The Guangdong Provincial Museum and the Guangzhou Museum have an ancient pottery with a pointed hat on it and a cylindrical body. Consistent with the seeming purpose, it is indeed used to store grain, called 囷.
Modern people may feel a little confused about this word. Is it the same thing as what we usually call a granary? Actually, it is, and it is not.
囷 and cang, 廪, hoarding, sinus, cellar, etc. are all ancient grain storage vessels or building facilities, "round yue yuan, square yue warehouse." "Pottery and other grain storage model mingware appear in the tomb, mainly to reflect the tomb owner's pursuit of materials and show his financial resources." The warehouses and chambers excavated from the tombs of the two Han Dynasties in Guangdong are mainly distributed in Guangzhou and the surrounding Pearl River Delta region, especially Guangzhou accounts for the vast majority. At present, the warehouses and courtyards excavated from the Han tombs in Guangzhou are dry column buildings to facilitate drying and moisture-proof. The Eastern Han Dynasty excavated in Guangdong is far more numerous than those of the Western Han Dynasty, and its corresponding physical volume is also increasing from the structural point of view, indicating that with the improvement of agricultural productivity, farmers have more and more surplus grain to store.
It was first found in the archaeological remains of the ancient Qin land of Guanlong. Some researchers believe that the emergence of Tao Yuan is a reflection of the budding and initial development of new production relations in the Qin State in the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period in terms of funerary customs, while the emergence of Tao Cang is the product of the conflict between new and old funerary customs after the basic establishment of new production relations. And as an important type of pottery and pottery warehouse in the combination of "cang (囷), stove and well", their emergence, popularity and matching with pottery stove and pottery well is the process of transformation and final establishment from the Warring States Qin culture to the Han culture. The burial pottery focuses on symbolizing the wealth of the owner of the tomb, while the burial pottery barn focuses on symbolizing the identity status of the owner of the tomb.
That is to say, perhaps the circle and the warehouse are not just a circle and a square.
Text/Guangzhou Daily Xinhuacheng reporter Bu Songzhu
Photo : Guangzhou Daily Xinhuacheng reporter Bu Songzhu
Video/ Guangzhou Daily New Flower City reporter Bu Songzhu
Guangzhou Daily New Flower City Editor: Xie Yufen