Zunyi Gaoping Ancient Tombs

Zunyi Gaoping Ancient Tombs

The Zunyi Gaoping Ancient Tombs are a Guizhou Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Zunyi Gaoping Ancient Tombs, located 1 kilometer west of Gaoping Town in Zunyi County (under the jurisdiction of Zunyi City), Guizhou Province, are tombs dating from the Southern Song Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty. They are distributed over an area of 3,000 square meters at Beiyayuan on Pearl Mountain and in Digubao. The burial mounds of the Yang Wen, Yang Sheng, Yang Gang, and Yang Ai tombs, excavated in 1972, have all been cultivated into farmland and now form sloping terrains. Each tomb was built as a stone-chambered tomb using massive strip stones, with some having four chambers and others two. Due to early looting, only a small number of pottery figurines, epitaphs, and similar items were unearthed.

Since the discovery of Yuan Dynasty tombs in July in Gaoping Town, Huichuan District, Zunyi City, Guizhou Province, archaeologists have so far identified more than 40 sites containing over 200 ancient tombs in the same region. These tombs span the Yuan, Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties, though most were built during the Song and Ming periods. This includes the first discovery in Guizhou of a Yuan Dynasty tomb with a clearly inscribed date. This latest find is larger and includes more tombs than previous discoveries.

Since the discovery of Yuan Dynasty artifacts at a construction site in Gaoping Town, Zunyi City, in July 2011, in October of the same year, the Guizhou Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology established a Zunyi work station to conduct cultural relics surveys in the area and its vicinity. After more than 40 days of field investigation, archaeologists discovered over 40 sites containing more than 200 ancient tombs, ruins, and historic buildings across a 20-plus square kilometer area stretching from Donggongsi Town to Gaoping Town in Huichuan District, Zunyi City. Among these discoveries, over 100 tombs, ruins, and buildings are of considerable research value, mostly dating from the Song and Ming periods. The scale and comprehensiveness of this cluster of tombs is nothing short of miraculous.

Further Reading:

· First Batch of Guizhou Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units