An ancient city of Western Zhou with a mysterious identity, nine tombs that do not know who to bury, a dense collection of bronzes for sacrifices, and inscriptions carved on bronzes that are difficult to decipher.
The site of Chenzhuang in the Western Zhou Dynasty, located in Gaoqing County, Zibo City, was a surprising discovery made in October 2008 when the Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology conducted a large-scale archaeological survey on the South-to-North Water Diversion Project.
For more than 3,000 years, it will form a cultural layer that is several meters thick. From modern times, the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Tang and Song dynasties, and the two Han Dynasties have continued to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States, and the heavier ones belong to the Western Zhou Period. When archaeologists realized that the core of the site was the Western Zhou Dynasty, they were excited.
Towards the end of the excavation, the archaeologists accidentally found rammed earth remains at the edge of the exploration. As the excavation area expanded, they found that the rammed earth continued to extend and encircle, eventually forming a pocket ancient city with a side length of 180 meters and an area of only one-eighth of the bird's nest.
Accidentally discovered the ancient city of Western Zhou, but such a small city, what was the nature of the city at that time? Built by whom?
The Chenzhuang-Tangkou Western Zhou Ruins Museum in Gaoqing County, Zibo City, opened in May 2019, confirming from the cultural relics excavated from the site that the legendary Jiang Ziya really existed in history.
According to public information, there are many cultural relics excavated from the Chenzhuang-Tangkou Western Zhou ruins, including important relics such as western Zhou noble tombs, altars, horse pits, and chema pits, a large number of pottery and more precious cultural relics such as bone, bronze, and jade, the most outstanding Western Zhou noble tombs, nine-story rammed earth altars, and Western Zhou carved cloth armor.
Many of these excavated bronzes have inscriptions, and through the interpretation of the inscriptions, experts have found that this batch of artifacts was actually cast by the tomb owner to sacrifice Jiang Ziya, which made the nature of the town instantly confused...
More than 2,000 years ago, a square city stood in the area of Chenzhuang, and archaeological excavations found that the total area of the ancient city ruins was 80,000 to 90,000 square meters. The cultural connotation of the site is most abundant in the Zhou Dynasty, and it is the earliest Western Zhou city site confirmed in the Shandong region.
In 2009, the Chenzhuang site was rated as "National Top Ten Archaeological Discoveries" and "National Six Major Archaeological Discoveries".
Among the excavated cultural relics, one of the copper inscriptions is engraved on the inner cover: "Feng (Feng) Qizuo Zu Jia Qi Gong Bao Zun Yi". And "Qi Gong", according to expert research, is Jiang Ziya, who is known as Taigong Wang, Jiang Shang, and Lü Shang. In folklore, Jiang Taigong is a god lord who is above the gods, he holds a whip and mounts four different, is the embodiment of the god of war and wisdom, and is also an important task in the "list of gods".
The discovery of the "Qi Gong" inscription fills a gap in archaeology and has become direct evidence of the real existence of Jiang Taigong and his people.
According to historical records, the State of Qi moved its capital twice, and once it was qihu gong who moved its capital to Bogu. Around 882 BC, due to the informant of the King of the State of Ji, the Duke of Qi'ai was cooked by king Yi of Zhou and appointed the Duke of QiHu to succeed him. In order to prevent Ji Guo, the Duke of Qi Hu moved the capital to Bogu.
The identification of the Chenzhuang site has always been the focus of expert debate. At present, there are three views on the identity of the Chen Zhuang site.
Some experts believe that the Chenzhuang site is the Yingqiu of that year. But this view is more controversial and is not shared by most experts. Because Yingqiu was established in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, and the tombs found in the ancient city were early and middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty, not to mention that the scale of the ancient city of Gaoqing was too small, according to the provisions of the first class Marquis at that time, the fief area should be more than 1400 square kilometers, the area of the capital city should be between 400 and 500,000 square meters, and the ancient city of Gaoqing was not worthy of the third class Marquis at that time in terms of area.
According to historical records, when Jiang Taigong was enfeoffed with the state of Qi, he built the capital Yingqiu, laying the foundation for the 800-year history of the State of Qi, but where the specific location of the camp hill was, has always been controversial, and there has been no conclusion. Most experts believe that Linzi is Yingqiu. The Geographical Chronicle of the Book of Han records that "Yingqiu is Linziye." Sima Qian also recorded in the "History of the Family of Prince Taigong of Qi" that fengshi Shang's father was in Yingqiu. According to these canonical records, it can be seen that Yingqiu is Linzi.
The second point is that the ancient city is the capital of Fengguo. Some experts believe that the Zhou Gongdong Expedition was divided into two war zones, the north and south of Mount Tai. A bronze inscription from the zhou chengwang period reads: "However, the Duke of Zhou (in the past) conquered Dongyi, Feng, Bai, and Bogu. The countries that attacked from west to east were ," "Feng", "Bai", and "Bogu". And "Feng" is located west of "Bogu" and is on the side of the Jishui Ancient Road, so the ancient city is most likely the capital of Fengguo.
After being severely attacked by the Duke of Zhou, the "Feng" state submitted to the Zhou Dynasty and maintained close relations with the State of Qi until it was swallowed up by the State of Qi in the late Western Zhou Dynasty. The inscription of "Fengban Composition Zujia Qi Gongzun Yi" is considered by experts to be an important basis for judging the nature of the ruins of gaoqing ancient city.
The third point of view is that the ancient city of Gaoqing is the Bogu who moved the capital of Qihu in that year. Some experts said that the inscription "Wen Zujia" is a saying, the longitude and latitude of heaven and earth is called the text, this title can not be used casually, indicating that its owner is prominent in the state of Qi, and it is inferred that it is likely to be the capital of the state of Qi, Pugu.
