**1. Introduction**

The Western Han dynasty of ancient China (202 BC–9 AD) marked important political, economic, and scientific developments. The Han rulers followed the custom initiated by the first emperor of Qin—whose mausoleum is world-famous due to the terracotta army guarding its eastern side—and chose to be buried in tombs located under huge square mounds of rammed earth, today known popularly as "Chinese pyramids" [1,2].

These monuments are located in the outskirts of Xi'an (see Figure 1 for a general map of the area). A main group of them, composed by 9 emperor's tombs and 21 satellite tombs of members of the royal families, is located along the northern bank of the river Wei, close to the airport and subjected in recent times to high population growth and urbanization within the so-called "Xi-xian new area" projects. A second group of monuments is located to the south of Xi'an, not far from other high-impact areas related to high tech and tourism development zones.

The Han mausoleums are thus a fascinating, almost "alien" presence in the rapidly developing landscape of modern China. They have been poorly studied and only two have been (partly) excavated: those of Emperors Jing and Wu. It is rather difficult today, onsite, to have an idea of the ways in which this funerary landscape was conceived, and especially of the visual relationships the monuments bear to each other. This is due to various factors, but chiefly to pollution—which drastically reduces horizon visibility—and to the sheer difficulty of reaching some of the monuments and/or their tops. For these reasons, although I have personally visited many of them, I decided to carry out a new, complete survey using satellite imagery tools. The results of this campaign have been recently fully published in a specialized archaeological Journal [1]. In the present paper, I discuss and expand some of the results obtained, focusing on the problem of the sustainable development of this area so rich in cultural, almost unexplored relics.

**Figure 1.** General map of the burial mounds of the emperors of the Western Han Dynasty. 1—Gauzu (Chanling), 2—Hui (Anling), 3—Jing (Yanling), 4—Wu (Maoling), 5—Zhao (Pingling), 6—Xuan (Duling), 7—Yuan (Weiling), 8—Cheng (Yangling), 9—Ai (Yiling), 10—Ping (Kanling). The mountain tomb (Baling) of emperor Wen is denoted by **B**. (Image courtesy of Google Earth, editing by the author).

The aim of the paper is as follows. Besides the sheer necessity of understanding the minimal dimensions of buffer areas where future excavations might reasonably be carried out, we shall discuss broader aspects based on a cognitive approach to archaeological relics [3–6] (see Section 2.3 for the methodology used in this paper). As we shall see, this approach can contribute to carrying innovation in linking conservation and sustainable development, not only in the direction of protecting heritage, but also in enhancing present and future senses of place and quality of life.
