Over the past 70 years, cultural and archaeological institutions and universities in Sichuan Province have successively investigated and excavated Sanxingdui site, and carried out comprehensive research involving many disciplines. It has been preliminarily revealed that there was a highly developed bronze civilization center in Chengdu Plain in southwest China during the Xia and Shang Dynasties, which had its own cultural characteristics and was closely related to the Xia and Shang civilizations in the Central Plains and the Fang civilizations in other areas except the Xia and Shang civilizations in the Central Plains. Its main cultural connotation is as follows: 1. It has the nature of a political center, and its scale exceeds that of the nearby urban ruins; 2. Highly developed bronze smelting and casting technology and gold smelting and processing technology; There are considerable jade processing workshops and superb jade processing technology; 3. There are rammed earth city wall sites with a distribution range of 3 to 4 square kilometers; 4. Rational utilization and management of natural water system; 5. There is a relatively perfect system of religious ceremonies and sacrifices. These important contents constitute the main cultural connotation of Sanxingdui site. ?
In the past investigation and excavation, Sanxingdui site was called Zhenwu Palace site, Hengliangzi site, Moon Bay site, central site and so on. Because it belongs to the same site community, it was named Sanxingdui Site after 1980. ?
In recent years, the investigation shows that the cultural remains of Sanxingdui site are mainly distributed on the high platform near the river from Dayan village on the south bank of Yazi River to Gaojian village in the west township, and there is also a relatively concentrated and rich cultural accumulation on the high platform around Sanxingdui village on the south bank of Mamu River. The distribution centers of the site are Zhenwu Village and Sanxing Village. ?
Around Sanxingdui site, in Guanghan, Shifang, Pengxian, Xindu and other areas, more than ten ancient sites equivalent to the upper culture of Sanxingdui have been investigated successively, among which the more important sites are Shifosi site in Jinyu Township, Guanghan, Yanduizi site in Xinglong Township and shifang city Ren-Xin 'an site. The discovery of the general sites around Sanxingdui site shows the political and economic center position of Sanxingdui site among the surrounding ancient sites.
First of all, archaeological excavations
After the discovery of Sanxingdui site, Ge Helin of Huaxi University started the first archaeological excavation of Sanxingdui site on 1934. 1963 Sichuan Provincial Museum and Sichuan University jointly excavated Sanxingdui site; Since 1980, Sichuan Provincial Museum, Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics Management Committee, Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and Sichuan University History Department have cooperated with Guanghan Cultural Department to carry out more than ten trial excavations and excavations on Sanxingdui Site, exposing about 4,000 square meters of cultural relics before and after, and trying to excavate 1000 square meters of wall rammed soil. The more important ones are 1980? In 986, Sanxingdui Area 1, 2 and 3 were excavated; 1986 excavation of two sacrificial pits in sanxingdui area 2; 1988? Excavated the East City Wall in 989; 199 1? Excavation of the West City Wall in 992; 1995 south city wall excavation:1997165438+10 month? 1May, 998, excavation of earth pit tomb in Rensheng village, etc. ?
It has been basically found out that Sanxingdui site contains two kinds of remains with different cultural characteristics and inheritance relations: one is the early remains of Sanxingdui, or the first phase culture of Sanxingdui site, and its relative age is about Longshan era in Central Plains; The other is the late Sanxingdui remains, that is, the second to fourth stages of Sanxingdui culture, or the upper culture of Sanxingdui site, whose relative age is roughly from the summer to the end of Shang Dynasty, the beginning of Zhou Dynasty or later. ?
Early remains represented by Sanxingdui site are widely distributed in Sichuan Basin. Bian Que Mountain in Mianyang, Moon Rock in Bazhong, Gu Lei Village in Tongjiang and Lion Mountain in Hanyuan all belong to this period. Sites equivalent to Sanxingdui Phase I have also been found in Chengdu Plain, including Xinjin Malong Baodun Site, Dujiangyan Qingcheng Town Tancheng Site, Wenjiang County wanchun town Yufu City Site, and chongzhou city Shuanghe Ancient City Site. These sites are named Baodun Culture. Rammed earth city walls were found in these sites, with a large scale and an area of 20? 00,000 square meters. The discovery of these ancient cities shows that in the first phase of Sanxingdui, Shu people are transforming from primitive commune to civilized society, and large and small city-state organizations have emerged, which laid the foundation for the highly developed Sanxingdui ancient Shu civilization in Xia and Shang Dynasties.
