A Preliminary Study of Tombs of the Southern
Xiongnu
Du Linyuan*
Key words: Eastern Han Dynasty; Southern Xiongnu; tombs
Xiongnu is an ancient ethnic group living in the Northern Frontier Zone of China and Eurasian Steppe area.
In the end of the third century BCE, it established a vast
steppe empire covering the area from Yalu River in the
east to the Pamirs in the west and from Lake Baikal in
the north and Ordos Plateau in the south. Since the
middle period of the first century CE, because of the
internal conflicting and the external pressure from Han
Central Government and other nomadic groups such as
Xianbei, Xiongnu declined and was forced to move
westward, and retreated from historic stage gradually.
The “Southern Xiongnu” mentioned in this paper refers to the eight tribes living to the south of Gobi Desert
which submitted to the Eastern Han Government in 47
CE under the command of Bi, the King of Rizhu of
Xiongnu, who rebelled against the Punu Chanyu who
lived to the north of Gobi Desert, the other Xiongnu
people surrendered to Eastern Han in later times, who
were settled down by the Government in eight frontier
commands and prefectures, and descendants of these
Xiongnu tribes and people. “Burials of Southern
Xiongnu”refers to the burials of Xiongnu ethnic group
dated as in the middle and later periods of the Eastern
Han Dynasty within present-day China.
Discoveries and Researches
Although many Xiongnu burials of the Western and
Eastern Han Dynasties have been found in present-day
China, very few of them could be confirmed to be that
of the Southern Xiongnu in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
The important ones are: five tombs at Lijiataozi, Tongxin
County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region; nine tombs
in Budonggou, Dongsheng City, Inner Mongolia; the
Shang Sunjiazhai Cemetery in Datong County, Qinghai
Province; Tomb No. 1 in Zhanglonggedan, Machi
Township, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia and Han Cemetery in Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province.
The scholars of relevant disciplines have done plenty
of identification and researches on the Southern Xiongnu
burials in the Eastern Han Dynasty and given very good
explications and conclusions including the differentiation between Xiongnu (both Southern and Northern)
burials and Xianbei burials, which laid firm foundations
for further researches. However, the past identifications
and researches did not establish a set of criteria of ethnic attribution identification by analyzing the cultural
connotations of Southern Xiongnu and Han-styled burials themselves. Therefore, it is necessary to study the
Southern Xiongnu burials in a comprehensive way with
references to historic literature and draw universal rules
to identify and confirm Han-styled Southern Xiongnu
burials from burials of Han people.
The Characteristics of Southern Xiongnu
Burials
The five localities of Southern Xiongnu burials found
so far in China are distributed in the northern and northwestern frontier zones of the Eastern Han Dynasty, which
well matched the records in historic literature about the
settlement of the new-submitted Xiongnu tribes and
people by Eastern Han Government, as well as the dates
of these burials, which were mostly the middle and later
periods of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Moreover, the funeral custom, burial article assemblages and the existence of objects exclusively made and used by Xiongnu
people all helped us to confirm that the burials in these
* School of Humanities, Yan’an University, Yan’an, 716000, China
(Email: [email protected])
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Chinese Archaeology
five localities belonged to Southern Xiongnu people.
The comparative analyses to these tombs lead us to these
points:
1. The tomb structures were almost completely in Han
style: most of them were brick-chambered tombs with
mounds and slope passages, which were usually doublechambered, with few single-chambered cases and some
decorated with stone relief. Joint burials were very popular with supine extended position and very random heading directions. These tombs would have been of the
noble people of Southern Xiongnu. Besides of the brickchambered tombs, some straight pit tombs, woodenchambered tombs and stone slab tombs were also found.
The straight pit tombs without mounds on the ground
which were found in Dabaodang and Budonggou would
have been the tombs of Southern Xiongnu people with
lower statuses; the stone slab tombs found in Lijiataozi
had shapes and structures similar to that of the Xiongnu
tombs found in Transbaikal (Figure 1).
2. The tombs had burial article assemblages and typical burial articles different from those of the Han-styled
tombs of the same time. Generally, the assemblages
were gradually changing into the Han-style, which means
that the Han-styled burial articles and the Han cultural
elements associated with burial articles took increasing
portions while the Xiongnu-styled artifacts and cultural
elements were reducing accordingly. However, the concrete assemblages were still not completely the same
with the pure Han-styled burials of the same time:
First, jars of various styles took the bulk in pottery
assemblages, both in types and amounts. The fine clay
grey pottery jar of the type with small mouth, thin neck,
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Figure 1. The types of typical Southern Xiongnu burials
1. Plan of 98M2 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province 2. Plan of M25 at Sanduandi Cemetery, Dongsheng City,
Inner Mongolia 3. Plan of M67 at Zhaowan Cemetery, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia 4. Plan of M3 at Budonggou, Dongsheng
City, Inner Mongolia 5. Plan of 96SDM9 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province 6. Plan of M1 at Budonggou,
Dongsheng City, Inner Mongolia.
