The Jianjiagang Cremation Tombs

The Jianjiagang Cremation Tombs

The Jianjiagang Cremation Tombs is a cultural tourism attraction.

The Jianjiagang Cremation Tombs are located in Henan Xincun, Qixinggang, in the southern suburbs. In 1956, four Southern Song Dynasty cremation tombs were discovered. Each tomb had a grave mound constructed from lime and sand on the ground surface, all of a similar style but varying in condition of preservation. Each tomb contained an urn holding cremated remains; among them, Tomb No. 1 had a relatively well-preserved grave mound. The mound resembled a coffin, with an altar in front. The front of the mound was slightly wider and slightly upturned, measuring 1.24 meters in length, 0.74 meters in width at the front, and 0.7 meters at the rear, with a total height of 0.92 meters including the base. The center of the front featured a niche for a stone stele, which held a black stone tablet measuring 47 cm in height and 30 cm in width. The center of the tablet bore seven characters in regular script: “宋故考君简公墓” (“Tomb of the Late Father Jian, of the Song Dynasty”). On the right side were inscribed small characters: “维皇宋咸淳二年岁次丙寅十二日” (“In the twelfth year of the Xianchun era of the Great Song, in the cyclical year Bingyin, on the twelfth day”), while on the left were: “庚申安厝于简家岗之原男□□□” (“On the day of Gengshen, [he] was laid to rest at the original site of Jianjiagang, by his son □□□”). Directly below the position facing the tomb tablet, there was a circular pit with a diameter of 0.48 meters and a depth of 0.92 meters, inside which an earthenware urn was buried, completely filled with cremated remains. The urn was made of grayish-white hard pottery with a layer of yellowish-brown glaze. The entire vessel was divided into a lid and body: the body was round with a restricted mouth, the central part of the belly was bulging and straight, decorated with two concentric string-pattern bands, the base was concave with clear signs of later modification; the lid was modeled after the shape of a pagoda top, featuring a raised central dome, four ridges and eaves slightly upturned, with 3–6 rows of simulated roof tiles between each ridge. It stood 37 cm tall with a belly diameter of 26 cm. The other three urns had their own similarities and differences. The lids and bodies of the urns in Tombs No. 2 and 3 were combined to form triple eaves. The urn in Tomb No. 4 had four handles on the belly, a lid shaped like an inverted bowl, and was covered with an additional wide-mouthed large basin. The discovery of these cremation tombs provides reliable evidence for the classification and dating of the various types of urns frequently unearthed in the suburbs of Guangzhou.