The late remains, represented by Sanxingdui Phase II to Phase IV, are not only widely distributed in the area centered on Chengdu Plain in the basin, but also distributed in Jialing River in northern Sichuan, Qingyi River in southwestern Sichuan and Dadu River Basin. In addition, there are still strong Sanxingdui cultural factors in the Shang and Zhou dynasties in the Three Gorges area. Hanzhong area in southern Shaanxi and western Hubei is also influenced by Sanxingdui culture. ?
Second, the overall characteristics of Sanxingdui culture
(1) Early Sanxingdui Site
The general characteristics of the early remains of Sanxingdui site can be summarized as follows. ?
1. pottery. Mainly for argillaceous gray pottery and sandy brown pottery two categories. Among the gray pottery, argillaceous celadon pottery and gray-white Tao Wei are the most. Brown pottery has a polished black pottery surface; There are black pottery with black inside and brown outside, and some with black inside and brown outside. In addition, there are a certain number of orange pottery. The shape of the container mainly includes serrated edge jar, lace edge jar, large lapel bell jar, small hole ring bean with opening, etc. Among them, there are many exquisite and polished ritual vessels. Pottery is made by hand, but the wheel system also accounts for a certain proportion. Multi-flat bottom device and foot ring device. Some flat-bottomed devices have a thick bottom that looks like a false circle. Decorative patterns include rope pattern, basket pattern, overlapping rope pattern, grid pattern, grain pattern, line hole, thin chord pattern, tooth pattern and so on. ?
2. Stone and jade. Stone tools are the main production tools, mainly axes, hoes and chisels, with small shapes and exquisite processing. It reflects that this period has been out of the extensive agricultural stage and a more advanced agricultural economy has emerged. The high development of agriculture puts forward technical requirements for the fine processing of production tools, and also prepares conditions for the later production of exquisite jade etiquette utensils. ?
During this period, there have been small jade ritual vessels such as Yubi, Yuhuan and Yugui. Jade tooth, jade cone, jade spear, opal ball, etc. Unearthed in the tomb of Rensheng Brick Factory. ?
3. Building construction. Dig a ditch in the ground, build a wooden and mud wall, put the grass and mud on both walls together, and barbecue with fire. ?
4. Religious consciousness. There is a foundation pit at the foundation of the house, with young people or children as the cornerstone; Twenty-two tombs with the same pit were found in the site of Shengren Brick Factory. Some of them were buried with straight limbs, while others had incomplete skeletons and seemed to have been dismembered. Some pits are buried with dismembered animal sacrifices, and the pit walls and bottom are repeatedly rammed or slapped, and it seems that the human body and animal sacrifices in the pits have also been rammed or slapped. This is a special burial method, and its nature needs further study. ?
5. Appearance of the city: Rammed earth walls have generally appeared in Chengdu Plain and other relics in the early Sanxingdui period. None of the cities in these ancient city ruins formed the central capital like Sanxingdui ancient city, only the early remains of Sanxingdui developed into the central capital of Shu, and finally created the dazzling bronze civilization in the late Sanxingdui period. ?
(2) Late Sanxingdui remains
1. pottery. It can be divided into three stages:
Early pottery was mainly brown pottery with sand, but there were also some muddy gray pottery and muddy orange pottery. The vessel shapes mainly include small flat-bottomed cans, high-handled beans, round-footed beans, flat-bottomed chassis, round-footed plates, bird's head handles, cylinders, urns, vessel covers, spinning wheels and so on. There are few plain pottery, but a certain number of polished black pottery. Decorative patterns mainly include rope patterns, additional velvet patterns and Yun Leiwen. The era is equivalent to the lower section from Erlitou to Erligang. ?