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2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Figure 2. The typical burial articles in Southern Xiongnu burials (pottery jars)
1. 96SDM5:10 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province 2. 96SDM4:7 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province 3. 96SDM21:8 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province 4. M6:2 at Budonggou, Dongsheng City, Inner Mongolia
5. M1:3 at Lijiataozi Cemetery, Tongxin County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region 6. M72:2 at Zhaowan Cemetery, Baotou City,
Inner Mongolia 7. M72:3 at Zhaowan Cemetery, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia 8. 96SDM18:10 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County,
Shaanxi Province 9. M91:15 at Zhaowan Cemetery, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia 10. M1:3 at Zhanglonggedan, Baotou City,
Inner Mongolia
1
2
7
8
4
5
10
3
6
9
11
Figure 3. The typical burial articles in Southern Xiongnu burials (bronze and iron artifacts)
1. iron knife (M8:1 at Budonggou, Dongsheng City, Inner Mongolia) 2. iron knife (98M2:34 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County,
Shaanxi Province) 3. iron nail (98M2:36 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province) 4. bronze canopy spoke finial
(98M2:17 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province) 5. bronze ring (98M2:16 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi
Province) 6. bronze button (98M2:23 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province) 7. iron shovel (98M2:21 at Dabaodang,
Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province) 8. bronze horse curb (Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province) 9. bronze chariot
fitting (M1:4 at Lijiataozi Cemetery, Tongxin County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region) 10. bronze clasp (98M2:32 at Dabaodang,
Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province) 11. iron cauldron (M5:2 at Budonggou, Dongsheng City, Inner Mongolia)
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polished surface decorated with wave patterns on shoulder and/or belly and a hole on the bottom could be seen
in almost every tomb, and pottery jar of this type has
been believed as one of the representative vessels of
Xiongnu culture. Moreover, the sizes of the pottery jars
were larger than that in tombs of other cultures, and this
is also a special feature telling the Southern Xiongnu
burials from burials of other people (Figure 2).
Second, large amounts of bronze and iron implements
were found in these tombs. The bronze artifacts are
knives, arrowheads, bells, rings, belt buckles, guard borders and corner brackets and tube-shaped ornaments.
The iron artifacts are horse curb bits, belt buckles, knives,
arrowheads, swords, axes, shovels and nails. Burying
weapons as burial articles was the traditional burial custom of Xiongnu and other nomadic people, but burying
agricultural tools as burial articles showed the changing
of the subsistence of Southern Xiongnu people from
animal husbandry to agriculture, although the types and
numbers of weapons and tools varied in different areas
along the frontier zones (Figure 3).
Third, large amounts of personal ornaments in clear
ethnic features were found. In the tombs confirmed to
be that of Southern Xiongnu people, ornaments made of
metal, glass, agate, jade, stone and bone, including
headgears, earrings, belt plaques and beads. The most
significant ornaments are the beads made of various materials and in different shapes, which are much rarer in
Han-styled tombs of the same periods. The situation of
burying large amounts of ornaments is also very popular in Xianbei burials but the differences between
Xiongnu and Xianbei remains have been pointed out by
scholars (Figure 4).
The fourth, implements made of bone were very popular in Southern Xiongnu burials. The main categories
are knives, shovels, spoons, brushes, chopsticks, seals,
tubes, hairpins, flake-shaped tools and tools with denticles and grooves. Burying bone implements was the
burial custom of the minorities such as Rong and Di
who lived along the northern and northwestern frontier
zones of ancient China, and one of the main characteristics to distinguish the burials of these nomadic or frontier tribes from that of the people from the Central Plains.
