The Black House Cliff Tomb Group is located in Group 1 of Hailan Village, Jinfeng Town, High-tech Zone, Chongqing, with the central geographical coordinates of 29° 30′ 43.70"N, 106° 17′ 21.25"E, 317 meters above sea level, and a distribution area of about 2400 square meters. From October to November 2021, in order to cooperate with the construction of the Jinfeng Tunnel Project, the Chongqing Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology carried out rescue excavations of the Black House Cliff Tomb Group within the construction red line, cleaning up a total of 17 tombs and leaving 6 data.
Figure 1 The surrounding environment of the Black House Cliff Tomb Group
1. Archaeological discoveries
The Black House Cliff Tombs are located on a nearly oval hilltop, with 11 tombs on the eastern slope and 12 on the western slope. The tombs of this group of tombs have been stolen and disturbed, and there are fewer burial items unearthed, and only the well-preserved tomb shape can be made as the main basis for staging. According to the orientation of each tomb, the size of the tomb, the ancillary facilities in the tomb, the remaining burial items, etc., the tomb group is divided into four groups, the era is from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Six Dynasties.
Figure 2 Aerial photography of the Black House Cliff Tomb Group
1. The first group of tombs
Four tombs, M1 to M4, distributed in the southern part of the eastern slope, are the first group of tombs. In the 1970s, it was transformed into a mushroom cultivation room by local villagers, and the tomb passage and burial chamber structure were so badly damaged that it was basically impossible to judge the period.
2. The second group of tombs
M5 to M11 are distributed in the northern part of the eastern slope and are the second group of tombs. The direction of the tomb ranges from 68 to 83 degrees. Except for the total length of the M8, which is 6.96 meters, the total length of the rest is 10.80 to 14.66 meters, which is larger. The tombs of M5, M6, M10 and M11 are vaulted roofs, M7 are algae-type bucket-shaped tombs, and M8 and M9 are "human" slope tops. There is a stove in the northeast corner of M6, and the stove of M7 is in the southeast corner of the tomb. Except for M8 and M9, there are no coffin beds, and the rest have coffin beds. M8 unearthed more pottery, the rest of the tombs remaining with the burial items are very small.
Figure 3 Aerial photo of the eastern slope of the Black House Cliff Tomb Group
The cleanup of the more representative M7 is summarized below. M7 consists of four parts: the tomb passage, the tomb door, the yongdao and the burial chamber, with a total length of about 11 meters and an direction of 81 degrees. The plan of the tomb is trapezoidal, and the mouth is large and the bottom is small. Triple door frame, closed door is no longer there. The yongdao plane is trapezoidal, the tomb plan is rectangular, the tomb roof is algae-type bucket shape, and the middle of the tomb roof is chiseled with a "Hui" glyph pattern. There is a coffin bed on the left and right sides of the burial chamber and at the rear, and a rectangular stove and niche in the southeast corner. In the later stage of M7, the theft was serious, and no burial tools or human bones were found. The silt soil at the bottom of the burial chamber contains a small amount of fragments of grey pottery after the disturbance. Depending on the size of M7, the top of the tomb and the outbuildings inside the tomb, the era of M7 may be from the late Eastern Han Dynasty.
Figure 4 Black House Tomb Group M7 Aerial Photography
Figure 5 Black House Tomb Group M7 Burial Chamber and Tomb Roof
3. The third group of tombs
M12 to M17 are distributed in the northern part of the western slope and are the third group of tombs. The burial direction range is 272 to 294 degrees, and the tombs in this group are small in scale, with a total length of 3.16 to 5.78 meters. Except for the M15 tomb roof, which is algae-type overmolded, the rest are vaulted roofs. The M12 has no coffin beds, and the rest of the burial chambers have coffin beds at the rear. There is only one stove in the northwest corner of the M13 tomb.
M13 is composed of four parts: the tomb passage, the tomb door, the Yongdao and the burial chamber, with a total length of about 5.06 meters and a direction of 294 degrees. The upper part of the tomb door, the passage and the top part of the burial chamber were destroyed, and the tomb passage was shorter and the wall was straighter. Double door frame, closed door is no longer there. The plan of the corridor and the burial chamber is rectangular, the tomb roof is vaulted, the rear of the burial chamber is equipped with a coffin bed, and there is a stove in the northwest corner of the tomb. The late M13 theft was also more serious, and a small amount of burial items were found in the yellow-brown silt soil at the bottom of the tomb. There are 1 piece each of pottery pond, pottery room and iron sword, and 2 pieces of pottery chicken. M13 is small in scale, and according to the tomb roof, the annexes in the tomb and the remaining burial items, the era of M13 may be the late Eastern Han Dynasty - Shu Han Dynasty.
