Northern and Sui-Tang Tombs of Guyuan

Northern and Sui-Tang Tombs of Guyuan

The Northern and Sui-Tang Tombs of Guyuan is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Northern and Sui-Tang Tombs of Guyuan

The Northern and Sui-Tang Tombs of Guyuan refer to a series of tombs excavated in the southwestern plateau area of Guyuan city during the 1980s. Guyuan is located at the crossroads where Central Plains farming culture, northern grassland nomadic culture, and Central and West Asian cultures intersect. The eastward and westward flow of Chinese and Western cultures along the Silk Road are connected here, leaving behind numerous cultural relics.

In 1981, a gold-traced and painted lacquer coffin was unearthed from a Northern Wei tomb at Leizu Temple on the outskirts of Guyuan. The banquet scenes depicted in the coffin paintings and the Persian artistic style clearly demonstrate the fusion of Central Asian, nomadic, and Central Plains cultures. The unearthed Persian Sassanian silver coins testify to the unobstructed northern route of the eastern Silk Road and the prosperity of silk trade in Guyuan. In 1983, the tomb of Li Xian, a Northern Zhou Dynasty general, and his wife, excavated in the southern suburbs of Guyuan, yielded Persian Sassanian period artifacts such as a gilded silver ewer—important remnants of Sino-Western cultural exchange. In 1993, the tomb of Yuwen Meng from the Northern Zhou Dynasty, excavated in Wanglaoba Village, southern suburbs of Guyuan, produced nearly a hundred painted pottery figurines, including those of non-Han people. In 1996, a Sino-Japanese joint excavation of the tomb of Tian Hong, a high-ranking official of the Northern Dynasties, uncovered Byzantine gold coins and various jade artifacts, vividly illustrating the brilliant history of East-West cultural exchange in Guyuan. In addition, the family tombs of the Shi clan from the Sui and Tang periods excavated during this period not only yielded many physical objects reflecting Sino-Western cultural interaction but also highlighted Guyuan’s historical significance during that era of cultural exchange.

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units