Two graveyards in Xizhou西周 dynasty, whose excavation is very rare, have been lately discovered from Hengbeicun橫北村 and Dahekou大河口 in Linfen臨汾 basin, South Shanxi山西, China. These two cemeteries are well preserved and provide rich information on the societies that made each cemetery. It is special that significant numbers of Bronze vessels giving information upon tomb occupants such as Pengbo 伯 and Babo覇伯, Xizhou Court and its relationships with neighbor polities are excavated from there. Materials excavated from these sites give useful information on characteristics of local polities in Xizhou and how it ruled them.
It has been understood that in Xizhou its control upon local governments was hierarchical system composing of three ranks of Xizhou court, feudal lords, and local polities. However this point of view does not give a deep understanding of local governments especially their position and role under the control of the dynasty by identifying them as passive object of the control. If we can understand that its basic organizations supporting the Xizhou state were local polities based on blood relation, Xizhou ruling system should be investigated from the new perspective that is mutual relation of these three ranks whose summit was Xizhou court.
Hengbeicun and Dahekou sites are within short distance of Tianma天馬-Qucun曲村 site, the capital of the Lord of Jin晉, one of major lords in Xizhou dynaty. For this reason if excavations from Hengbeicun and Dahekou can be understood from their relation with Tianma-Qucun site and we can deeply understand their characteristics and aspect, we will gain very specific information on ruling system constructed by the local polities, Lords and Court in South Shanxi in Xizhou dynasty. This will contribute to the overall and comprehensive understanding on its state governing system in Xizhou.
In this paper, I gathered and organized archeological findings on Hengbeicun and Dahekou sites and investigated when the cemeteries were mainly used, when the major tombs were made, and cultural background of tomb occupants and communities that made tombs. We can gain useful information on the relationship between tomb occupants from these two cemeteries and the lord of Jin, and between Xizhou royal household and major groups composing of Xizhou court, based on results from this paper and inscriptions on the bronze vessels excavated. I hope this paper will contribute to clarifying aspects of the state ruling system including local communities and feudal system in Xizhou.