Why and how coffins were placed on cliffs in ancient southern China

Some people believe that hanging coffin burial is exactly the natural development of the practice of earth burial, specifically, it is closely related to the earth burial tomb in the Neolithic era. At that time, China's earth burial tombs throughout the country, including documented hanging coffins burial area and archaeological discovery of hanging coffins burial area. The use of sticks to seal the door of the Liouwan Mafang type of tomb in Ledu, Qinghai and the canoe-style coffins of the Qijia culture tombs both indicate that as early as in the late Neolithic period, the sprouting of cavern tombs and canoe boat coffins had already appeared in China. The emergence of the hanging-coffin cavern tombs is essentially a variation of the elevation of deep underground cave chambers and their coffins to high rock caves.

It is also believed that the hanging coffin burials are related to the prehistoric primitive peoples' practice of rock dwelling, which is a reflection of people's cave life. Since people lived in caves when they were alive, they were buried in the same place after their death. Some people also believe that the formation of hanging coffins is actually related to the war and the level of science and technology, and there are no other complicated reasons. But refuseniks point out that so far there is no information to show that the formation of this burial custom is related to the war.

There are also those who believe that the practice of hanging coffins is a sign of filial piety or the pursuit of good luck. Such as the Tang Zhang gull "Dynasty Legitimacy" recorded ancient cliff burial customs, "high as the filial piety", so that the mourning family scrambled to hang high; Yuan dynasty Li Jing "Yunnan Zhiliu" is contained in the death of the Turkish bureaucrats, hanging coffins to "fall first for good luck". It is also believed that most of the ancient Yue and Pu and their descendants live in the mountains and remote areas, the mountains and peaks, steep and steep as a living dependence, or because it is difficult to approach, difficult to touch and produce a sense of mystery, and then it as the gods live in or through the road to heaven to worship, so they will be placed in the coffins of the dead in high mountains and steep mountain cliffs and caves, which not only makes the dead close to the gods and immortals of heaven, and more importantly, to make it This not only brings the souls of the dead closer to the Kingdom of Heaven, but more importantly, makes it easier for them to convert to the Kingdom of Heaven.

There is also a view that, looking at the distribution of the remains of hanging coffins, almost all in the river facing the water on the cliffs, the performance of traveling hanging coffins burial of the nationalities have the characteristics of the "water in the mountains," and the form of burials in the form of a boat-shaped coffins and whole wood dug out of a canoe-type coffins are mainly if combined with the placement of the coffins, the burial system and the burial style. If combined with the way of placing coffins, burial system and burial style and other comprehensive analysis of the situation, hanging coffins burial custom when the primitive religion in the ghost worship developed on the basis of the concept of ancestor worship reflection. These people who used to live on the water and were famous for their skill in boat building and boat use believed that after the death of their ancestors, although the ghosts went to another world where people and ghosts were separated, they did not leave the geographical environment of the mountains and the water before their deaths, and they would still be with their own family members and their descendants for a long time and blessed them with prosperity and prosperity. Therefore, the main meaning of the boat-shaped coffin or canoe coffin does not lie in some people think is the soul to return to their hometown or sail to the other side of the world, but to meet the ancestors in the underworld of life needs; as for the coffin will be placed high on the cliffs, it is to try to avoid people and animals or other factors on the remains of the injury, so that the ancestors of the soul to get a permanent rest, and to get the blessings of its blessing and blessing in the underworld.

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Tang Zhang gulls Commander of the Imperial Commandery, has recorded the ancients in the Linjiang high mountain halfway between the excavation of stone caves to bury the dead, the method is from the top of the mountain to put the rope to the coffin hanging down. 1978, the Fujian Provincial Museum had used this method, with a In 1978, the Fujian Provincial Museum had used this method, with a windlass from the top of the mountain to put down the steel rope, from Wuyi Mountain Baiyan Cave to take down a complete boat coffin. However, today's practice of lifting the coffin method, and can not solve the ancient people put hanging coffins in the process of all the details of the problem, such as how to cut holes in the cliff face and driven into the stakes to set aside the coffin, with what can be used to pull the coffin hooked to a predetermined location, the difficulty of the great are unimaginable. Not to mention that three thousand years ago, how could the ancient people have enough to lift hundreds of kilograms of steel rope?

Some people have hinted at the possibility from the perspective of geomorphologic change studies. The remains of hanging coffins in China, most of which are located in the mountains near the water as the site **** nature, at least 2,000 to 3,000 years ago (the latest is more than 400 years). In these thousands of years, the river, geomorphology may be very big changes, such as Fujian Wuyi Mountain Jiuqu Creek, Jiangxi Guixi County, Xianyan Xinjiang tributary of the river on both sides of the stone wall, in two or three thousand years have experienced the river on the bed of the river scouring and erosion in the role of long-term natural forces, the river level is reduced is entirely possible, and therefore the height of the coffins placed on the height of the coffin will not be as steep as seen so. In short, due to the geological changes that led to see most of the hanging coffins in southern China, the view that the location of the burial is elevated, in the study of hanging coffins is of significance.

Some people also refer to the Philippines Palawan's ancient inhabitants of burial urns, put forward another idea: rely on ropes, ladders and other climbing tools, will be wrapped up in the body of the sacks and plates, martyrdom articles and the necessary coffin-making tools, etc., one by one, a single manpower transported to the pre-selected cavern, and then on-site coffin-making into the coffin and be buried. In addition, there are people in Gongxian, Sichuan, Xingwen and Guizhou Songtao and other places of hanging coffins buried remains of the investigation, pointed out that there are also ancient people set up trestles rise set the possibility of hanging coffins.

Hanging coffins in South China provinces have been more than 10 years of fieldwork on the remains of anthropological experts Chen Mingfang that most of the hanging coffins in South China, "from the mountain cables under the bier" method, which saves time and effort, simple and easy to carry out, do not need to take more than 10 meters or dozens of meters of scaffolding, and do not need to make winches, Pulley and other mechanical tools.