The splendid bronze culture of ancient China is recognized by the world archaeological community and the pride and pride of all Chinese people. However, recently some scholars have said that China's bronze culture originated in Thailand, because a special bronze spear was unearthed in Thailand. What's going on here? Who is the older bronze culture between China and Thailand? If you want to know, let Xiaobian reveal the secret for you:
(All pictures in this article, all from the network, thanks to the original author, if you infringe your rights, please contact the author of this number to delete.) The picture has nothing to do with the content, please do not enter the seat)
Man Khanh Village is an ordinary village in northeast Thailand, if you look at the normal development of things, it will always become the most inconspicuous member of the countless villages in the world, but because of one thing, it suddenly made its reputation famous.
In the mid-1970s, Dr. Goleman of the University of Pennsylvania in the United States and Dr. Chalang Wangsa of the National Museum in Bangkok, Thailand, collaborated to form a joint investigation team to explore and excavate an ancient tomb excavated in The village of Manqing.
During the excavation, the two experts found that the structure of the ancient tomb in Manqing Village was extremely complex, with a total of 7 floors above and below, and each floor had skeletons and cultural relics, and its age was also different. During the two-year investigation, archaeologists found 126 skeletons and precious artifacts weighing about 18 tons in the tomb.
It is worth mentioning that while excavating the lowest tomb, Professor Gorman accidentally found a rusty bronze spear, which was located exactly around the skeleton and was irregularly arranged with many pieces of broken wood. By dating the bronze spear, the two experts determined that it should be dated to 3600 BC.
This news undoubtedly caused an uproar in the archaeological community, as we all know, the earliest bronzes appeared in the Two Rivers Valley, and its age is about 3000 BC, in other words, the bronze culture in Manqing Village is more than 600 years earlier than the earliest bronze culture recognized by human beings today! If this is true, then the history of the world's bronze smelting will be completely rewritten.
It is precisely because of the excavation of this bronze spear that Manqing Village became famous overnight and became the "ancestor of bronze culture" in the mouth of historians and experts. At this time, the question arises, is the bronze technology in Mesopotamia and Europe and China imported from Thailand? Some scholars believe that this is entirely possible, and the reason for this is simple, because two raw materials must be used in the smelting of bronze, which are red copper and tin, and the two materials are very rich in Thailand.
The ancients have a saying well, called "near the water tower platform first to get the moon", China and Thailand are neighboring countries, as a good at absorbing the advanced cultural achievements of other ethnic groups, China has a good reason to absorb the advanced Thai bronze culture, and then carry it forward.
However, some archaeologists do not think so, in their view, is the bronze spear a relic of 3600 years ago? Still to be examined, the method of inference adopted by Professors Gorman and Chalang Wangsa does not seem convincing, because the only evidence they rely on is the dating of the bronze spear. But there is a very big problem, that is, the location of the soil layer of this tomb is not stable, and the 7-layer mound of the tomb in Manqing Village must be disturbed and excavated at each burial, so it is necessary to determine the specific casting age of the burial items around the copper spear.
In order to prove their ideas, these dissenting archaeologists formed a joint expedition team and once again conducted a comprehensive excavation of Manqing Village. They dated the skeleton near the bronze spear and found that it was buried around 750 BC to 50 BC, that is, no matter how long the bronze spear is dated, it is likely to be an artifact buried with its owner (the skeleton).
That is to say, an ancestor who lived in Thailand around 750 BC to 50 BC obtained an ancient spear from 3600 BC, and after his death, this ancient spear became his burial object, and it cannot be inferred that Thailand could cast an ancient spear 3600 years ago.
It is worth mentioning that the debate over the bronze spear has not yet subsided, and experts on both sides have not given in to each other, and listed the evidence in turn in an attempt to persuade the other side. "The more the reason is discerned, the clearer the Tao", I believe that in this atmosphere of debate around the truth, archaeologists will surely find the final answer to the puzzle.
Wen xiucai, editor-in-chief of Wenlan Hairun Studio, written by: Special history writer: Changshan Zhao Zi worm