The medium-term pottery is still dominated by mixed sand pottery, mainly grayish brown and black gray. In addition, there are a few argillaceous gray pottery and argillaceous reddish brown pottery. In addition to the common shapes, there are new shapes in the second phase, such as statues, shapes, shapes and so on. Later in this issue, a pointed bottom cup and a base appeared. In this period, the small flat-bottomed tank changed from the early arc shoulder to the round folded shoulder, from the thin curled lip to the pointed round lip, and the abdomen became shallow and bowl-shaped. The tall-handled bean changed from a straight column handle to a bamboo handle or a linear handle, showing the realistic toe. Su Tao is more than in the early days. Rope patterns mainly include coarse rope patterns, concave chord patterns, additional pile patterns, grid patterns, engraved holes, Yun Leiwen and so on. The era is equivalent to the first and second phases of Erligang (Baijiazhuang period in Zhengzhou) to the early Yin ruins (the first and second phases of Yin ruins). ?
In the late period, brown pottery was the main pottery, and the proportion of sandy and muddy gray pottery increased greatly. There are also some red-brown pottery and black-brown pottery. In the middle stage, the common types of instruments are basically used, but the shape of instruments changes greatly. Almost all small flat-bottomed pots have evolved into small flat-bottomed pots, while others have evolved into pointed-bottomed cups. The fetal wall of the foot is thick, the legs are slender and the nipples are firm. Pottery has many plain faces, and the decorative patterns are mainly thick rope patterns and concave chord patterns. The surface of thick rope pattern is mostly smooth, and concave chord pattern is mostly applied to the neck and shoulder of utensils. In addition, there are additional pile patterns, net patterns, holes, Yun Leiwen, etc. The age is equivalent to the late Yin Ruins (the third and fourth phases of Yin Ruins) to the early Western Zhou Dynasty. ?
2. Jade and stone tools. At this time, a large number of jade ritual vessels appeared, and many tools such as axe, spear, chisel and weight were not practical tools, but etiquette tools. Tool etiquette is an important feature of the late Sanxingdui remains. More concentrated finds are found in Yukeng in 1929, jades unearthed in No.1 and No.2 sacrificial pits in 1986, and jades unearthed in Zhenwu Warehouse in 1984 and 1987. ?
These unearthed jade articles can be included in the staging category of the site. 1984, Zhenwu warehouse also found 1 piece of Erlitou-shaped jade Zhang. 1987 A sacrificial pit was unearthed in Zhenwu warehouse. In addition to two bronze ornaments, dozens of jade carvings, jade chisels and stone cliffs were unearthed in the pit. Among them, the stone walls are placed in the sacrificial pit in descending order. The age of this pit is equivalent to the second phase of Sanxingdui Site (Erlitou to Erligang Lower Stage), which shows that Sanxingdui culture has a relatively complete ritual system during this period. ?
1986, two large Shang sacrificial pits were excavated to the south of Sanxingdui. Among them, nearly 200 pieces of jade were unearthed in No.1 sacrificial pit, and more than 0/00 pieces of jade were unearthed in No.2 pit. After sorting out and studying, we can know that some of Zhang Yu and Yuge in No.1 pit are earlier, some may be earlier than Erligang period, and some may be earlier than the late Erlitou period to the lower Erligang period. The remaining jades in pit 1 are roughly equivalent to the first phase of Yin Ruins; The age of the jade in the second pit is in the second phase of Yin Ruins. ?
The characteristics of jade stone tools in this period are as follows: First, the shape and size of the objects are both, such as Yuzhang, which is as long as 150 cm and as small as 3 cm. The big stone is about 70 cm in diameter, and the small one is only 3? Centimeter. Second, it is famous for its exquisite craftsmanship, such as jade walls and jade carvings. Most of the holes have a very precise convex periphery, and several concentric circles with heavy protrusions are milled on both sides of the meat, and the convex lines are extremely precise and round. Zhang Yu and Yu Ge are 70-80 cm long and about 6 degrees hard, but the edges on both sides are extremely thin, and the edge lines are accurate and smooth. Some jade articles are carved or engraved with very fine and vivid decorative patterns, which are coated on jade articles with alkaline plant juice as corrosive agent to impregnate the decorative patterns. Third, there are many kinds of jade materials. According to the rock type identification, besides nephrite, jasper, amber and agate, there are actinolite serpentine, actinolite amphibole, actinolite tremolite, altered dolomite marble, dolomite slate, siliceous slate, altered gray greenstone, altered basic rock, pisolite, gneiss and andesite porphyrite. ?
