Study of Kumoxi Culture in Chinese Archaeology
https://doi.org/10.25205/1818-7919-2026-25-4-146-158
Abstract
The article examines the current state of research on the Kumoxi (Xi) culture in Chinese archaeology. The Kumosi or Xi (Tatabi in ancient Turkic sources) are a medieval people who settled in the territory of modern northeast China, in the Liaoxi region (southeast of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, western part of Liaoning Province, northern Hebei Province), and played a significant role in the history of East and Central Asia. The article provides information on the most important archaeological sites that Chinese researchers associate with this ethnocultural and ethnopolitical community. These include the Qiannangou and Guchengchuan fortified settlements in Chengde, Hebei Province, the tomb of Xiao Xiaozhong (1090) in Huludao, Liaoning Province, and a hoard found in Hanjiadian Township, Chengde. The attribution of other medieval settlements and burial complexes discovered in Hebei Province and Beijing, which some Chinese researchers associate with the Kumoxi (Xi) culture, does not appear to be sufficiently substantiated. The main results of the study of the material traces of the Kumoxi culture are summarized in the monograph by Bi Deguang, as well as in a number of articles devoted primarily to the Kumoxi (Xi) archaeological complexes in the territory of the Chengde, Hebei Province. The lack of archaeological materials and their poor study currently preclude the identification of archaeological markers of the Kumoxi (Xi) culture. Future research prospects include the search for new sites in northern Hebei Province, southwestern Liaoning Province, and southern Chifeng City in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, as well as continued field and desk research on discovered medieval sites in this region. Analysis of epigraphic and pictorial materials from the Liao epoch may also yield new information about the Kumoxi (Xi) culture.
Supporting agencies: The study was supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation № 22-78-10121-П “Connections between the cultures of Siberia and Northern China in the Antiquity and Early Middle Ages (based on the archaeological data)”, https://rscf.ru/project/22-78-10121-П/. The author expresses her sincere gratitude to Dr. Li Yunhe, a lecturer at the School of Archaeology and Museology at Peking University, for his assistance in finding hard-to-find publications on the research topic and for consultations on translation from classical Chinese.
About the Author
Maria A. Kudinova
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Maria A. Kudinova, Candidate of Sciences (History),
Novosibibrsk.
Scopus Author ID: 57204361448.
WoS Researcher ID: IUN-1771-2023.
RSCI Author ID: 821099.
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For citations:
Kudinova M.A. Study of Kumoxi Culture in Chinese Archaeology. Vestnik NSU. Series: History and Philology. 2026;25(4):146-158. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.25205/1818-7919-2026-25-4-146-158
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