How did the ancients place the coffin on the cliff?

There are three brewing methods for some green teas in our country’s tea art, one is upward pouring, the second is medium pouring, and the third is lower pouring. The ancient ways of placing hanging coffins and rock coffins are similar to this method of throwing tea. One is to hang them down from the cliff, the other is to place them from the middle of the cliff, and the other is to lift them into the air from the bottom of the mountain. Characteristics and customs of hanging coffins and rock coffins

Both hanging coffins and rock coffins are forms of cliff burial customs in ancient minority areas. Most of the hanging coffins use wooden stakes to place the coffin on the cliff. , and rock coffins are mostly placed in caves on the cliff. This kind of funeral custom is distributed in Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Anhui, Hubei and other provinces in my country. Among them, Wuyishan in Fujian and the ethnic minority inhabited areas at the junction of Sichuan and Yunnan are the most widespread. Most of the cliff burials in Fujian are from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, that is, the funeral customs of the ancient Yue people; most of the cliff burials in Sichuan and Yunnan are from the "Wuxi Barbarians" in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, that is, the burials of the Mao, Yi, Yi, Qian, and Gelao ethnic groups. custom. "Wuxi Barbarians, when their parents died, left their corpses outside the village and buried them for three years. They played drums and sang songs while relatives and friends feasted and danced. For more than a month, they put all their belongings into a coffin and buried them in a niche halfway up the cliff at Lingong." - - "Taiping Guangji"

The funeral forms of various ethnic groups in ancient my country are quite different. Cliff burials are exactly the same as water burials, tree burials, sky lanterns, flower armor burials, urn coffins and other burial forms, all of which are rich in The local ethnic characteristics, culture and beliefs are combined with the local natural environment and geographical features. Cliff burial is a unique cultural form of some ethnic minorities in the south. It is different from the "rest in peace" believed by the Han people. For example, in the culture of the Bo and Qiang people, people are not allowed to touch the earth after death, otherwise the soul cannot ascend to heaven. Therefore, many cliff burials also have this factor, hoping that the soul of the deceased will ascend to the fairy world and obtain divine power to protect his descendants. Another example is the "Wuxi Barbarians" who believe that the soul of the deceased will not dissipate immediately after death and will still accompany the family. Therefore, they have the custom of keeping the corpse at home for three years, and then sending the deceased to "return to heaven" in the form of a cliff burial. Another example is the Tujia people's theory of "immortal cave", which believes that the natural cave on the cliff is a place for cultivating immortals. Therefore, when people are about to die, they are sent to the cave, prepare food and coffins, and pray to ascend to heaven with the immortals. This is This form of "burial" for living people is similar to the 60-year-old burial and earthen jar burial in the north, but there are differences in meaning.

(Tree burial)

In addition to the "ascension" sustenance that represents good wishes, the custom of cliff burial also has other meanings. The only cliff burial group discovered in northern my country is Xiaoshimen Village, Ningwu County, Shanxi Province. Most of the tomb owners here are soldiers stationed here, monks from nearby temples, lonely elderly people without heirs, and people from other places. Merchants and childless immigrants. This kind of people are helpless here. After death, they have no family members to arrange funeral arrangements. Almost all kind-hearted locals bury them on the cliff.

The culture and art of hanging coffins and cliff coffins can still be found in some historical materials, but how this form of funeral was achieved has become an eternal mystery. Questions about cliff burials often focus on three points. One is how the coffin was placed on the cliff. There are still speculations and conjectures on this point in the research; the other is that cliff burials mostly exist in the humid and rainy southern areas of our country. How does the coffin remain immortal despite being corroded by wind and rain for thousands of years, and how is this anti-rot and insect-proof technology achieved? The third point is the most difficult to understand, that is, the rock on the cliff is extremely hard, and the ancient smelting technology has not been developed enough to The ability to dig caves on solid rocks on cliffs is also a problem that exists in the piling of the ancient plank road in Guanzhong. Archaeologists restored the tool technology of the Qin and Han Dynasties and used the physical principles of thermal expansion and contraction to fail to dig a hole in the mountain wall. Root post hole. The wisdom of the ancients has left too many mysteries for today. Archaeologists can only speculate on the placement of the hanging coffins, but it is very difficult to put them into practice.