The Western Han Tombs at Zhujia Platform

The Western Han Tombs at Zhujia Platform

The Western Han Tombs at Zhujia Platform is a cultural tourism attraction.

【The Western Han Tombs at Zhujia Platform】

Nine Western Han tombs were excavated in Miaowan, Zhujia Platform, Sangzhi County. The tomb chambers are oriented 30° to 40′ east of due west. No remains of human bones or coffins have survived. There are seven rectangular vertical shaft tombs, one wedge-shaped vertical shaft tomb, and one vertical shaft tomb with a second-level terrace. Except for one tomb that was finely tamped using a mixture of red earth and white clay, the rest were not tamped. The tomb floors are level, filled with mixed soil and washed ore soil. Burial objects include: 18 five-zhu coins cast with large seal script inscriptions reading “Wu Zhu” and “Xuan Di Wu Zhu,” seven gray earthenware ritual tripod cauldrons (ding), five ritual boxes (he), ten ritual jars (hu), three each of plates (pan) and stemmed cups (dou), six each of jars (guan) and pots (fu), four each of stoves (zao) and steamers (zeng), and one each of a helmet-shaped pot (mou) and a bucket (diaotong). Most of the pottery pieces feature raised and recessed string-patterns, while a few show stamped square patterns, cord marks, grid patterns, and individual pieces display wave or vine motifs. These reflect the indigenous cultural characteristics of the time. The tombs were excavated in February 1988 by the Cultural Relics Team of the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture and the County Cultural Relics Management Office.