3. Bronzes and goldware. It is equivalent to the bronze wares of Sanxingdui Site Phase II, mainly including bronze ornaments inlaid with turquoise and bronze tigers. ?
Three or four hundred bronzes were unearthed in two big sacrificial pits in Sanxingdui site. The types unearthed in No.1 pit include human head, human face, human mask, kneeling statue, dragon-shaped ornaments, dragon-shaped cylindrical vessels, tiger-shaped vessels, kudzu, real square hole walls, dragon and tiger statues, sheep statues, vases, vessel covers and plates. The burial age of pit No.1 is equivalent to the first phase of Yin Ruins. The bronzes in pit No.1 can reach the first and second phases of Erligang at the earliest, and the late stage is in the early stage of Yin Ruins, but there are no artifacts later than Yin Ruins. The bronzes unearthed in pit 1 can be traced back to the first phase of Sanxingdui site. ?
The bronzes unearthed in the No.2 pit include large bronze statues, kneeling statues, human heads, human masks, animal masks, animal faces, shrines, sacred trees, sun-shaped devices, eye-shaped devices, eye bubbles, bronze bells, bronze ornaments, bronze squares, birds, snakes, chickens, monsters, buffalo heads, deer, catfish and statues. The burial age of No.2 pit is about between the third and fourth stages of Yin Ruins, and the unearthed bronzes are all within the age range of the second stage of Yin Ruins, but they can be divided into two groups: the early group is equivalent to the early stage of Yin Ruins and the late group is equivalent to the late stage of Yin Ruins. The second pit is equivalent to the third phase of Sanxingdui site in stages. ?
Among the bronzes unearthed in the two pits, except for the bronze container with the style of Yin Shang culture in the Central Plains and bronze culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the types and shapes of other utensils have strong local characteristics. The excavation of these bronzes shows the world for the first time the middle and late Shang Dynasty (pre 14? 1 century) The rich and colorful cultural characteristics of Shu bronze civilization. ?
Sanxingdui bronzes are characterized by a large number of figures, birds, beasts, insects, snakes and plants. Bronze heads, faces and masks represent the ancestor gods who were sacrificed; Bronze statues and kneeling statues represent worshippers and people who preside over sacrifices; Bronze animal masks and flat bronze animal faces with prominent eyes may be natural gods worshipped by Shu people; The bronze sacred tree, which is characterized by imitating plants, reflects the religious consciousness of Shu people who worship plants. The religious concept of ancestor worship and worship of natural gods such as animals and plants is the most important spiritual world of early Shu people. ?
Sanxingdui bronze ware is characterized by its tall shape, vivid shape and complex structure. The statue unearthed from No.2 Sacrificial Pit is 2.62 meters high and weighs 180 kilograms. It consists of three parts: a trapezoidal base, a square platform and a statue. People wear high crowns in the shape of animal faces and three layers of clothes. The outermost clothes are similar to "tuxedo", with arms raised horizontally and hands in a sacrificial shape. Such a tall bronze statue is unique in the bronze civilization of Shang Dynasty. The mask of large animals unearthed in the same pit is 138 cm wide and weighs more than 80 kilograms. The shape is extremely exaggerated. The square face looks like a man and a beast, with big square ears towering and long eyeballs protruding outward. Its face is very ferocious and grotesque, which can be described as the best in bronze art. The bronze sacred tree is 384 cm high and has nine branches. Birds perched on the branches, fruits hung under the branches, and Yi Long helped the trees under the trunk. It is vivid and mysterious, and concretely reflects the image of the ancient Fusang myth. ?