Therefore, the remnants of this custom found in these
Southern Xiongnu tombs are symbols of the succession
of this nomadic tradition and the distinction to the Hanstyled tombs of the same time. In fact, from the Xiongnu
burials of the Western and Eastern Han Dynasties excavated at Chandman Uul in Mongolia and Transbaikal
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Figure 4. The typical burial articles in Southern Xiongnu burials
(ornaments)
1. bronze bracelet (M72:19 at Zhaowan Cemetery,
Baotou City, Inner Mongolia) 2. bronze earring (M9:5
at Budonggou, Dongsheng City, Inner Mongolia) 3.
bronze ornamental Plaque (M9:3 at Budonggou,
Dongsheng City, Inner Mongolia) 4. jade ear pendant
(M74:7 at Zhaowan Cemetery, Baotou City, Inner
Mongolia) 5. glass ear pendant (M93:3 at Zhaowan
Cemetery, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia) 6. crystal bead
(M16:13 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi
Province) 7. cowry (from M1 and M2 at Lijiataozi
Cemetery, Tongxin County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous
Region)
and Semirechye areas in Russia, the customs of burying
arrowheads and horse curb bits or other weapons and
tools made of bone were also found. Some researchers
have pointed out that the highly developed bone processing and bone tool manufacturing was also one of
the special features of Xiongnu Culture (Figure 5).
The fifth, stone burial articles and tomb structural
materials are very popular. The stone burial articles are
mainly lamps, pestles, boards, ink-stones, steles, tigershaped post base or tiger-head and stone huts. Stone
burial articles, tombs built with stone blocks or slabs
and/or marked with stone pebbles, slabs or pillars are
also features of Xiongnu burial culture, which were also
frequently found in the Xiongnu burials in Russia and
Mongolia but absent in Han-styled burials of the same
time.
The above analyses confirmed that the structures of
Southern Xiongnu burials, especially those of the rulers
or noble people, are very similar to the Han-styled tombs
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3
12
4
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Figure 5. The typical burial articles in Southern Xiongnu burials (bone artifacts)
1. knife (98M2:10 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province) 2. knife (M23:20 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi
Province) 3. hairpin (M81:1 at Zhaowan Cemetery, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia) 4. chopsticks (M74:2, 3, 4 and M72:26 at
Zhaowan Cemetery, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia) 5. shovel-shaped artifact (98M2:11 at Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi
Province) 6. bow tips (from M1 at Lijiataozi Cemetery, Tongxin County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region) 7. whistling arrowhead
(M72:20 at Zhaowan Cemetery, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia) 8. hairpins (M93:10, 11 and M95:2 at Zhaowan Cemetery, Baotou
City, Inner Mongolia) 9. hairpins (M1:9, 10 and 11 at Budonggou, Dongsheng City, Inner Mongolia) 10. brush (98M2:14 at
Dabaodang, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province) 11. spoon (M5:3 at Budonggou, Dongsheng City, Inner Mongolia)
of the same statuses and periods: most of them had
mounds on the ground, long slope passages, random orientations and complicated burial furniture, and tombs
were usually arranged as clan cemeteries. The animal
sacrifices in forms of burying skulls of horses, bulls and
sheep are widely seen in tombs of all statuses. Apart
from the Han-styled pottery burial articles, the implements and ornaments made of metals, jade, stone and
bone in Xiongnu style were also very popular, especially
the pottery jars in large sizes, which are different from
those of the Han-styled burials. These features represented by these tombs are essential for us to re-understand and re-identify the ethnic attributions of the large
amounts of “Han tombs”found in the northern and
northwestern frontier zones of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
The Identification of the Ethnic Attributions
to Some Han Burials
The historic literature and archaeological researches have
proven that in the Eastern Han Dynasty, because of the
cold climate and frequent natural disasters in the steppe
area to the north of Gobi Desert and the conflicting of
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the ruling classes, the Xiongnu tribes and people were
continuing to immigrate into the Han-controlled regions
and submitting to the Han Government, and the latter
defined the eight prefectures near the northern and northwestern frontier zones (roughly present-day southern
middle Inner Mongolia, northern Shaanxi, northwest
Shanxi and eastern Gansu Provinces) as the settlements
and pastures of the submitted Xiongnu tribes. As recorded in the historic literature, in the middle period of
the Eastern Han Dynasty (around 90 CE), the population of submitted was as many as 237,300. This hinted
that the burials of this period in these areas should include many of Southern Xiongnu people. Based upon
the characteristics of Southern Xiongnu burials mentioned above, historic literature records and research
results of related disciplines, we can make a trial identification to the ethnic attributions of some burials in these
areas.
1. The Northern Shaanxi Area. Most of the Han tombs
found so far are distributed in Yulin Municipal Area;
among the published data, the tombs in Dabaodang
Cemetery, Shenmu County are the most significant.
