[Monographie sur le cimetière Qing et période Républicaine de Pianliancheng, district de Lishu]
Lishu xian Pianliancheng Qing dai zhi Minguo shiqi mudi kaogu fajue baogao 梨树县偏脸城清代至民国时期墓地考古发掘报告
Résumé
The Pianliancheng site, located in Lishu District in Siping Municipality, in the Southwest of Jilin Province, is a city site from the Liao-Jin period (916-1234). The 12-meter-high wall enclosure, with a perimeter of 4 km and surrounded by a 20-meter-wide moat, is one of the best-preserved medieval city sites in Manchuria. In summer 2017, outside the west gate, in a field running along the enclosure moat, graves were exposed and threatened by heavy rain. A team composed of researchers from the Jilin Province Archaeological Research Institute, the Research Centre on Chinese Frontier Archaeology of the Archaeology School at Jilin University, the Center for Cultural Heritage Protection of Siping City and the Cultural Institute of Lishu District jointly carried out a salvage excavation over 20 days on a 1000 m² portion of this cemetery. A total of thirty-nine burials were excavated in 2017.
In the field, each tomb was excavated and the soil sifted; each burial was drawn and photographed for a plan view, and photographed in detail to create a 3D model by photogrammetry. Control points measured with a total station were used to complete 3D models at a 1:1 scale. All information was entered into a database. Coins unearthed from the burials were later examined by a numismatist. Each skeleton was recorded in situ by a bioarchaeologist and properly bagged, and then underwent a systematic paleopathological analysis. The 3D models of the burials were used to carry out a thanatoarchaeological study of the specific position of each skeletal element. By placing the focus on the buried individuals, this method made it possible to recover a large quantity of information about the population of this cemetery, the health status of the deceased, the burial processes, the funerary customs, and the nature of post-interment disturbances.
The first chapter of this book introduces the geographical and historical context of the Pianliancheng site and the formation of the cemetery. It also sums up the previous archaeological research carried out on this medieval city site.
The second chapter consists in the description of each archaeological feature and the unearthed artifacts. For each burial, a description of the structure of the tomb and the placement of the objects is followed by the osteoarchaeological analysis, including description of the preserved bones, an analysis of their placement and a paleopathological analysis, as well as a description of each artifact discovered in the tomb.
The third chapter presents an analysis of all the data collected. First, the date and sequencing of the cemetery is discussed through a typological analysis of the burials and of the objects, establishing that this cemetery was in use from the 1890s to the 1930s. Secondly, an overall analysis of the osteoarchaeological data sheds light on the burial practices, the population of the cemetery and the health characteristics of the deceased. Finally, the Chinese and French historical records regarding the Lishu region and the Pianliancheng cemetery are presented, giving a vivid context to this archaeological discovery.
Using a comparison of these data with previously published archaeological materials and historical texts, this book shows that Christian missionaries were active among rural populations in northeast China around the turn of the 20th century, and that their presence influenced the role of women in religious and family life as well as the local burial customs.