1, the actual combat historical stage of jade weapons According to historical records, jade weapons appeared as early as when the Yellow Emperor fought the failed hero Chiyou. At this time, jade was made into various jade weapons for actual combat.
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were two famous scholars in Huidao County (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province), Yuan Kang and Wu Ping, who wrote a great book, which recorded the situation in ancient China. This book is called Yue Jue Shu. This book mainly describes the history of wuyue in the Spring and Autumn Period, and at the same time advances to the period of the Yellow Emperor in ancient times. Mr. Zheng Zhang Shangfang, a contemporary linguist, has made textual research on this. The word "Jue" in the title of the book means "record" in ancient Vietnamese.
It is recorded in this book: "Every time has its own reasons. At the time of Xuanyuan, Shennong and Xu He, stones were used as soldiers, trees were cut down as palaces, and dragons died and hid, all of which were caused by God. By the time of the Yellow Emperor, jade was a soldier, cutting trees was a palace and digging the ground. " Fu Yu is also a kind of thing, but he died and hid it at the behest of the Lord. "
This article describes the dialogue between Xiang Jian Shuai Hu Feng and the King of Chu during the Spring and Autumn Period. At that time, the king of Chu got three swords carefully cast by Ou Yezi and his generals. This dialogue clearly mentioned the "stone soldiers" of the times, the "jade soldiers" of the Yellow Emperor era, the "bronze soldiers" of Dayu (Xia) era and the "iron soldiers" of the Spring and Autumn Period. In archaeology, a large number of cultural relics from Paleolithic Age, Neolithic Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age have been discovered. These physical evidences are very consistent with the above fallacies. This implies that jade was used as a practical weapon in a historical period between the ancient stone weapon period and the bronze weapon period.
As we know, weapons are the tools that human beings use to kill each other in battle. Then, when jade weapons first appeared, their functions were the same. As for the specific time when jade weapons first appeared, it may be a mystery that is difficult to solve. From the above-mentioned Yuejueshu, we can only roughly think that it appeared during the war between the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou. As for who invented the jade weapon first, or earlier primitive people invented it first, I'm afraid further archaeological discoveries are needed.
From the origin of weapons, weapons were first produced in production tools, and then improved from production tools, and finally formed a tool for killing. At first, there was not much difference in form between weapons and production tools. Many stone tools made by ancient people, such as hunting tools, can be used in actual combat after the war begins. There is clear evidence in archaeology. A stone age tomb was unearthed in Dadunzi, Yuanmou, Yunnan, and a young woman (about 26 years old, very young in our opinion, but probably not young at that time) was found. This woman is hunched over and looks unnatural. Experts say this was caused by her hands being tied before she died. Sharp arrows hit her chest and abdomen more than a dozen times, which shows that she was tied and then shot. This situation shows that people in the Stone Age already had bows and arrows and used them in battle.
In addition, sites in the middle and late Neolithic Age were excavated in Shandong and Jiangnan, and a large number of stone axes with large round holes were found, which were larger than ordinary stone axes, with semicircular blades and large radians, and some even had shoulders at the upper ends. This form of stone tools is obviously not suitable for cutting down trees, nor for use as production tools. Experts speculate that these stone axes should be weapons specially made by human beings at that time, that is, the so-called stone graupel.
These archaeological discoveries show two things. First, in the Stone Age, people have produced weapons specially used for fighting, and Shijie is a weapon specially made by primitive humans. So, does the stone tablet have anything to do with jade weapons?
In the interpretation of Shuowen, "the beauty of stone" is "jade". Therefore, jade weapon is actually a special stone weapon. In the Stone Age, in the process of making tools and even weapons with stones for a long time, primitive people gradually selected some beautiful special stones from a large number of stones, called "jade". Later, according to the methods of other stone tools or weapons, jade tools or weapons such as Wang axe, jade guest house and Wang forging were made for actual combat. As a result, jade weapons were produced.
In the physical archaeology of jade weapons, there are important discoveries in Tarim Basin and surrounding areas, and dozens of stone age yufu have been unearthed. Later, dozens of stone age jade tools and weapons were unearthed in Kunlun Mountain and other areas. It can be seen that in ancient times, our ancestors made jade weapons for fighting on the battlefield.
2. With the rise of bronze, jade weapons gradually disappeared from the battlefield and evolved into ceremonial utensils. From the Stone Age to the Shang Dynasty, bronze was discovered and more and more weapons were used in the battlefield. At this point, the weakness of jade weapons is reflected. At this time, no matter the common stone weapons or jade weapons, their shortcomings are not sharp enough, fragile after use, difficult to repair, and low battlefield lethality. Weapons made of bronze are lethal several times on the battlefield, and can be produced on a large scale, and it is easy to repair after being damaged. As a result, jade weapons gradually withdrew from the actual combat stage.
At this point, there is conclusive material evidence in archaeology. In Fu Hao's tomb in Yin Ruins in China, many jade stones have been unearthed, and none of these weapons have been used. Its figure is thin and its blade is brittle. Among them, the big jade ge unearthed is in a state of short help. These jade weapons cannot be used in actual combat at all. Experts interpret it as jade for etiquette. Among these unearthed cultural relics, there are some Xiaoyu Ge, which is only about 10 cm in total. Such a short jade weapon is obviously not used in actual combat.
Judging from the evolution of jade weapons in the whole Shang Dynasty, after the appearance of bronze, bronze weapons quickly replaced jade weapons with the passage of time. Jade weapons were used as rituals or ceremonial ceremonies, which soon ended its war history on the battlefield.
3. Jade continues to evolve into a symbol of ancient status and power. By the Western Zhou Dynasty, jade weapons had disappeared from the actual battlefield. As a symbol of religious status and power, jade weapons entered the final glory. During this period, jade was widely used as etiquette and religion. In religious activities based on power and status, jade weapons are divided into three grades, and people of different nobles can only use different grades of jade weapons as symbols.
A large number of cultural relics related to jade weapons were unearthed during this period, which confirmed the above situation. As early as the early Western Zhou Dynasty, many large tombs unearthed Jade Ge for etiquette, which was large in size and beautifully carved, symbolizing the status and power of the tomb owner before his death. Among the jade weapons unearthed later, there are many smaller ones, which show a trend of miniaturization with the passage of time.
After the demise of the Western Zhou Dynasty, jade weapons symbolizing power and status gradually declined with the collapse of the ritual system. After more than 500 years of history, jade weapons have withdrawn from the historical stage, and it is difficult to find traces of them in tombs.
Conclusion: Looking at the evolution history of Chinese jade weapons, they were made as production tools from the earliest time, and the production tools at this time were often actual combat weapons. With the development of technology, bronze was refined, and jade weapons on the battlefield were quickly replaced by bronze weapons. The beauty of jade makes jade weapons evolve into etiquette or ceremonial use. With the passage of time, jade has evolved into a symbol of religious status and even power. With the progress of society, jade has withdrawn from the historical stage.
From the evolution of the above jade weapons, we found a historical axis, that is, jade weapons are accompanied by scientific and technological development and social progress from killing the enemy on the battlefield to finally quitting the stage. At this point, the replacement of jade weapons by bronze weapons is the result of the scientific and technological progress of weapon materials, and its withdrawal status and power symbol is the result of social progress.