Figure 6 Aerial photograph of the western slope of the Black House Cliff Tomb Group
Figure 7 Aerial photograph of the western slope of the Black House Cliff Tomb Group
Figure 8 Black House Cliff Tomb Group M13 Burial Chamber and Tomb Roof
4. The fourth group of tombs
M18-M23 is distributed in the southern part of the western slope and is the fourth group of tombs. The direction of the tomb ranges from 250 to 265 degrees, and the total length is 2.70 to 7.60 meters. The tomb roofs of M18, M19 and M20 are all arched, M21 and M22 are bucket-shaped roofs, and M23 is the slope top of "human". In addition to M21, these six tombs have coffin beds at the back of the burial chamber, of which M18, M20, M21 have short drainage ditches. The scale of M23 is larger in this group of tombs, 7.06 to 7.60 meters long, with a coffin bed on the left and right sides of the burial chamber and the rear part, and a rectangular stove in the southwest corner. With the exception of M23, the remaining tombs are smaller in scale and may be from the Six Dynasties period.
M21 is composed of four parts: tomb passage, tomb door, Yongdao and burial chamber, with a total length of 2.70 to 2.80 meters and a direction of 250 degrees. The tomb passage is short, a heavy door frame, and the closed door no longer exists. The plan of the corridor and the burial chamber is rectangular, and the roof of the tomb is in the shape of a bucket. There is an arc-shaped groove in the top of the tomb door, and there is a drainage ditch from the front of the tomb to the entrance of the tomb, and the late M21 theft is serious, and no burial items have been found. M21 is extremely small, its burial chamber is 1.80 long, 1.44 wide, 1.36 meters high, and there is a drainage ditch in front of the tomb, and its era may be from the Six Dynasties period.
Figure 9 Black House Tomb Group M21 Facing Square
Figure 10 The M21 tomb chamber and the roof of the Black House Cliff Tomb Group
Figure 11 Clay figurines unearthed from the Black House Cliff Tomb Group M6
Figure 12 Black House Cliff Tomb Group M6 excavated pottery pond
Figure 13 Black House Cliff Tomb Group M8 excavated pottery
Second, harvest understanding
The number of tombs in the Black House Cliff Tomb Group excavated this time is relatively large, and the tombs in each group are facing different directions and arranged in an orderly manner, which should be a consciously planned family cemetery. In some tombs, two or three coffin beds have been found, which provides new information for exploring the funerary forms of han dynasty cliff tombs and caves. Some tombs have found stoves at the entrance of the tombs, which can reflect the daily life scenes of ancient people from the side, and are the embodiment of the funeral concept of "death as life". The black house cliff tomb group is large in scale and lasts for a long time, which adds important physical materials for in-depth study of the tomb shape system and funerary culture of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Six Dynasties period in the Sichuan-Chongqing region.
Resources:
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[5] Chongqing Cultural Heritage Research Institute, Tongnan District Cultural Relics Management Institute: "Briefing on the Excavation of Han Tombs at the Xiamiao'er Site in Tongnan District, Chongqing", Sichuan Cultural Relics, No. 4, 2014.
[6] Fan Peng, Li Dadi, Zou Houxi, "The Tombs of the Eastern Han Cliffs on the Slope of Coffin Hill in Bishan County, Chongqing", Archaeology, No. 9, 2014.
[7] Sun Zhigang and Bai Jiujiang, "Briefing on the Excavation of the Tomb of the Han Dynasty cliff on Pingping, Jiangjin District, Chongqing", Wenbo, No. 3, 2017.
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Photo: Feng Yanmeng Fan Peng
Editor-in-charge: Dong Yongjia
Editor: Liu Wei
Review: Lin Bizhong
About author:Feng Yanmeng is an assistant librarian of the Institute of Archaeology of Chongqing Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. Fan Peng is an associate research librarian of the Chongqing Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.
Reprinted from Chongqing Archaeology