Based on cultural relics, with historical materials as a shield,
Tigers look at Mu Mu, eagles look at Wanfeng, interpret history.
In 1981, Pan Zhengguo, a farmer in The Crooked Dyeing Village of Bajie Town (now Nanpanjiang Town) on the north bank of the Nanpanjiang River in Xingyi County, Guizhou Province, excavated two stone tools and handed them over to the state while digging a field in his oil press house. The two stone tools are basically the same in shape, both are vertical rectangular, with shoulders and short square handles. One of them is number 1112, with a length of 25.5 cm, a width of 8 cm and a thickness of 2 cm. The whole tool is divided into two parts, the upper body is the shovel body, the lower part is the handle, the shoulders are slightly thicker and narrower, and the upward thinning is gradually widened to the edge surface. The shank is 4 cm long, the shovel is 21 cm long, the front is slightly convex, and the back is flat. The front end is a single-sided curved edge with partial damage to the edge and a convex edge. Shoulders are flat, with a total width of 5 cm, a left shoulder width of 2 cm and a right shoulder width of 1.5 cm. The whole stone is hard, smooth throughout grinding, light white gray, the surface has the phenomenon of jadeization, lustrous and delicate. The other piece, numbered 1113, is of the same style, with a length of 22.5 cm and a width of 7.6 cm, which should be the same size as the first piece if it were not for severe damage to the blade.
Double-shouldered stone shovel Xingyi Ba knot crooked dye village unearthed
In 1986, cultural workers in Qianxian Prefecture found and collected a stone tool of the same type in the village of Zhenkou in Bajie Town, not far from the north bank of the Nanpan River. The shape of the instrument looks slightly wider and flatter than the above two pieces, with flat shoulders, slightly convex arc on the front of the body, obvious folding edges in the longitudinal direction, and flat on the back. Length 20.5 cm, width 8 cm, thickness 2.3 cm. Polished throughout, the shape is regular, the edges are clear, and the production is excellent. Three stone tools have been identified as first-class cultural relics by the Historical Relics Appraisal Group of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, in other words, representative cultural relics with particularly important value, so what do they represent?
Double-shouldered stone shovel Xingyi Ba knotted the mouth of the excavation
This double-shouldered stone tool is a relic of the Southern Neolithic age with strong endemic characteristics. According to the use of functions, differences in shape, individual size, thickness and weight, etc., it can be roughly divided into several categories such as stone beats, stone shovels, stone hoes, stone axes, and stone hammers. Its common feature is that it is bounded by both shoulders and is divided into two parts, the upper part is the body and the lower part is the handle. The three pieces found on the banks of the Nanpan River in Xingyi are all double-shouldered stone shovels, which are relatively rare of the above five types. Nanpanjiang is the boundary river between Qiangui and Guizhou provinces, the north bank of Xingyi County, the southern township area, is one of the main gathering areas of the Buyi ethnic group, and the south bank of Guangxi Baise Longlin County, is a Zhuang ethnic gathering area. The two ethnic groups share the same language, both belong to the Zhuang Dai branch of the Zhuang Dong language family, and from the perspective of the origin of the clan, their common point is the ancestor of the Zhuang Dong language family, the ancient Luo yue people.
The scenery of the South Pan River is beautiful
According to the mainstream theory, in ancient southern China, there were two major systems of Baipu and Baiyue, the southwest inland was called "Pu (pú)", the coastal area was called "Yue", and the Luoyue ethnic group belonged to a branch of Baiyue. Compared with Guizhou, this double-shouldered stone shovel is common in Guangxi, the base camp of the Luoyue ethnic group, and there are many excavation points. According to statistics written by Xie Guangwei of the Guangxi Archaeological Institute, more than 130 excavation sites have been found in 36 counties (districts and cities), which are known as "big stone shovel culture". As a representative artifact of Luoyue culture, one of the largest double-shouldered stone shovels at present, excavated in Nachu Village, Yingli Town, Leizhou, with slanted shoulders, 62.5 cm long and 28 cm wide, smooth surface, complete shape, and thick blade. The core area of Luoyue culture, Tanluo Town in Nanning, has excavated more than 300 double-shouldered stone shovels of late Neolithic excavations at one time. Obviously, the three double-shouldered stone shovels excavated on the banks of the Nanpan River in Xingyi were influenced by the spread of Luoyue culture to the north.
The vast area of the Panjiang River Basin in the north and south of present-day Guizhou has historically belonged to the cultural blending and intersection of Baipu and Baiyue, and the Luoyue culture has traveled north from Guinan all the way, and in the process of continuous dissemination and influence, it seems that it has also been continuously integrated and changed with the local indigenous Pu people. First of all, from the perspective of the instrument type, the three double-shouldered stone shovels excavated on the banks of the Nanpan River in Xingyi are obviously more slender than the artifacts unearthed by the "big stone shovel culture" in Guangxi, and the body is relatively straight, and there is no girdle. The second is well-polished, the standard atmosphere of the instrument type, and the feeling of the era is later. Anthropologist Mr. Lin Huixiang divides the "shouldered stone axe (also including the double shoulder stone shovel)" into three types, the first "shoulder is slightly concave, the shoulder shape is unknown", which is the primitive type; the second shoulder type is blunt angle, which is for the mature type; the third shoulder type is a right angle, which is a more progressive shape. The three pieces unearthed by Xingyi are obviously the third type, and the shoulder angle is at a right angle. Therefore, although the previous era is a cultural relic of the Neolithic period, in line with the principle of bold speculation, the author prefers to be after the Shang Zhou Dynasty, or even to the later Warring States period.
Double-shoulder stone shovel unearthed in Guangxi Image source: Archaeological culture circle
Since 2007, the Guizhou Provincial Archaeological Institute has carried out archaeological excavations along the Beipan River in Zhenfeng County, including Shaba, Lata, Kong Ming Tomb and Tiansheng Bridge, and has unearthed a number of double-shouldered stone tools in the past few years, roughly from the late Neolithic period to the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, with the double-shouldered stone tools excavated from the Ruins of Lurong Shaba being the most typical. However, compared with the excavations on the banks of the Nanpan River, the production is relatively rough, the size is different, the shoulders are uneven, and the shoulders are obtuse angled. Coincidentally, these places are also the main gathering areas of the Buyi ethnic group, and the proportion of Buyi compatriots in Lurong Village is even as high as 100%. Most scholars today believe that the Buyi ethnic group originated from the Luoyue ethnic group of the ancient Baiyue system, which was originally called "Puyue" during the Qin and Han dynasties. These double-shouldered stone shovels excavated from the Panjiang River in the south and north of Guizhou seem to confirm the historical origin of the "Pu and Yue" integration of the Buyi ethnic group from the perspective of physical shape and excavation site.
Double-shoulder stone shovel Zhenfengsha Dam unearthed Picture source: Guizhou Provincial Archaeological Institute
Finally, there is the use of a double-shouldered stone shovel. As one of the original agricultural tools, stone shovels are mainly used for reclamation, ploughing, weeding, planting and so on. In ethnic minority areas, there are even records of using stone shovels to heat the muscles and bones. However, the three double-shouldered stone shovels unearthed by Xingyi, judging from their well-made and wear degrees, are obviously not practical utensils, but more like ritual instruments for sacrifice. It is speculated that it may be controlled by tribal village elders, representing the supreme power of an ethnic group. The two pieces unearthed are more similar to "and", ancient" and "ancestor" for the same word to agree, then the village elders will not use double shoulder stone shovels to sacrifice ancestors, pray for the prosperity of the tribe?
Author: Dragon Tiger