Tomb of An Jia

The tomb was composed of a stone gate and a stone couch located at the bottom of a ramped passageway 8.1 meters long, Defying Chinese custom, An Jia's bones were found disarticulated and without anatomical order on the floor of the tomb rather than resting on top of the stone couch; Most of the structures and objects within the tomb, save for the stone couch, were found covered in a layer of soot. It was excavated intact in 2001 and was designated as one of the top ten archeological discoveries of that year. Other famous Chinese Sogdian tombs of the contemporary period are the Tomb of Yu Hong and the Tomb of Wirkak. The tombs of An Jia, Wirkak, and Kang Ye were all found in the same area, indicating that this graveyard was reserved for foreigners. ==The Sogdian An Jia (518–579 CE)==

n An Jia on his horse, as he appears in one of the panels. 579 CE An Jia (518–579 CE, died at the age of 62) was from a Sogdian noble family from Bukhara. According to his epitaph, he was the son of An Tujian (), a governor of Mei Prefecture in Sichuan, and Lady Du () of Changsong (a former county in Wuwei, Gansu). He was in charge of commercial affairs for foreign merchants from Middle Asia doing businesses in China, as well as Zoroastrian affairs, for the Tong Prefecture of the Northern Zhou dynasty. He held the official Chinese title "Sàbǎo" (, "Protector, Guardian", derived from the Sogdian word , "caravan leader"), used for government-appointed leaders of the Sogdian immigrant-merchant community. ==Ethnographical aspects==

The depictions in the tomb show the omnipresence of the Turks (at the time of the First Turkic Khaganate), who were probably the main trading partners of the Sogdian An Jia. In contrast, the Hephthalites are omnipresent in the Tomb of Wirkak, who, although he died at the same time of An Jia was much older at 85: Wirkak may therefore have primarily dealt with the Hephthalites during his younger years. ==Epitaph==

The epitaph of An Jia is as follows: Text in Chinese ==Tomb decorations==

. File:Gable of the stone gate of the Tomb of An Jia with reproduction.jpg|A Zoroastrian fire worship ceremony, depicted on the gable of the gate of the tomb. File:An Jia welcoming a Turk. Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, Xi’an.jpg|Anjia (right) welcomes a Turkic leader (left, long hair combed in the back). File:An Jia with a Turkic Chieftain in Yurt. Xi’an, 579 CE. Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, Xi’an.jpg|The Sogdian merchant An Jia with a Turkic Chieftain in his yurt. File:An Jia brokering an alliance with Turks. Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, Xi’an.jpg|An Jia (right) brokering an alliance with Turks (left). ==See also==