Cosmology and the orientation of burials in Neolithic China

Abstract

Many of China’s Neolithic cemeteries have been excavated and published, and these display some internal consistency in the orientation of burials within each cemetery. This consistency sometimes extends beyond the individual cemetery, in some cases even to an entire geographical region or culture, raising the question of what factors influenced the choice of grave and cemetery orientation. This study investigates the patterns of burial orientation across multiple Neolithic sites in China, aiming to determine whether graves were aligned with specific celestial objects and what this alignment signified to the people of that era. The study divides China into seven regions, utilizing data from the second national relic survey and adopting Shelach’s (2015) approach to allow for an examination of the geo-climatic characteristics and their influence on human subsistence activities, providing essential background for understanding Neolithic cosmology. The research explores the relationship between burial orientation, the landscape and the skyscape, while also considering the material culture within burials, revealing that burial orientations were influenced by the lifestyles and cosmological beliefs of the living. For example, millet farming societies in the Yellow River basin aligned burials with celestial phenomena, reflecting a belief system tied to natural cycles and rebirth. In contrast, the Yangzi River basin’s reliance on rice farming and abundant resources may have led to a less unified belief system. The study concludes that burial orientations were not directly related to death but to the living’s basic needs and their derived concepts of life and death, forming an integral part of their cosmology. This preliminary study aims to fill a gap in Chinese scholarship by introducing novel methods from European prehistory studies.