At 2 pm on December 6, an art appreciation salon entitled Excavation and Research of the Jintang rock-tomb was officially held at the Reading Room of the International Department of the College of Chinese & ASEAN Art. The speaker, Mr. Su Kui is a researcher from the Chengdu Museum and also an external tutor in the art field of Chengdu University. He first introduced the general situation of the rock-tomb. The so-called "shadow tomb" is actually a mountain or cliff, and the cave is carved laterally as a form of funeral of the tomb. Different periods and regions have a great influence on their size and complexity. Among the more famous rock tombs are “Hebei Yongcheng Huangtu Mountain Liangwang Tomb”,“ Hebei Mancheng Zhongshan Jingwang Tomb”and so on.
Mr. Su Kui took the “Excavation of the Jintang Huangtianshu Mountain Rock Tombs” as the main subject of this salon. The rock tomb group is located on the Huangtianshu Mountain in Shiliba Village, Zhao Town, Jintang County. First, Mr. Su Kui showed a lot of photos of the excavation site to make the topic more vivid. He then introduced a total of 22 rock tombs in the Jintang Huangtianshu Mountain Rock Tomb Group and divided the content into 11 parts.
The distribution of this rock tomb group is: regular arrangement from the upper, middle and lower layers, the lower tomb is laid earlier, then the middle tomb is followed by the upper tomb. It is preliminarily inferred that this is a planned family cemetery. The technique of excavation of these cliff tombs is relatively rough, using one-handed hammer technique. Some of the tombs have drainage channels, and the openings of the gutters are mostly covered with red sandstone blocks, which are also filled with pebbles. As for thedoors, the facilities in the tomb, the discovery of the funeral objects, the relics, and even the copper coins can be found in one of the cliff tombs - the tomb No. 9.
Tomb No. 9 was mentioned as the only tomb that was not harassed. Mr. Su Kui recalled that the excavation group was disappointed after seeing the suspected stolen tomb. Althoughthey are disappointed, they stillhad to explore. At this point, they stumbled upon the tomb door with a door brick and a 1.14 meter long iron knife. They then explored and found that the things inside were not stolen. They began a series of excavation work, and found many important artifacts in the tomb: painted pottery horses, figures, animals,and potteries.
In addition, the No. 5 tomb is also one of the special tombs. In the No. 5 tomb, there is three-footed bird, nine-tailed fox,yangsui patternsor artworks. Not only that, the top of the tomb is engraved with different lines, such as: Jiagua, Fangsheng, Zhangui and Circular. The Zhangui and the Circular patterns symbolize the "moon" and the "sun" respectively. In this way, Mr. Su Kui also explained the documentary records of the Sun and Moon beliefs, and the examples of the beliefs in the Han Tomb.
After the sharing of the Jintang Huangtianshu Mountain Rock-Tombs, the students raised some questions. One of the students was very interested in the carvings in the tomb and asked questions specifically why only the No. 5 tomb had a different pattern. Does this also mean that the identity of the owner of the tomb is different? However, Mr. Su Kui said that the pattern is not a standard, nor is it an identity mark. Judging from his research experience, this may be carved according to personal characteristics. He then reminded students not to read the report blindly, but also to see some online pictures. Reports can sometimes be boring and pictures can be more interesting. The Art Appreciation Salon ended with an academic discussion with the students and Mr. Su Kui. I hope that students who participate in this art appreciation salon can learn more about the Jintang Rock- tomb.
