1. Hard pottery tan-jug t 2-4. Hard pottery double-eared guan-jars t 5. Pottery dou-stemmed bowl t 6. Proto-porcelain dou-stemmed bowl t 7. Hard pottery yu-basin0 40 cm

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Figure 10: Hard pottery yu-basin (D28M1:1) (scale approx. 2:3)



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Hard pottery double-eared guan-jars (3 pieces): Artifact D14M1:2 is dark brown hard pottery. It has a wide opening, high neck, rounded shoulder, round

belly and concave bottom. Its neck is decorated with a string pattern, and its body with a labyrinth fret pat-tern. Its opening diameter is 14.8 cm, belly diameter

Figure 13: Tomb D14M1 (photo facing north)

Figure 14: Artifacts unearthed from Tomb D14M1

t 1. Hard pottery tan-jug (D14M1:1) t 2-4. Hard pottery double-eared guan-jars (D14M1:2-4) t 5. Proto-porcelain dou-stemmed bowl (D14M1:6) t 6. Hard pottery yu-basin (D14M1:7) (scale approx. 1:6)

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Figure 16: Proto-porcelain dou-stemmed bowl (D14M1:6)

Figure 15: Hard pottery double-eared guan-jar (D14M1:2)

23.9 cm, bottom diameter 13.2 cm and height 20 cm (Figure 14:2 and Figure 15). Artifact D14M1:3 is gray hard pottery. It has an expanding opening, narrow neck, oblique shoulder; an obliquely tapering lower belly with a small clay pie attached to each ear; and a small concave bottom. Its neck and shoulder are deco-rated with several lines of waves separated by a comb-like short diagonal line pattern. Its opening diameter is 7.6 cm, belly diameter 12 cm, bottom diameter 8.2 cm and height 8.2 cm (Figure 14:3). Artifact D14M1:4 is dark brown hard pottery, with uneven color tone. It has a wide opening, small curled rim, rounded shoulder, round belly and flat bottom. The neck of the object is decorated with multiple lines of string pattern, and the body with a labyrinth fret pattern. The junction area of the bottom and the lower belly has several lines of irregular scored marks. Its opening diameter is 13 cm, belly diameter 20.6 cm, bottom diameter 12.6 cm and height 16 cm (Figure 14:4).

Proto-porcelain dou-stemmed bowl (1 piece: D14M1:6): The artifact has a grayish-white body decorated with yellowish-green glaze, which is almost completely peeled off. It has an expanding opening (slightly deformed), narrow neck, everted belly, trum-pet-like short ring foot and slightly outward bottom. The wall and neck of the bowl are decorated with a coarse string pattern. Its opening diameter is 9.5 cm, belly diameter 10.2 cm, bottom diameter 4.8 cm and height 5.5 cm (Figure 14:5 and Figure 16).

Hard pottery yu-basin (1 piece: D14M1:7): The artifact is made of gray hard pottery, with an expanding opening, straight neck, oblique shoulder, oblate spheroidal belly and small concave bottom. Its neck and shoulder are decorated with several lines of string pattern separated by comb-like short diagonal lines. Its opening diameter is 10.2 cm, belly diameter 12.4 cm, bottom diameter 6.2 cm and height 7 cm (Figure 14:6 and Figure 17).

In addition, one fine sand pottery dou-stemmed bowl (D14M1:5) was unearthed. It is very difficult to reconstruct due to severe damage.


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CONCLUSIONSJudging by the characteristics of unearthed arti-

facts at the Longtou Mountain mound tombs, they resemble those artifacts unearthed at the Qianfeng Mountain mound tombs[1] in Nanling County ex-cavated in 1985 and the Guniu Mountain site[2] ex-cavated in 1997 by the Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. Similar pottery assemblages include the stamped hard pottery dou-ble-eared guan-jars, tripod flat-bottomed pottery yan-steamers, curved-handled he-pitchers, everted-belly porcelain dou-stemmed bowls, etc. The preliminary time period of the findings was determined to be the Western Zhou Dynasty.

The Longtou Mountain mound tombs are mostly single-tomb mounds, which is one of the main charac-teristics of mound tombs in southern Anhui Province. The majority of tombs contain few grave goods, and

the most commonly used utensils in daily life. No rit-ual objects symbolizing social status were found, and these tombs should be classified as common civilian burials. It is noteworthy that there are 19 mounds that did not have any indication of tombs or burials, and yet these mounds were piled exactly the same as the other mounds, with no obvious signs of disturbance either. This warrants further investigation.

The Zhang River basin is the most concen-trated region of mound tombs in southern Anhui Province.[3] More than 52 mound tombs of the Zhou Dynasty were found and registered during the third nationwide cultural heritage survey in Nanling Coun-ty alone.[4] The investigation and excavation of the Longtou Mountain mound tombs reveals the unique cultural characteristics of the region and provides us with valuable information toward our understanding of this type of remains.

Drawings: Shunli Hao

Prepared by: Xiaochun Chen

References Cited

[1] Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. 1989. “Nanling Qianfengshan tudun mu” 南陵千峰山土墩墓 (Mound Tombs at Qianfeng Mountain [aka Wannan (Southern Anhui) Mound Tombs – Trans.] in Nanling County). Kaogu 考古 (Archaeology) No. 3.

[2] Excavation data at Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.

[3] Gong, Xicheng. 2002. “Wannan diqu tudun mu chubu yanjiu” 皖南地区土墩墓初步研究 (Preliminary Study of Mound Tombs in Southern Anhui). In Changjiang liuyu qingtong wenhua yanjiu 长江流域青铜文化研究 (Studies of Yangtze River Bronze Culture). Science Press, Beijing.

[4] State Administration of Cultural Heritage. 2011. Zhonghua renmin gongheguo bukeyidong wenwu mulu (anhui juan) 中华人民共和国不可移动文物目录 (安徽卷) (Unmovable Cultural Heritage Directory of the People’s Republic of China [Anhui Volume]).

Wenwu (Cultural Relics) Editor: Yuanyuan Li

Translated by Garry Guan

This article was originally published in Wenwu (Cultural Relics) No. 10, 2013, pp. 4-10, 76.



the excavations at the western zhou dynasty mound tombs at

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