Clan cemetery from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age

Location: Ledu County, Qinghai Province

Period: 2,500-1,100 BC

Excavated from 1974 to 1979

Significance: It has disclosed the burial systems of the local people and provided valuable material objects for the study of the content, time sequence, and other related questions of the primitive cultures in the areas of Gansu and Tibet.

 Introduction

The Liuwan Tombs, located in Liuwan Village, Gaomiao Town of Ledu County, 80 kilometers from Xining, is a public graveyard for clan members in the late primitive society and the largest ancient graves ever found in China, which are well preserved. The tombs cover an area of 110,000 square meters. 

Painted pottery pot with spout: water vessel (up, height 25 cm); Painted pottery pot with human portrait: water vessel (bottom, height 34 cm)

There are more than 1,700 tombs unearthed belonging to Banpo Culture, Manchang Culture, Qijia Culture and Xindian Culture respectively. This has provided important material to the study of primitive clan commune system, its development and changes, and the history of people living in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and how they worked and lived.

Nearly 40,000 excavated cultural relics consist of 17,000 potteries, 1300 stone and bone artifacts, over 18,000 ornaments, all of which reflect that at that period of time, agriculture, handicraft industry, and pottery-making industry had already achieved a certain level. The buried articles are mainly production tools, such as axe, adz, chisel, and knife, as well as pottery articles for daily use. Among the relics unearthed, the painted pottery statue is the most valuable, and has been listed as one of the state-level relics.

Furthermore, a host of materials illustrating origin of private ownership and class provide lots of practical demonstrations for research into historical and cultural development of Qinghai region in the late primitive society.