Cave for the Dead and the Shelter during Wartime: A New Interpretation Regarding "Cliff Tombs along Hanshui River" from the Perspective of Anthropology

Archaeologists label the artificial cliff caves along the Hanshui River, as cliff tombs, whereas they are referred to as "Caves for the Dead" or "Shelters during Wartime" in folklore. The former term is backed up by classical and historical anthropology theories and my early studies, and the latter terms can be supported by local chronicles and oral history accounts. Those two terms are not contradictory to each other, for the very concept of cliff tomb is ever evolving. This paper draws on historical documents and the folk memory to examine them.