Sacrificial pits No.1 and No.2 belong to the middle and late Shang Dynasty respectively. The existence of a large number of exquisite bronzes shows that Sanxingdui site is in its heyday. The appearance of Sanxingdui bronzes can be traced back to the early Shang Dynasty and even the Xia Dynasty. 1976, a bronze ornament similar to Erlitou culture was unearthed in a pit found in Gaopian Township, north of Sanxingdui site. 1987 Two bronze ornaments were unearthed in the sacrificial pit unearthed from Zhenwu treasure. Bronze is a unique bronze ware of Erlitou culture, which has never existed in Shang culture. Some scholars speculate that the bronze ornaments unearthed in Sanxingdui date from the late Erlitou to the early Shang Dynasty, indicating that the bronze civilization of Sanxingdui can be traced back to the early Shang Dynasty or Xia Dynasty. ?
The gold wares in Sanxingdui site are the most abundant in Shang cultural sites. First, there are many kinds, such as gold rod, Jin Mianju, gold foil tiger-shaped ornaments, gold foil fish-shaped ornaments, gold foil Zhang-shaped ornaments, gold foil belt ornaments, gold nuggets and so on. Second, it has a big body. One of the golden staff unearthed from the No.1 Sacrificial Pit is made of pure gold, with a length of 142 cm and a weight of more than 400 grams. It is carved with fish, birds, gods, arrows and other patterns with double hooks. The meaning of the pattern is roughly: under the protection of God, the arrow hits the fish, and the bird carries the arrow shaft on the back of the fish. This is a scepter and can also be regarded as a wand. Legend has it that Yu Fu, King of Shu, is famous for fishing and hunting, so later gods regarded him as a god. This golden staff may be related to the legend of yufu. Jin Mianju was unearthed in Pit 1 and Pit 2. Some copper heads unearthed in No.2 pit are covered with Jin Mianju, which constitutes a gold-faced copper head. It can be speculated that the unearthed Jin Mianju was originally pasted on a copper head. The rich gold wares unearthed in pits 1 and 2 are also an important feature of the late Sanxingdui site. ?
4. Building construction. There are three main forms of houses in the late Sanxingdui site: square, rectangle and circle, among which rectangle and square are the majority. Dig trenches in the original place, put wooden pillars in the trenches, use wooden sticks or bamboo poles as wall bones, plaster grass mud on both sides to form walls, and barbecue the walls with fire. The roof is covered with five flowers of soil and compacted. The studio is generally large, with an area of 15? About 0 square meters. One of the big houses is 8? 7 meters, the studio is 23 meters, and the area is about 200 square meters. Generally, circular houses do not dig trenches, but dig column holes directly on the ground to form a circle, with columns standing at the center to support the roof. There is no wall between the columns, so it is probably a dry column building. There is a fire pit in the house. ?
5. Religious sacrifices. 1In July and August, 1986, two Shang Dynasty sacrificial pits were discovered at Sanxingdui site. Subsequently, there was a great debate on the nature of the two sacrificial pits in academic circles. Some people think it is a sacrificial pit, some people think it is a utensil pit, some people think it is a cellar, and some people even think it is a burial pit. After sorting out and studying the unearthed cultural relics and discussing in academic circles for a period of time, the theory of "sacrificial pit" has been tilted. Through the analysis of the nature and function of the artifacts unearthed in the two pits, it is found that the artifacts buried in the two pits do not belong to daily life utensils, nor to general ritual sacrificial utensils, but are only suitable for image setting, sacrificial utensils and sacrificial supplies used in large ancestral temples. The age of the cultural relics buried in the two pits is quite different from that in the same pit. Judging from the types, uses, ages and the continuous development of similar objects, there is no difference in cultural features. , reflecting that they are articles in two ancestral halls in different times in the same country. After the ancestral halls of two different periods were destroyed, the heavy weapons of the ancestral halls were buried in the pits. This situation is probably caused by the transfer of power within the ruling class of the same country, that is, the change of dynasty. After the ancestral hall was destroyed, a sacrificial ceremony was held to burn the objects of the ancestral hall and bury them in the pit. ?
In addition to the two large sacrificial pits found in Sanxingdui site in the summer of 1986, two small sacrificial pits were found in the spring of 1986 on the west side of No.2 and No.0 sacrificial pits, in which bronzes and jades were unearthed and some utensils were burned. These conditions show that the sacrificial relics left in the late Sanxingdui period are widely distributed in Sanxingdui site. ?