Chinese Archaeology
Dabaodang Cemetery was a resident cemetery in
Dabaodang walled city flourishing since the middle period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the excavation to which
discovered some artifacts similar to the burial articles in
the tombs, such as the pottery jars of Types A, B, C and
D, pottery basin, tile-ends, iron cauldrons, iron arrow
(sword?) and iron axes; some cemeteries of the same
period were also found nearby the city. Therefore, it is
reasonable for the excavators to suppose that this walled
city was the seat of the “dependant state”established
by the Eastern Han Government to supervise the immigrated Southern Xiongnu people. However, they did
not mention the ethnic attributions of the tombs clearly.
Having studied the data of the tombs 96SDM4, M5, M9,
M10, M17, M23 and 98M2, and referred to the historic
records and the features of Southern Xiongnu burials
explained above, we can confirm them as tombs of
Southern Xiongnu people submitted to the Eastern Han
Dynasty. They had not only structures in common with
the Han tombs of the same period, but also popular custom of animal sacrifices, typical Xiongnu-styled pottery
wares (Type B jar in the report), artifacts made of bronze,
iron, jade, stone or bone, and ornaments made of various materials with obvious Xiongnu features.
2. The Southern Middle Inner Mongolia. Because of
the special geographical position and climatic conditions,
this area was the main zone for the agricultural and nomadic peoples to communicate and impact each other
and a key area for the political powers in the Central
Plains and the steppe area to fight for seizing and
controlling. The tombs of the Eastern Han Dynasty are
mainly found around the vicinity of Baotou municipal
area and Sanduandi Cemetery in the southwest of Ordos
Plateau. Historic literature showed that this area was
the main place for Southern Xiongnu to live and pasture,
and many Eastern Han tombs with animal sacrifices were
also found nearby Baotou area. In the past researches,
some scholars have pointed out that these tombs might
contain Xiongnu cultural elements. However, their lack
of discussions on the burial article assemblages made
insufficient results on the issue of ethnic attribution identification of these tombs. The analyses to Tombs M64,
M67, M70, M91 and M93 in Zhaowan Cemetery, M8,
M12 and M25 in Sanduandi Cemetery and M3 in
Zhaotan Locality told us that all of them belonged to the
middle and later periods of the Eastern Han Dynasty;
they did not have distinctions to the Han-styled tombs
of the same periods; these tombs did not have unified
orientations and most of them were joint burials; almost
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all of these tombs had animal sacrifices. In burial article assemblages, the pottery jars bearing “Xiongnu
cultural elements”took the bulk of pottery wares, accompanied by some Han-styled vessels; the Xiongnustyled artifacts made of bronze, iron, jade, stone and bone
and ornaments made of various materials were found in
these tombs in noticeable amount. Referring to the locations of the settlements of Southern Xiongnu tribes
and people in the Eastern Han Dynasty and the characteristics of Southern Xiongnu tombs mentioned above,
we can identify the occupants of these tombs as Southern Xiongnu people.
Conclusions
The Southern Xiongnu burials found in China so far are
mostly distributed in the northern and northwestern frontier zones of the Han Dynasty, and chronologically belonging to the middle and later periods of the Eastern
Han Dynasty. The main burial groups are: the
Dabaodang Cemetery in Shenmu County, Shaanxi
Province, the tombs in Locality B of Shang Sunjiazhai
Cemetery in Datong County, Qinghai Province, Zhanglonggedan Cemetery and some tombs of Zhaowan Cemetery in Baotou City, Budonggou Cemetery and some
tombs of Sanduandi Cemetery in Dongsheng City, Inner Mongolia (some tombs of Sanduandi Cemetery
might be of the descendants of the Xiongnu people submitted in the middle and later periods of the Western
Han Dynasty). During these periods, because of the
deeper Sinization, the tomb structures and burial article
types and assemblages of Southern Xiongnu resembled
that of the Han-styled tombs, but some Xiongnu burial
customs were still reserved. Slight distinctions are seen
on burial customs and burial article categories and types
of Southern Xiongnu tombs distributed in different areas,
but the general appearances are still similar. The distinctions were caused by many factors, including not
only the differences of ethnic group compositions in
Xiongnu people of these areas, but also the differences
in geographical environments, the depths of Sinization
and the dates of these tombs.
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Note: The original paper, published in Kaogu 考古 (Archaeology) 2007.4: 74–86 with 13 illustrations, is written
by Du Linyuan 杜林渊. This abridged version is prepared by the author and translated into English by Ding Xiaolei
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