The Burial Custom of “Stilting Coffin” in the Tombs Excavated in Lingnan Region of China during the Warring-States Period and the Qin and Han Dynasties

ZHENG Junlei

In the Lingnan Region of China, some archaeologically excavated tombs of the Warring-States Period and the Qin and Han Dynasties showed the traces of the burial custom of “stilting coffin” by the spatial distribution and positions of the grave goods. Referring to the facts of “stilting coffin” and “stilting coffin chamber” found from the Han tombs in Guangzhou and the postholes and grooves found on the bottoms of some tombs of the Warring-States Period through the Han Dynasty in the Lingnan Region, it is inferred that the burial custom of stilting coffins several dozens of centimeters above the tomb bottoms was very popular among the tombs of the Yue people living in the Lingnan Region from the Warring-States Period through the Han Dynasty. The way of “stilting coffin” was rather complicated, and the meaning of this burial custom is worthy of in-depth research.