The archaeological excavation of the newly discovered sacrifice pit in Sanxingdui, Guanghan, Sichuan Province, has once again made the world feel the great achievements and appeal of Chinese archaeology in the new era. Shared with the world-famous Sanxingdui ruins is the Jinsha ruins located in the west of present-day Chengdu. The Jinsha site is the continuation and development of the Sanxingdui civilization, with many cultural factors similar to the Sanxingdui civilization, which together form the basic style of the early bronze culture in southwest China. Sanxingdui brings a strong visual impact to the world with its strange bronze masks and portraits, tall bronze sacred trees, masks and golden rods made of gold, and refreshes people's traditional knowledge about ancient civilizations in the world. In addition to showing people similar to the golden masks of Sanxingdui, gold belts engraved with fish, birds and arrows, a large number of piled up ivory and other archaeological scenes, the Jinsha site also continues to write a colorful chapter of Chinese civilization with a large number of newly excavated cultural relics, providing more wonderful pictures of China's ancient spiritual world.
Sun God Bird Gold Ornament
Sun and Moon: The symbol of the Sun God Bird
The gold ornament of the sun god bird, which has now become a symbol of China's cultural heritage, is the most representative artifact in the Jinsha site. This is a highly creative and imaginative cultural relic, the overall shape is round, made of gold leaf with a gold content of up to 94.2%, the pattern is divided into two layers, inside and outside, carefully carved and cut. The outer pattern consists of four birds with an equally spaced distribution, end to tail, while the inner pattern is an equally precisely divided, equidistant distribution of twelve mango leaves, rotating to the left toward the center of the circle. The whole pattern is balanced and symmetrical, full of movement, and in the rhythm of undulating and jumping, it also implies the profound meaning of the four directions surrounding the center, the left rotation of the heavenly path, and the center radiating outward twelve rays of light.
People call it the "Sun God Bird" because this round gold ornament is likely to symbolize a cosmology centered on sun worship. The circular motif symbolizes the sun, and the twelve swirling golden rays of light radiating outward in the center and the four "divine birds" that meet end to end on the outermost periphery are naturally reminiscent of celestial phenomena and objects such as the four seasons and December. Here, it is also worth mentioning a very important archaeological phenomenon that has been often overlooked in the past: in the Jinsha site, excavated at the same time as this sun god bird, there are at least seven individual frog-shaped gold leaf, two of which are basically complete, you can observe that its shape is frog-shaped, the head is pointed, the eyes are round, there is a ridge in the middle of the back, the limbs are slender, bent on both sides of the body, and there are two rows of peduncle-like milk nails on the back, which is reminiscent of the "moon toad". If we think about the connection between the sun god bird and the toad in the moon, the record of "the sun has a toad and a toad in the day" can be said to be in line with it. Because this batch of gold leaf was originally attached to the surface of an object, some scholars have speculated that if the cultural relics excavated from the golden sands are linked together and restored, it is likely that the restored composition is a circular sun god bird's residence in the center, surrounded by eight or more frog-shaped gold ornaments at an equal distance around the perimeter, together forming a scene of the sun and the moon. This speculation is not unfounded.
Frog-shaped gold leaf
During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, many core knowledge of the ancient Chinese world of thought was gradually taking shape, and ancient astronomical geographical experiences such as the place of the heavenly circle, the center and the four directions, the change of yin and yang, the change of seasons, the positioning of the sun, moon and stars, and the framework model of the universe had begun to be expressed in different ways and appeared in archaeological materials. If the bronze sacred tree of Sanxingdui symbolizes the cosmic tree and the sun tree in the ancient civilization of mankind, then the deep meaning of the sun god bird excavated from the Jinsha site is similar to it. Jinsha site is located in the Chengdu Plain, known as the "country of heaven", has a highly developed agriculture, the site not only unearthed stone, wooden agricultural tools, as well as millet, rice and other plant seeds, Jinsha ancestors for the sunrise and moonset, the change of the four seasons, especially the powerful power of the sun has a careful observation and profound understanding, they created the representative of the sun and moon worship, yin and yang four seasons and other concepts of gold products, not only the Chinese nation for the universe, heaven and earth and all things the most simple and natural expression, With its almost perfect artistic endowment, it provides an extremely precious model for the history of world art and the history of ancient thought.
The "Code of Knowledge" Hidden in the Mysterious Pattern
The Jinsha site and Sanxingdui have many cultural factors in common, reflected in the excavations of gold masks, jade, ivory, bronze figures, pottery and other different aspects. But what most closely links the two is a set of mysterious motifs engraved on gold artifacts.
