湖北黄州楚墓

CHU TOMBS AT HUANGZHOU,HUBEI

黄州地处湖北省东部，原为黄冈县，现为黄冈市黄州区。黄州濒临长江中游北岸，南与鄂州市隔江相望。其境内为大别山南麓，以低山丘陵地貌为主。黄州楚墓主要集中分布于市治北郊约5公里的禹王城(邾城)周围(图一)，自1981年起，文物考古工作者曾先后在国儿冲、龙王山发掘了十余座战国楚墓。1987年禹王城遗址及其周邻的墓群一起被公布为市级文物保护单位。

In the winter of 1991,a great number of tombs were discovered near Yuwang city (Zhucheng city),about 5 km north of Huanggang city seat,when a section of the Huangzhou-Tuanfeng Highway was built in Huangzhou district of Huanggang city.In 1992, rescuing excavations were carried out at Wangjiachong,Caojiagang and Longwangshan under the direction of the Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.96 tombs were discovered;among them 60 Chu tombs belong to the Eastern Zhou period,which are reported in the present paper. The tombs are all medium-and small-sized shafts.Most of the coffins are rotten,only 3 tombs yielded surviving inner and outer coffins.The tomb pits can be divided into two groups,both consisting of rectangular pits,which,however,differ in width.The first group is small in number,and further divided into the niched and nicheless type.Tombs of the second group are seen more frequently and fall into four types;the former three types have passages,second tier platforms of immature soil and bulges of such soil,while the fourth comprises simple earth pits without this furniture respectively.Funeral objects were discovered commonly except for one case.Based on their typological analyses and referring to the periodization of the neighboring Chu tombs already published,this batch of Chu tombs can de divided into six groups of five stages,which correspond to the time scope from the mid to the late Warring States period. Huangzhou is located in eastern Hubei province.According to historical documents,the Chu people set foot there in the late Western Zhou,and King Xuanwang of the Chu state destroyed the Zhu state and then migrated the prince of the latter to there in the mid Warring States period.As early as the 1950,Chu tombs were discovered sporadically.Since the late 1980's,several batches of Chu tombs have been brought to light.Those excavated this time not only are greatest in number,but also surpass the total of previously excavated in this region.Comparative studies show that,this batch of Chu tombs shares the same cultural aspect with those in the neighboring Jiangling,Dangyang and Xiangfan areas.However, they also have characteristic features of their own.For example,most of the tombs face the north,proto-celadon occurs commonly,the fu rectangular vessel is rare,and the pottery is generally made with distinctive techniques.Therefore,the excavation of those tombs is undoubtedly crucial to promoting the regionalization research on the Chu culture and probing into the process of its spread and evolution.