Experts believe that the "Feng" on the inscription is not necessarily the Ji surname Fengguo, the seventeenth son of King Wen of Zhou in the Western Zhou Dynasty. During the Yin Zhou Dynasty, the Fangguo clan with "Feng" as the name of the country, in addition to the above-mentioned Ji surname Feng, there were still two "Feng" states. One is the Jiang surname Fengguo, and the other is the Rong ethnic Fengguo. It can be clearly seen from the "Historical Atlas of China" that the two "Fengguo" located in Shaanxi, one is in the west of the Zhou capital Haojing, the Zhou Wen King "Zuo Yi Yu Feng", and the Wu King Ying JianhaoJing. Fengjing is west of the Feng River, and Hojing is east of the Feng River, and the two are across the river. It is also known in history as the capital of "Fenghao". The other was located in shangzhou shanyang county in present-day southern Shaanxi. The "rich country" of the East is now "Yidu". The two Fengguo in Shaanxi could not be the ancient city of Chenzhuang today, but it was possible that it could only be this "Fengguo" located on the edge of the Qi state.
The inscription "Fengban Composition Zujia Qi Gong Zun Yi" shows that the owner of this tomb is "Qi Gong", and the connection with "Fengguo" is only that the craftsmen of the place "Feng" made this bronze, and even if this connection is this, this Fengguo should also be the "Feng" on the side of hokkio.
In addition, the State of Qi experienced six generations of monarchs before moving the capital to Linzi, the first five generations of monarchs were in Yingqiu, and "taigong was sealed in Yingqiu, and Bi and V were buried in Zhou". Only the sixth monarch Qi Hu was buried in the place where it is not clearly recorded. Experts believe that from the current excavation of the ancient city tomb of Chen Zhuang, the tomb has martyrs and the inscription "Fengban Composition Zujia Qi Gong Zun Yi" should be the tomb of Hu Gongzhi, and the person buried here, only his tomb may have the word "Qi Gong" with burial items.
Here raises a question, during the zhou wen wang, the state of Qi had not yet been established, and it was only during the wu dynasty that Jiang Ziya was sealed in Qi and Duyingqiu. So, why does "Wenzu Jia Qi Gong" appear on the bronze? According to expert analysis, the Zhou royal family listened to the rumors of Marquis Ji, cooked the Duke of Qi, and established his brother as the Duke of Hu. The Intervention of the Zhou Royal Family in the internal affairs of Qi led to internal unrest in Qi. In order to stabilize Hu Gong's dominance, it was also possible for the Zhou royal family to reward Hu Gong in the name of King Wen to increase Hu Gong's prestige. This may be the reason for the appearance of the inscription "Wenzu Jia Qi Gong".
Hu Gong was established by the Zhou royal family as the monarch of the State of Qi, but did not get the support of the nobles of the Qi State palace at that time, and also worried that the nearby Ji State would continue to rebel, the Duke of Qi Hu decided to move the capital to Bogu, but after only three years in Bogu City, the Duke of Qi Hu was "attacked and killed" by the half-brother of the Duke of Qi' mother, and his posthumous status was not respected by the later Monarch of the State of Qi, so in that situation, Hu Gong's funeral would not be very solemn, and the tomb would not be highly regulated, which was also in line with the tomb regulations currently excavated at the Chen Zhuang site.
At the end of the excavation of the Chenzhuang site, an altar quietly appeared, and its object of worship was once again controversial.
Li Boqian, dean of Peking University's Original Literature and Bo college and chief scientist of the Xia Shang Zhou Dynasty Project, once said: "The most important discovery in the ruins is of course the altar. This altar is indeed too important. In the middle is a circle, then rectangular, then round, so that the slope down, the diameter of five or six meters, which is quite incredible. Now everyone thinks that this is a sacrificial site, and this is right, the question is what nature of the sacrifice. I have seen some articles, some of which say that this may be a sacrifice to the heavens, some that it may be a social altar, and some people say that it is related to the observation of the heavens, and so on. Similar discoveries are still made, in Gushi, Henan, which is also a Western Zhou site, there are similar discoveries, and there are similar discoveries in Huoshan, Anhui. In connection with the discoveries elsewhere, it should be basically the same as its nature. Those discoveries do not seem to be the seat of the capital of the country, so the possibility of offering sacrifices to the heavens is unlikely ...
However, some experts said that the altar unearthed by Chen Zhuang is divided into nine layers, which is a celestial model, and its shape is very close to the Huanqiu in the Temple of Heaven. Why an altar similar to Huanqiu will be found at the site of Gaoqing Chenzhuang, some experts think of the ancient mystery of why the Duke of Qi Ai was cooked by king Zhou Yi 3,000 years ago.
Why did King Yi of Zhou use such a harsh and brutal manner to treat the monarch of a princely state? Just to "kill the chicken and scare the monkey" seems to be unreasonable, so what kind of rumors did king Of Zhou Yi listen to the king of Ji Guojun? If the King of Ji Guoguo informed King Zhou Yi that the Duke of Qi Ai had set up an altar to sacrifice the heavens in Bogu, then as only the Son of Heaven could have the privilege of offering sacrifices to the heavens, the Duke of Qi Ai was obviously extremely overstepping his authority. King Yi of Zhou was so furious that he used the method of cooking qi to cook Qi Aigong in Ding, and there was an explanation.
(Text and pictures refer to the website of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China Cultural Relics Newspaper, CCTV channel "Exploration and Discovery" and other text content, do not do any commercial acts, if there is infringement, please contact to delete.) ）