Tomb of Liu Jiang

Tomb of Liu Jiang

Tomb of Liu Jiang

A mid-Western Han Dynasty burial site located on Yaoziling in Lingling District, Yongzhou City. It was excavated in 1984. A partial earthen mound remains at the site. The tomb entrance measures 8.9 meters in length, 6.9 meters in width, and 4.5 meters in depth, with charcoal accumulation inside the chamber. Based on the distribution of artifacts and partial traces of the coffin and outer coffins, the tomb chamber is divided into several sections: an antechamber, the central coffin area, and left and right storage chambers. The antechamber yielded bronze bells, bronze lamps, pottery incense burners, and a large amount of lacquer fragments, suggesting it served as a ceremonial display area for items such as tables, cups, and plates. The central coffin area contained an iron sword, bronze bells, bronze mirrors, belt hooks, bronze bowls, and a lacquered cosmetic box with bronze legs. The coffin itself held a bronze sword, bronze knife, bronze mirror, jade bi disks, and jade plugs. The storage chambers, also known as outer coffins, included a left storage chamber primarily yielding hard pottery jars, followed by boxes and pottery jars. The right storage chamber contained bronze pots, a mechanism (possibly a mechanical device), painted ritual pottery items such as ding tripods, fang vessels, boxes, jars, as well as wuzhu coins. A total of 185 artifacts were unearthed from the tomb, among which 48 were soft pottery items all coated with black glaze and decorated with red and yellow colors. The designs were mostly radial patterns or variations of radiating twists, scorched leaf-shaped triangles, and four persimmon calyx motifs, all finely and neatly executed. Among the bronze items were pots, long-necked pots (used for a game similar to pitch-pot), handled pots, belt hooks, mirrors, lamps, and mechanisms. The long-necked pots and handled pots often featured intricate diamond and interconnected triangular patterns. Notably, one long-necked pot contained 72 bamboo skewers used in a game—believed to be an entertainment activity for scholars and nobles derived from Zhou rituals—which is rarely found in Hunan. Inside a small metal box in the coffin, a bronze seal was discovered, featuring a turtle-shaped knob and an inscription in intaglio seal script reading “Liu Jiang,” confirming the tomb owner’s name. On the concave handle of a pot lid, there was also a seal impression in intaglio seal script reading “Chen Chang” (meaning “Servant Chang”), likely referring to a household retainer, indicating that the tomb owner was a noble of considerable status.