*2.1. Study Area*

In ancient China, the emperors chose for their tombs suitable areas in the proximity of the city they elected, or founded, as the capital. This led to the establishment of royal Necropolises, which modelled and rationalized the landscape as sacred landscapes of power, devoted to transmitting the rights to eternal life of the deceased rulers and to establish the rights to the throne of their successors as well. The study area examined in the present paper is the first (in chronological order) of such sacred landscapes: that of the emperors of the Western Han dynasty. The Han capital was in Chang'an (today an area of present Xi'an), and the Necropolis was developed along the northern bank of the river Wei to the northwest, with an addition located to the southeast, which was due to the will of one emperor, Wen, to be buried under a natural mountain and not under a burial mound. The main study area thus extends for about 34 km in the densely populated, rapidly developing territory nicknamed "Xi-xian", which extends from Xi'an's western suburbs to the Xianyang urban area and airport.