6. build a wall. City walls were found on the east, south and west sides of the site. Although these city walls have been damaged to varying degrees, the foundation of the city walls still exists. The results of investigation and trial excavation show that the residual length of Dongcheng wall is more than 1,000 meters 1, and the original length is estimated to be about 1, 800 meters, and the north is east 1.2 degrees. The west wall was destroyed by the Duck River and Mamu River, and now it is more than 800 meters long, 25 degrees north-east; Cheng Nan wall turns south in the middle section, and the remaining length is about 600 meters. The whole city site is narrow in the north and wide in the south, and wide in the east and west 1600? 000 meters, about 2000 meters wide from north to south, with an area of about 3? 56 square kilometers. The cross section of the city wall is trapezoidal, the wall base is generally about 40 meters wide, and the existing width at the top is about 20 meters. The wall consists of the main wall (the main part of the wall core), the inner wall and the outer wall. The main city wall is trapezoidal, rammed by flat tamping method, and repaired by shovel at both sides. The surface is very flat and smooth, and it is hard with round sticks. The inner wall and the outer wall shall be rammed in sections, each section shall be rammed to a certain height, and then rammed after cutting and trimming. In some parts of the main city wall, adobe bricks are used to increase the height of the city wall, which is one of the earliest examples of using adobe to build the city wall in the history of China city wall construction. In addition, the inner and outer walls are mostly inclined rammed layers. Some places can see the situation of building blocks; Some rammed layers are piled up with soil, so the tamping method is more casual. On the one hand, it shows that the construction of city walls is not far from the emergence of plate building technology; On the other hand, it may also be because of the large volume of the city wall, and the version construction technology can not meet the needs of the project progress. ?
Outside the city wall, I found that it was all around 20? The trench is 0 meters long, and both ends of the trench are connected with the Yazi River and Mamu River respectively, forming a comprehensive water system project that is beneficial to both flood control and disaster relief and national defense transportation. It can be seen that the utilization and management of water system is a major feature of ancient Shu civilization. ?
The pottery pieces found in the rammed earth of the city wall belong to the first phase of Sanxingdui site (that is, equivalent to Longshan period). In the trial excavation of the East City Wall, the West City Wall and the South City Wall, it is found that the rammed earth of the city wall is superimposed on the first cultural layer, and at the same time it is superimposed on the second or later cultural layer. In addition, the trenches are mainly deposited in the third and fourth stages, which indicates that the building age of Sanxingdui site wall is the second stage (equivalent to the early Shang Dynasty from the summer solstice) and the service age is from the late second stage to the third and fourth stages (from the middle and late Shang Dynasty to the early Western Zhou Dynasty). ?
Thirdly, the relationship, position and function of Sanxingdui civilization in China Xia and Shang civilizations.
The ancient Shu kingdom is located in the southwest of China. With regard to the history of Shu, apart from Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Shangshu Pastoral Oath, it was not until the turn of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period that there were documents recording the communication between Shu and the Central Plains. Shu bronze culture in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period was not known until 1930s. As for the bronze culture in Xia and Shang dynasties, the academic circles know nothing about it. The discovery and confirmation of the bronze civilization of Xia and Shang Dynasties in Sanxingdui promoted people's understanding of the ancient Shu civilization of 1000 years, and filled the gaps in ancient Shu culture and history. ?
The pattern of China's unification of a multi-ethnic country was formed in the Qin and Han Dynasties. In fact, the historical origin and cultural foundation of this unified multi-ethnic country pattern have been laid as early as Xia and Shang Dynasties. In the Longshan period, various large ethnic groups have been formed. These ethnic groups merged, exchanged and merged with each other, and finally established the Xia Dynasty, the first slave country in China. Legend has it that Shu developed after the closure of Shu, and there is also a legend that Shu was born and married in Tushan. Shi Niu and Tu Shan are in Shuba's place respectively. These legends reflect the close and ancient relationship between Shu and the nationalities in the Central Plains. Xia civilization is the early stage of bronze civilization in China. A large number of representative Erlitou Xia culture pottery, as well as bronze ornaments and jade Zhang similar to Erlitou style were unearthed at Sanxingdui site. Legend records and unearthed data show that the appearance of the ancient Shu kingdom is closely related to the nationalities in the Central Plains. Once the bronze civilization of the Central Plains appeared, the ancient Shu people absorbed the factors of the bronze civilization of the Central Plains. Sanxingdui bronze civilization, as a square civilization outside the Central Plains, is directly related to the bronze civilization in the Central Plains. ?
