The Bronze Sculptures Found in the Kingdom of Dian
In addition to the two places mentioned above, significant tombs related to the bronze sculpture culture of Dian were the crowds of graves in the temple of the emperor in Chenggong. Nine was explored in 1975 and 44 ones in December 1979 and January 1980 and twenty three in June 1992, which all were vertical earth-pit tombs. The most crucial one is the No. 41 tomb, unearthed more than 310 pieces of various types of objects: 156 bronze weapons, ranging from the ge, zhuo (resemble the pickaxe), spear to sword, axe, arrowhead, chain, hammer, etc. One piece of ge in form of double yue with a hawk mouth and three buckets canisters were special for its form appeared in Yunnan for the first time. Through the C14 dating of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and the Research Institute of primitive humans to the coffin plate of the owner of the tomb, it was estimated the tomb should be 2290 ± 70 years ago.
The ancient tombs in Tai Ji mountain of Anning in 1964 were another place where the grave of the bronze culture of Dianchi Lake area was more concentrated. First result was 17 tombs and the second was 40 tombs in 1993 and the cultural relics up to 181. Similarly, the style was consistent with that of Shizhai Mountain. But the and other funerary objects could not be compared to the richness and luxury of the Shizhaishan. Hence, the owner of the tomb should be small aristocracy. The era of tombs was classified as the early and middle periods, during the Western Han Dynasty.
1974 and 1979, respectively two excavations in the ancient tombs of Shibei village, Chenggong were very fruitful and got a number of important data. 1975 in the Dutuan hill and 1977 in the Ma village of Kunimng, a batch of earthen pit tombs came out as one of the crowds of tombs of the bronze sculptures. In early 1985, 39 tombs were unearthed at the Puche River, 12 kilometers northwest of Dongchuan city and supplied more than 180 pieces of relics. The sculptures covered ge, spear, sword, chains, axe, sickle, accessories, etc. resembled the style of Shizhai mountain and Lijia mountain, believed to be part of the bronze sculpture culture of the Dianchi Lake area.
Between the year 1977 and 1982, seven times of exploration had been done to the ancient tombs in Btatai at the Qujingzhu Street. On the pile of 7-meter-high grave mould were layers of ancient tumulus while the lowest level, and also the most important was the earthen pit tombs of the Spring and Autumn Period, 128 altogether. 200 pieces of cultural relics were dug up, including bronze sculptures, pottery, jade and other artifacts. Comparatively speaking, the crucial ones were bronze drum, fu, accessories, ge, mao, sword and bronze ding. Look into the bronze sculptures of Batatai, their style was close to that of Shizhai Mountain as well, subordinating to the cultural scope of Dianchi Lake area. Bronze sword in form of the trumpet, the bronze ge, chinese bronze axe shaped like a boot, iron sword in the Batatai had the same bronze sculptures found in Zhangkele and Weining of Guizhou. Hence, the tumulus in the Batatai must have something to do with the ancient Yelang culture. There were analogous tombs in the Qujingheng road explored from the year 1997 to 1998 where the grave mould was up to 8.1 meters high. 188 tombs had been cleaned out as well as more than 700 funeral objects, including pottery, bronze sculptures, stone wares, wooden wares, etc. as the same era as the Batatai.
related bronze sculpture：