TOMB ORIENTATION AND POSTHUMOUS VISIT TO THE CAPITAL OF THE SUPERNATURAL WORLD: THE GUO CEMETERY AT SANMENXIA, HENAN, CHINA

Abstract

Tomb orientation is a serious matter in mortuary ritual. By contextualizing the predominant orientation of a
cemetery, we may find the religious belief of afterlife. In the case of the Guo cemetery (770 B.C. to 665 B.C.),
China, most burials were aligned with their heads to the north which is slightly deviated to the east. Such an
orientation is definitely pointing to the North Polar Star, which is the abode of the Supreme One in later religious
belief of the heaven. In textual materials the target of the tomb occupants heading to is the Dark Capital
of the underworld, also located to the to the north end of the universe. Considering the identical locations of
the North Polar Star and the Dark Capital, we may conclude that both the Heavenly Court and the Underground
Capital are located in the center of the supernatural world. From the distribution of the Guo cemetery,
we can sense two layers of motions, the tomb occupants are heading and ready to depart to the center of the
supernatural world. The tomb is the home of the dead, and the posthumous journey to the center of the supernatural
world is to report their arriving, in order to live a better life in the other world. Placing the dead
with their head toward north is a common practice of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, and the change of
deviation from west to east coincides with the change of the North Polar Star from Thuban to Kochab, hence,
the religious belief about the afterlife observed from the Guo cemetery should be a common for Chinese
Bronze Age. A brief connection to analogous Mediterranean practices is discussed.