The Tomb No.2 at Leigudun in Suizhou
Abstract The tomb No. 2 at Leigudun on a mound in Zengdu
district, 2 kilomete northwest to the city proper of Suizhou is
the second largest tomb after the well-known tomb of the Marquise
of Zeng, i.e., the tomb No.1 at Leigudun. Both of the tombs are
located in Suizhou and belong to the membe of the ruling lineage of
the Zeng polity. It is believed by archaeologists that the two
tombs are of equal significance in providing important evidence for
undetanding of the Sui culture, ritual practices and musical
performances in the pre-Qin times, and the relatiohips between the
Sui and Chu polities. The present volume reports the discovery and
excavation of the tomb No.2 at Leigudun. It includes 449 burial
goods of various kinds, and 32 are unearthed from a disturbing
ditch. Date of the tomb and the social status of the occupant are
both given in detail in the textual sectio. Though the tomb No.2
was actually excavated very early, the site report only comes out
as late as 2008 for many reaso. We would particularly like to thank
the people who worked very hard in the past several decades keeping
and coerving the materials for their publication. The report has
four chapte. Chapter I Introduction The fit section introduces the
geographic location of Suizhou, environmental and political changes
since the late Western Zhou dynasty. Section one also includes the
situation of the cemetery where the tomb No. 2 is located,
coervation and recotruction of the finds, and material preparation
for publication. Suizhou is located in the so-called Sui-Zao
''corridor'', a narrow joint area of the south and north parts of
China, with beautiful landscapes, comfortable climate conditio and
fertile soil for agricultural use and deely veined with rive; for
all the above mentioned geographic and natural conditio, the city
has always been perceived since the antiquity as an ideal and
important location for human living and cultural communication
between the south and the north of China. The Sui polity was
established in the late Western Zhou period. During the early
Spring and Autumn period, it moved its capital to the Sui-Zao
corridor area and subsequently became a powerful polity on the east
bank of the Hahui River. Chapter II Tombs and the Major Occupant
Data of the tomb No.2 includes four aspects: burial mound, burial
pit, furnishings, and treatments of the dead. 1. There was indeed a
mound right above the burial chamber of the tomb No.2 at Leigudun,
which was totally leveled to the ground by the local military force
when building a camp; 2. The second part introduces the location,
orientation, size, structure, and the fill of the burial pit; 3.
The third part introduces the major coffin and subordinate coffi;
the coffin of the tomb occupant is located in the middle of the
northern part of the burial chamber, seriously deteriorated; coffin
accessories are scattered around; remai of another coffin, probably
a subordinate coffin to the major coffin, was discov-ered in the
southwestern comer of the chamber, with no burial goods iide; 4.
The skeletal data is quite limited since the bones are highly
deteriorated; what we can know from the bones left is that the
major occupant was headed to the east, while the sacrificed victim
in the accompanying coffin was buried in a north-south orientation.
Chapter III Burial Goods Very abundant burial goods in total, 449
single objects have been recovered from the tomb No.2,including
bronzes, stone and jade objects, pottery vessels, horn and glass
objects, shell ornaments, and lead and tin vessels. According to
function, they can be classified into mainly six categories, i.e.,
ritual vessels,musical itruments, life tools, hoe and chariot
fittings, adornments, and burial goods. 1 Bronzes Ritual vessels
include: 17 ding meat-stewing tripod, 8 gui grain-offering
vessel, 4fu round vessel with flat bowl on high openwork foot,
10 li tripodal cooking vessel with pouch-shaped feet, 1 yan
grain steamer, 4 zun liquid-serving vessel, 2 washing pots, 4
pots, 3 dou stem bowl, 1 fu vessel with globular bottom, made to
fit a stovetop, 1 dish, 1 yi pouring vessel, 3 bi pointed
spoon, and 1 dou ladle with cylindrical container; Musical
itruments include: 36 yongzhong bells, 1 drum stand, 22 hooks for
hanging the bells; Life tools include: 1 fire-pan, 1 dustpan, 1
lid, 1 hook- shaped implement, and 1 funnel; Hoe and chariot
fittings and ornaments include: 4 canopy mounts, 5 axle-end
ornaments, 6 hoe bits,16 reign controlle, 102 bridle ornaments, 11
bicha, 36 bird-shaped and 18 plank-shaped adornments. 2 Jade and
stone burial goods Ritual objects include: 1 bi ring-shaped disc,
and 1 gui pentagonal tablet; Musical itruments include: 12
chimestones; Ornaments include: 2 arc-shaped pendants, and 8 agate
rings; 3 Ceramic vessels: 7 dou 4 Lead and tin objects include
64 fish-shaped ornaments, and 15 coffin accessories; 5 Other
significant finds include 7 horn gig-bits, a pair of deer antle, 3
crystal beads, 1 string of ring-shaped beads, and 1 shell ornament.
The tomb was most likely to have been looted in antiquity, which is
corroborated by the co-occurrence of the disturbing ditch near the
coffin of the major occupant and the large amount of burial goods
seemingly left by the loote within the ditch by churning the tomb
soil. It is for this reason, we deliberately separate these finds
from those unearthed from within the tomb chamber. The 32 finds
from the ditch include 1 pottery dou, 1 stone bi, 1 jade ram
figurine, 1 jade rabbit figurine,1 jade plug, 20 glass beads, 5
perforated turquoise beads, and 1 spade-shaped iron object. All
these finds are introduced in a typological order. One sample is
selectively given when many typologically identical vessels are
found. Chapter IV Conclusio The last section of this report
includes the following research results: 1 Date of the tomb No.2
at Leigudun: late phase of the early Warring States period through
the early phase of the middle Warring States period; 2 Identity
of the major tomb occupant: another Marquise of the Zeng polity
after the famous Marquise Yi; 3 Though the finds reflect a
serious influence from the Chu culture, the major elements of the
mortuary practice belong to the Zeng cultural sphere.