The Miantouling Tomb Cluster

The Miantouling Tomb Cluster

The Miantouling Tomb Cluster is a cultural tourism attraction.

The Miantouling Tomb Cluster is located on the southern slope of Miantouling in Zhongxia Village, Yunlu Town, Jiedong County. Due to construction activities such as foundation digging, bronze artifacts have been discovered at various sites, including Dagfen, Houkengpu Dache, and Dasheng Palace. Copper arrowheads are also often found in the riverbed of a small stream northwest of the village after rain. From April 1974 to winter 1978, more than ten ancient tombs of varying sizes from the Warring States period were discovered one after another, and a number of burial objects were excavated and cleared.

Take the Niudui Warring States Tomb as an example. In April 1973, when a production team in Zhongxia Township was building an office, they leveled a mound called Niudui and discovered a large ancient tomb. The tomb faces 180°, with the chamber constructed directly on the original ground. It is square, with sides about 3.3 meters long. The walls were built with rammed earth, standing 1.2 meters high and 1 meter thick. The interior of the tomb was filled with charcoal, which, due to pulverization and compression, now measures only 0.3 meters in thickness. Above the charcoal layer, there is a 0.2-meter-thick layer of compacted clay, topped with a layer of small stones, matching the length and width of the tomb chamber. The original earthen mound was 5 meters high, and 8 meters long and wide. Several bronze artifacts were buried as funerary objects. Near the left wall of the tomb chamber, the bronze items were arranged in a straight line: the first three were tripods of varying sizes, all characterized by flared mouths, bulging bodies, flat bases, and short, thin legs. Another three pieces were shattered, making their forms unrecognizable. Close to the right wall was a short-handled bronze battle-axe; in the center was a bronze sword, now broken, with three raised bands on the handle, along with a curved-blade ring-pommel dagger with a slender handle. Other bronze funeral objects were too damaged to identify their original forms.

Nine Warring States tombs were cleared after their pits were damaged during construction-related soil extraction. The structures of these tombs are unclear, and they are smaller in scale than the Niudui Warring States Tomb. Most of their chambers are underground, and some contain layers of charcoal accumulation. The recovered burial objects fall into two categories: bronze and pottery. Bronze items include gui (food vessels), fu (rectangular offering trays), yu (basins), ding (tripods), and swords, while pottery items include jars, pots, vats, cups, bowls, and spinning whorls. The Zhongxia Tomb Area is an important Warring States burial site discovered in Jieyang County (now part of Jiedong County). It includes several large tombs with more than one tripod, as well as numerous small pit tombs where only two pottery items were found near the waist of the deceased—highlighting a stark contrast in wealth.

Zhongxia Village: Located in the northwest of Yunlu Town, Zhongxia Village is a veteran revolutionary base area. It borders the county seat and is traversed by the Yunbao Avenue, which runs through the entire village and serves as an industrial zone for the county. The village enjoys a superior geographical location and convenient transportation. It currently has a total population of 6,850 residents across 1,600 households, with 2,000 mu of arable land and 2,000 mu of mountainous land. The main source of income is agriculture, and the village collective economy is relatively weak. In recent years, under the correct leadership of the higher-level Party committees and government, Zhongxia Village has focused on advancing economic development and vigorously promoting social programs, achieving remarkable results. It has now developed a distinctive scale in agricultural industries. … Zhongxia Village Detailed Information ++