Two Han tombs at Tushantun Cemetery in Qingdao, Shandong

In April and May 2011, Qingdao Municipal Institute of Cultural Heritage Conservation and Archaeology and Huangdao District Museum excavated the Tushantun Cemetery located in Huangdao District, Qingdao City. The excavation cleared three mounds and recovered seven tombs beneath them. Of these seven tombs, M6 and M8 are vertical shaft stone pit tombs with brick-timber coffin chambers and ramp passages, the burial receptacles of which are nested double-coffin and double-coffin chamber, and the grave goods unearthed from which include bronzes, jades, lacquered wares, pottery and porcelain wares and implements made of bone and horn (turtle scute). The types and styles of the tombs and grave goods all show that the dates of these two tombs are the late Western Han to the early Eastern Han Dynasty. The excavation of these tombs provided important physical materials for the studies on the burial system, geography and material culture in the coastal area of southeastern Shandong during the Han Dynasty.