A golden staff body was unearthed from the No. 1 sacrifice pit of the Sanxingdui site, and the outer layer of the wooden core was wrapped with gold leaf expanded from gold bars, and because it was unearthed in the artifact pit with strong sacrificial color, scholars generally identified it as the "scepter" representing the meaning of power, prestige, and rank in the Sanxingdui site, or called the "scepter" and "king staff". Strikingly, the upper end of the staff preserves two sets of ornamental patterns carved with two sets of yin lines, the same pattern, both of which are three heads with crowns and large rings on one side, and two sets of identical ornaments at the other end, each composed of an arrow, a bird and a fish, the mysterious meaning of which is fascinating.
Gold crown belt and ornamentation
Coincidentally, in the Jinsha site, a gold artifact known as the "Golden Crown Belt" was also excavated, which was circular in shape and broke into a long strip when excavated, with a large diameter and a small diameter. The surface of this gold belt is also engraved with four identical sets of patterns, and its basic compositional characteristics are also an arrow, a bird, a fish and a circular ornament similar to a human face, which is almost identical to the pattern on the golden staff excavated from the Sanxingdui No. 1 Sacrifice Pit.
It is not yet possible to explain the significance of these two sets of mysterious motifs. But whether it is seen as a "totem" or "clan emblem" symbolizing different ethnic groups, or as a symbol conveying some mysterious allegory, the similarity of the patterns on the two gold artifacts is so high that it is enough to indicate that this is some kind of original information from the highest rank of people in Sanxingdui and Jinsha, and the two sites have a common civilization heritage, and most likely also have a common symbol of expressing power: a golden scepter, a golden crown belt, and then linked together by a set of identical motifs. The fish and bird in the pattern are connected by an arrow, the arrow rod skimming next to the bird's body, and the arrow shooting into the fish's body, which makes people wonder whether this is the ancestors of Sanxingdui and Jinsha using symbols to express, record and pass on their ideas.
So far, neither in Sanxingdui nor Jinsha has been found, which is undoubtedly puzzling for the ancient Shu bronze civilization with a high level of development. But this set of mysterious patterns engraved on gold artifacts may reveal some of the "knowledge codes" that have disappeared in the ancient Shu civilization. In the literature and history books about ancient Shu in the Han and Jin Dynasties, it was recorded that the inheritance system of the ancient Shu kings was "the first king of Shu had silkworm bushes, cypress irrigation, fish squirrels, and enlightened", saying that "the first name of the king of Shu was silkworm bush, and the descendants were called bai irrigation." The latter is called Fish. These three generations have been deified for hundreds of years, and their people have been deified and immortalized, and their people have also been quite with the king" (The Book of the King of Shu). These patterns with mysterious powers, such as fish, birds, arrows, etc., may have more or less connections with the royal lineage and lineage of the ancient Shu in historical legends, and they appear on the golden artifacts of special value and significance in Sanxingdui and Jinsha at the same time. Although we are not yet able to decipher their meaning today, the ability of the ancient ancestors to use mysterious symbols to express certain knowledge and thoughts has been fully demonstrated.
"Jedi Heavenly Pass": a sacred place of worship
Kneeling stone figures
There is a special worship area in the Jinsha site, located in the eastern part of the site, with a total area of about 15,000 square meters, located along the river, distributed along the south bank of the ancient river. It can be inferred from this that the original sacrifices of the Jinsha people were held on the banks of the river, and the sacrifices were buried in the river beach after the sacrifice ceremony was completed.
Unlike ordinary living sites, most of the artifacts unearthed in the Jinsha Sacrifice Area are not practical objects, but symbolic sacrifices or ceremonial utensils. Judging from the sacrifice activities reflected in the Zhongyuan Bu ci in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, there were different sacrifice methods such as burnt fire and burial, some were burned sacrifices and smoke rose so that the gods in the sky could enjoy them; some buried sacrifices and sacrifices in the soil, and surrendered their sincerity to the ancestors and gods in the heavens and on the earth. Archaeological findings suggest that Sanxingdui and Jinsha have the same practices as the Central Plains Shang Zhou sacrifices, but with unique personalities and characteristics.
