Tomb of Shi Qiyou

Tomb of Shi Qiyou

In December 1973, a Han dynasty wooden-chambered tomb was discovered in Wantuan Village, Nanmen, Haizhou District, Lianyungang City. The tomb owner had the compound surname Shi Qi and the given name You.

A total of 102 funerary objects were unearthed, the vast majority of which were lacquerware and woodenware. There were 38 pieces of lacquerware, including 2 food boxes, 18 ear cups, 2 boxes, and 2 sets of 10 small nested lacquer boxes contained within them, 5 plates, 1 bowl. Their materials can be divided into laminated-core and wooden-core types. Most of the lacquerware featured an outer coating of black lacquer and an inner coating of red lacquer. The decorative patterns were either painted or incised, including cloud motifs and swirling cloud designs. One of the lacquer plates had the five characters “Shang Li Zhu Gong Zhi” (Made by Zhu Gong of Shang Li) inscribed on the bottom. There were 37 pieces of bronze ware, including dous (measuring vessels), belt hooks, mirrors, and wuzhu coins. Among the burial items was also one silver seal with a turtle-shaped knob, square in shape, flat-bodied, measuring 1.4 cm on each side. The top bore a turtle-shaped knob, and the seal face was engraved in intaglio with the three seal script characters “Shi Qi You.” There were 6 jade ornaments: 2 eye covers, 2 nose plugs, and 2 ear plugs. The eye covers were shield-shaped, the ear plugs were short cylinders, and the nose plugs were flat cylinders. There were 2 bone hairpins, each found near the head of one of the deceased. There were 4 pottery urns, all of the same shape, featuring small necks, bulging bellies, and concave bottoms, with rope patterns decorating the lower belly to the base.

The above materials generally indicate that this tomb dates back to the middle to late Western Han dynasty. Shi Qiyou is not mentioned in historical records, but based on the turtle-knobbed silver seal found among the burial items, we can roughly infer his status. According to the *Han Officials’ Rites*: “Chancellors, marquises, and generals wore gold seals with purple silk ribbons; those with a salary rank of 2,000 or 2,000 stones wore silver seals with blue silk ribbons—all with turtle knobs.” From this, it is inferred that Shi Qiyou may have been a local official of the rank of prefectural governor or similar.