The jade cone unearthed from the earth pit tomb of Rensheng Brick Factory has the jade cone style of Liangzhu culture distributed in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and Taihu Lake area. The age of Liangzhu culture is about 5000 years ago? During these 200 years, the jade cone unearthed in Sanxingdui is estimated to be around 4,000 years, indicating that in the early Longshan or Erlitou period, the early residents of Sanxingdui had close cultural ties not only with the Central Plains, but also with the residents as far away as the lower reaches of the Yangtze River or Taihu Lake. These important discoveries have broadened our horizons of understanding Sanxingdui culture, from Bashu area to the Central Plains area, and even the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and Taihu Lake area. ?
Shang civilization is a highly developed bronze civilization in the Central Plains. From the fluctuation analysis of Shang culture factors in Sanxingdui civilization, we can also see that Shang civilization also played an important role in promoting the development of Shu civilization. Most of the jade articles and ritual vessels unearthed from Sanxingdui site, such as Ge, Zhang, Yan, wall, ring and halberd, have obvious Shang and cultural factors. Unearthed is equivalent to the upper level of Erligang to the first phase of Yinxu (about 65438 BC+05 BC? Among the bronze ritual vessels in the 4th century, the shapes of Zun, Bu, Pan and Gai are common in Shang culture, and the decoration of the vessels is also the decoration style of Shang culture. By the second phase of Yin Ruins (about13rd century BC), a large number of artifacts with unique local style appeared in Ge and Zhang of jade and stone tools. Although the bronze statue is close to the Shang culture or similar artifacts unearthed in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and Hanzhong area in southern Shaanxi, the decoration of the artifacts has a strong local style and shows a strong local national personality. At this time, the bronze civilization with the characteristics of ancient Shu people has been formed. Judging from the emergence and development of Sanxingdui bronze civilization, Sanxingdui bronze civilization not only has its own characteristics, but also is closely related to Xia and Shang civilizations in the Central Plains. Sanxingdui civilization is an important part of China bronze civilization. ?
Type I and type II jade articles unearthed from the tomb of the Queen of Yin Ruins were found in two sacrificial pits in Sanxingdui. On the contrary, this shape of Yuge has only been found in Nuwa's tomb in Yinxu, Central Plains. This shows that this jade ge is a characteristic artifact of Sanxingdui culture, and this artifact seen in the tomb of a good woman in Yin Ruins may be the result of the influence of Sanxingdui culture. ?
An important feature of the bronze civilization of Shang Dynasty in China is bronze ritual vessels, such as Zun, Ding, Wei, Hu, Jue, Jiao and Gui. These objects have solemn shapes, complex patterns, a sense of majesty and mystery, but there are few sculptures with animals and portraits as their themes. Especially the bronze products of independent portraits are almost invisible. Sanxingdui bronze civilization unearthed a large number of bronze products, such as portraits, heads, human masks, making sacred trees, etc., which undoubtedly enriched the bronze civilization of Shang Dynasty in China and filled some gaps in the bronze civilization of China. ?
From the Shang Dynasty to the late Shang Dynasty, the Central Plains was a powerful slave country, which was "thousands of miles away, the people stopped here, and the territory was everywhere". Commercial civilization has an important role and influence on the civilization of neighboring countries. As a Shu country far away from Shang Dynasty, it has its own characteristics and a highly developed bronze civilization comparable to Shang Dynasty, which makes it necessary for us to re-evaluate the formation and development of Fang civilization in the surrounding areas of Shang Dynasty. A large number of underground unearthed data show that Chinese civilization is formed by multiple coupling. After long-term economic and cultural exchanges, various countries and nations learn from each other's strengths. Finally, the ancient civilization of China with the Central Plains culture as the main body appeared.
Chen Dean, deputy head of the archaeological team of Sichuan Institute of Archaeology and stationmaster of Sanxingdui Workstation?