There are several notable phenomena in the sacrifice of Jinsha: First, the sacrifice uses a large number of animal horns, teeth and other parts. Like the Sanxingdui Sacrifice Pit, a large number of tusks have been unearthed in the Jinsha Sacrifice Area, the longest of which is 1.85 meters long, the largest ivory found in archaeology so far. In addition to the use of jade, bronze, stone tools, etc. as sacrifices, the Jinsha site also unearthed wild boar fangs, antlers, chamois horns and other animal bones, which should be "sacrifices" during sacrifice, especially the number of fangs of wild boars is as many as thousands, but no bones of other parts of these animals have been found, which indicates that the sacrifice items were carefully selected and may have special meanings. Second, there are specially made animal images such as stone tigers, stone snakes, stone turtles, etc., the facial features are mostly painted red with cinnabar, and together with them, there are kneeling stone figures with their hands tied behind their backs, and some stone figures and facial features are also coated with cinnabar, indicating that their identity and these stone animals, should be "human animals" as sacrifices, they are most likely war prisoners or slaves, which also reflects the social changes in the Jinsha period. Third, rituals and procedures for sacrifice were gradually formed. The sacrifices at the Jinsha site lasted for about 500 years, from the late Shang Dynasty around 1200 BC to the early Spring and Autumn Period from 770 BC to 476 BC, and with the shift of the political center, the sacred places of sacrifice of the Jinsha people became increasingly deserted. During this long period of time, the ritual activities of Jinsha can be roughly divided into three stages: the first stage is about the late Shang Dynasty, which is mainly popular with ivory and stone tools as sacrifices; the second stage is about the late Shang Dynasty to the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty, a large number of jade and bronze ware are used as sacrifices, and ivory is still used; the third stage is about the Western Zhou Period to the early Spring and Autumn Period, the number of bronze, jade and ivory and other sacrifices popular in the previous stage has decreased sharply, and a large number of wild boar fangs, deer horns, chamois horns and other animal bones, beautiful stones, pottery and so on are used as sacrifices.
Although it is the same as the sacrifice, the sacrifice area of Jinsha is obviously different from the sacrifice pit of Sanxingdui. The Jinsha site is different from Sanxingdui in terms of sacrifice objects, use of sacrificial vessels, and places of worship, and there are no bronze heads, masks, large standing figures, large bronze sacred trees and other heavy objects with the most iconic characteristics in the Sanxingdui sacrifice pits. Although the Jinsha site has also unearthed the same gold masks and bronze figurines as the Sanxingdui sacrifice pit, the volume and scale are far inferior to the Sanxingdui, which means that the overall national strength of the Jinsha period has faded, the lack of sacrifice resources, or the two themselves are different natures, different functions, and different ways of sacrifice activities carried out in different scenes? These are subject to more in-depth comparative studies. But what is certain is that in the use of a large number of ivory, gold leaf artifacts, and jade sacrifices to "communicate with the gods", the two are in the same vein.
A unique contribution to reconstructing the ancient spiritual world of China
From Sanxingdui to Jinsha, a large number of archaeological discoveries are relics and relics related to sacrifices, thus providing the world with an unprecedented picture of the ancient Chinese spiritual world. Why was sacrifice so important and sacred in ancient China? This involves one of the basic problems of ancient Chinese civilization, that is, the communication, communication and harmonious coexistence between heaven and man, and between man and god. Ancient human beings generally believe that there is a certain "mysterious power" in the world that exists between nature and the gods of heaven and earth, and that through certain rituals and rituals, human beings can "reach heaven and earth", or master the law code of this mysterious power to gain its protection, or actively use a variety of "spells" (that is, witchcraft) to avoid evil. Since the Neolithic age, primitive witchcraft and ritual activities have been found in archaeological discoveries. Many scholars have pointed out that the animal face pattern on the Liangzhu culture jade, the dragon and tiger pattern of the mussel shell in Puyang, Henan, the jade plate pattern of Lingjiatan in Anhui, and the Hongshan cultural temple and idol in Kazuo, Liaoning, all contain the meaning of primitive witchcraft and sacrifice, and are believed to have the mysterious power of "communicating heaven and earth and attracting ghosts and gods". Entering the Bronze Age of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties in the Central Plains, sacrifice became a major event of the country, and even formed a set of ceremonial systems centered on bronze ceremonial vessels and spread throughout the world. What Sanxingdui and Jinsha show to the world is undoubtedly a different expression of this ancient tradition, which not only inherits the cosmology and spiritual outlook of the gods and men in various parts of China since ancient times, but also constructs the understanding, imagination, luck and expression of the ancient spiritual world of the people of the time with the unique perspective and extraordinary observation and creativity located in southwest China.
When Sanxingdui becomes a hot archaeological topic, we should objectively and scientifically understand the ins and outs of Sanxingdui civilization, and read and understand the ancient Shu inheritance in ancient literature and the realistic scene in archaeological discoveries with a broader vision. At the same time, we cannot ignore the golden sands next to Sanxingdui, which complement each other, inherit the past and the future, mirror each other, and have a profound meaning, and the common book has a long and brilliant chapter of the ancient Shu civilization. (Author: Huo Wei, Chief Expert of the Major Project of the National Social Science Foundation of China "Collation and Comprehensive Research on the Collation and Synthesis of Newly Unearthed Statues of the Southern Dynasty in Sichuan", Dean of the School of Archaeology and Literature of Sichuan University)
Source: Guangming Daily electronic edition
Photo and text from: Guangming Daily, September 8, 2021, page 11