In 1959, the cultural relics and archaeology team of the Cultural Relics Protection Committee of the Yangtze River Basin of Sichuan Province conducted archaeological excavations in Daxi, Wushan, and found this human-shaped jade pendant in a children's tomb. The jade pendant is only the size of an egg, 6 cm long, 3.6 cm wide, and 1.6 cm thick, with a black oval shape and a protruding human face carved in the middle of each side. Around the human face, you can also see some slightly messy engravings.
Overall, this jade face looks simple and simple, but it is full of vitality. The researchers believe that "there are two perforations on the top of the jade with a human face engraved, and it is speculated that it is hanging up, which is why it is named a jade pendant." ”
What's even more interesting is that the researchers also believe that the messy engravings around the jade face are estimated to be the beards of the ancients. "Because five or six thousand years ago, it was impossible to have such a sharp tool as a razor today to clean the beard, so this jade pendant should represent a man." As for the function of the jade face, some experts speculate that it may be an original toy, and some experts believe that it is an artifact similar to the nature of an amulet.
In the Neolithic Age thousands of years ago, why did the ancients decorate the human face? Looking at the various cultures of the Neolithic Era, the decoration of human faces is not an isolated case of Daxi jade noodles.
The 6,000-year-old mermaid pattern faience pot excavated at the Banpo site in Shaanxi Province has painted two sets of symmetrical mermaid patterns on its inner wall, and this famous clay pot has been one of the treasures of the National Museum of China and has also been listed in history textbooks.
▲ Neolithic faience pots
In addition, the Hongshan culture in Inner Mongolia, which dates back more than 5,500 years, has also found painted female heads; in the Liangzhu culture in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, a large number of gods, men and animal faces have been unearthed.
In addition to this human-shaped jade pendant, there are also pottery such as charcoal red pottery and faience pottery, as well as ornaments such as jade huang, jade jue, turquoise earrings and other ornaments. Archaeologists have found that these artifacts excavated at the Daxi site have their own characteristics and are also influenced by other cultures in some aspects.
▲Turquoise pendant
In terms of faience pottery in the Daxi culture, the bottles, pots, bowls, bowls and other utensils unearthed here are decorated with straight lines, arcs and circle patterns, etc., whether it is the shape of the vessel or the ornament, it has distinct regional characteristics. However, the hook leaf patterns and petal patterns on the faience pottery in the Daxi culture are typical of the Miaodigou type of faience pottery of the Yangshao culture (the Neolithic faience pottery culture in the middle reaches of the Yellow River from about 7000 to 5000 years ago). In addition, the fragments of small-mouth pointed bottom bottles excavated from the red flower set site of the Daxi culture and the Guanmiao Mountain site are also almost the same as the pointed bottom bottles of the Yangshao culture temple bottom ditch type.
▲ New Era Faience Pottery Vase
▲ Neolithic pottery balls
These unique characteristics and similarities show that the Daxi culture is rooted in the local development, they have been experienced for a long time and are self-contained. As Su Bingqi said, due to the influence of different natural environmental conditions, many regional cultures with different characteristics have been formed on the land of China. Like the Central Plains civilization, they are one of many civilizations of similar level that are developing at the same time. They are scattered in all directions, like stars in the sky.
However, even in the distant Neolithic Age, the exchanges and influences between these cultures were deepening, and they were diverse and integrated, and together they converged into a splendid Chinese civilization. Daxi culture is one of the representative cultures of the Yangtze River Basin and an important part of Chinese civilization.
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