Archaeological manifestations of rank and status : the wooden chamber tombs in the Mid-Â­Yangzi Region (206 B.C. - A.D. 25)
This thesis is centered on the roles of wooden chamber tombs in defining, negotiating and reinforcing status and identity of their owners in early imperial China. The archaeological materials under discussion are wooden chamber burials in the mid-Yangzi region, including the modern provinces of Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan and north Anhui. The first reason why I have chosen this area is because these tombs are well-preserved and provide excellent examples to examine the different material expressions of rank and status at each rank in mortuary contexts. They are complemented by some extensive contemporary texts written on bamboo strips recently discovered in the same general area. The waterlogged burial environment in the mid-Yangzi region allows organic materials, such as textiles, lacquers and bamboo manuscripts, to survive while in other regions, such as the Central Plain, they often perished. Secondly, these tombs are also of a traditional formâconstructed as a wooden chamber dug into a vertical pit, and can therefore be considered in relation to earlier Zhou practices. Wooden chamber tombs started to flourish from the eleventh century and became more elaborate from the sixth to the first century B.C. From
Liu, Yan
Archaeology ; status ; gender ; Han empire ; material culture ; excavated texts ; burial
Archaeological manifestations of rank and status : the wooden chamber tombs in the Mid-Â­Yangzi Region (206 B.C. - A.D. 25). This thesis is centered on the roles of wooden chamber tombs in defining, negotiating and reinforcing status and identity of their owners in early imperial China. The archaeological materials under discussion are wooden chamber burials in the mid-Yangzi region, including the modern provinces of Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan and north Anhui. The first reason why I have chosen this area is because these tombs are well-preserved and provide excellent examples to examine the different material expressions of rank and status at each rank in mortuary contexts. They are complemented by some extensive contemporary texts written on bamboo strips recently discovered in the same general area. The waterlogged burial environment in the mid-Yangzi region allows organic materials, such as textiles, lacquers and bamboo manuscripts, to survive while in other regions, such as the Central Plain, they often perished. Secondly, these tombs are also of a traditional formâconstructed as a wooden chamber dug into a vertical pit, and can therefore be considered in relation to earlier Zhou practices. Wooden chamber tombs started to flourish from the eleventh century and became more elaborate from the sixth to the first century B.C. From
archaeological manifestation rank status wooden chamber tombs mid region centered role wooden chamber tomb define negotiate reinforce status identity owner early_imperial china archaeological_material discussion wooden chamber burial mid region include modern province sichuan north first reason_choose area tombs well_preserved provide_excellent example examine different material_expression rank status rank mortuary_context complement extensive contemporary text write strip recently discover general area waterlogged burial_environment mid region allow organic_material textile manuscript survive region central plain often secondly tomb also traditional form construct wooden chamber dug vertical pit therefore_consider relation earlier practice wooden chamber tomb start flourish become elaborate