(Editor Lin Xiang)
Frame Characteristics of Primitive Religion in Sanxingdui Civilization
Zhao dianzeng
One of the main achievements of Sanxingdui archaeology is to prove that there is an ancient civilization center (1) in the western Sichuan plain from primitive society to the formation stage of ancient countries, and many researchers have officially called it "Sanxingdui civilization". An important feature of this ancient civilization is the creation of a highly developed spiritual culture, which shows that a unique primitive religious system was formed at that time. To fully understand the face and value of Sanxingdui culture, we must study people's spiritual world at that time. Starting with the special sacrificial customs of Sanxingdui period reflected by some unearthed cultural relics, this paper makes a general analysis of the characteristics of its primitive religious composition. ?
First, several special worship customs of Sanxingdui civilization
A major feature of Sanxingdui culture is that the unearthed cultural relics expressing ideology are extremely rich, which provides concrete clues for us to explore the spiritual world at that time. In the ruins of city sites, ruins, workshops, tombs and many grotesque objects, there are often rich spiritual and cultural factors, such as earth ridges, hollow light beans with high handles, bird heads and a large number of stone walls, most of which contain primitive beliefs. Among them, the most prominent and concentrated reflection of Sanxingdui's spiritual culture is a batch of cultural relics unearthed in the sacrificial pit dedicated to the gods. ?
Rectangular pits for burying utensils and ritual vessels have been found many times in the center of Sanxingdui site and its vicinity. At present, scholars think that it is a sacrificial pit (2), which is an important physical example reflecting Sanxingdui's religious concept and sacrificial activities. Although there are many different opinions about the reasons for burial, it is consistent that the cultural relics unearthed in the pit are mainly used to worship the gods.
Unearthed artifacts include portraits, gods, beasts, sacred trees, ritual vessels, sacrificial vessels and so on. It was all related to people's religious sacrifice activities at that time. The shapes of artifacts are extremely strange, from which we can see some unique colors of primitive religious belief worship in Sanxingdui civilization. ?
The cultural relics representing people's eyes are not only numerous, but also remarkable in status and strange in shape, which shows that people had a special custom of worshipping eyes at that time. The most striking thing is the mask with prominent eyes, such as the big mask (K2 ②:148). The eyeball is extremely exaggerated, and the pupil part protrudes forward in a cylindrical shape, as long as 16? 5 cm, diameter 13? 5 centimeters. Another pair of protruding goggles (K2②:142; 144), eyes protruding like a cylinder, 9 cm long and 10 cm in diameter. In addition, there are dozens of pairs of "eye-shaped bronze ornaments", including more than ten forms such as diamond, hook cloud and round bubble. There are tenon holes around, which can be assembled or hung and presented separately, showing a unique respect for the eyes. The "eye" pattern often appears as a theme pattern in the central part of important patterns, such as the portrait of a big statue (K2 ②:149; 150) There are a pair of huge "eyes" on both sides of the crown and in the center of the shoulders wearing vestments. These examples prove that eye worship is an important part of Sanxingdui's ancient belief concept. The social connotation and spiritual essence of this worship is the worship of the ancestors of Shu people, which is characterized by "looking at the whole eye" (3). The legendary ancestor of Shu people recorded in historical books is called "Can Cong", and its only physical feature is "Mu Zong". For example, Can Cong, the Duke of Shu, is king because of his vertical eyes, and his tomb is called "the tomb with vertical eyes". There are a large number of protruding eyes and giant eyes in Sanxingdui, which is the concrete embodiment of the statue of the ancestor of Shu State. It is a unique part of Sanxingdui's primitive religious system to express the concept of ancestor worship with mask eye ornaments. ?
In Sanxingdui cultural relics, the exaggeration and deification of human "hand" is particularly strengthened, which shows that the worship of "hand" was another unique belief custom at that time. This phenomenon is first manifested in bronze portraits, such as large statues (K2 ②:149; 150), there is a pair of big hands with a ratio of more than twice, holding them in a prominent position in front of the focus of the viewing angle and making a gesture of sacrifice (some people think it is a gesture of "pinching fingers"). The smaller one (K2③∶264) is the same as an adult's gesture, except that the two little fingers are tilted, which is more like a gesture. God? /ca & gt；