Gansu guards the Hexi Corridor, head rests on the Qilian Mountains, east of Chang'an, Nantong Bashu, and Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, known as "Qinlong Lock Key, Bashu Throat". Since ancient times, it has been a place where soldiers and families must fight, and the military must rush. In the Western Han proverb, there is also a record of "Long right ripe, the world is full". It can be seen that Gansu at that time was the main grain producing area in the country, and its important position was not only in the military, but also in the economy. When it comes to gold, China's earliest gold ware appeared in the north, and the earliest gold ware in the north appeared in Gansu. This important gold relic to be photographed this time is difficult to witness in the museum, but in the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. It is also an important gold cultural relic that the author has been thinking about photographing——— gold earrings excavated from the yumen fire-burning ditch site in Gansu.
This gold earring, which is about 3800-4000 years old, is simple and generous, and is made by the most primitive hammering method, which is oval in shape, with one end flattened and one slightly pointed, which should be easy to wear through the ear holes. Purely artistically, the gold earrings seem to have nothing to be worth distinguishing, neither gorgeous patterns nor complex craftsmanship. If you really want to give it some praise, the remaining estimate is only the avenue to simplicity, reflecting the ancient people's simple aesthetic of gold. From the perspective of historical culture and archaeological value, it is not a small thing. It is the earliest batch of gold products found in the mainland, the earliest existing gold jewelry, which opened the precedent for the use of gold jewelry in China, and is the "ancestor of the rings" of gold earrings in China, and its significance to the founding father of China's gold culture is far greater than its formal significance.
The discovery of this remarkable gold earring is full of legendary stories. It was discovered at the site of Huoyaogou in Yumen, Gansu. Speaking of the jade gate, it is estimated that many people will say that it is the jade gate that "the spring wind does not pass the jade gate"? Non also. The Yumen Gate is located 70 kilometers northwest of the county-level city of Jiuquan City, and the Yumen Pass is located on the Gobi Desert, 80 kilometers northwest of Dunhuang City, and the distance between the two places is about 350 kilometers. Huoyaogou is an ancient place name in Qingquan Township, Yumen City. Because of its longitudinal ravines, undulating mountains, and most of the ravines and ravines are fiery red, people named their land Fire Gully. In 1976, the commune middle school was built on a group of ancient tombs. When ground broke, the construction team quickly dug up some stone utensils, clay pots and copper products that were not deep from the surface. A young man who went to the countryside in Lanzhou saw these clay pots because he knew a little archaeological knowledge and brought it to the relatives of the archaeological team in the provincial city. At a glance, the comrade of the archaeological team concluded that these cultural relics were not trivial, and then reported them to the provincial cultural relics and archaeology team, and did not approve the provincial cultural department and formally organized manpower to excavate in Yumen. As a result, the site of Huoyaogou, one of the six ancient cultural sites in Gansu, was discovered, which was a major event in the cultural history of Gansu after the founding of New China.
The Huoyaogou culture represented by the Huoyaogou site is one of the most advanced cultures in the Xia Dynasty period of the mainland. The level of development of the bronze manufacturing industry of the residents of the Huoyaogou Cemetery is second only to the Erlitou culture among the Xia Dynasty cultures. The Huohuogou people inherited the Sanmiao and Lower Qi Zhou tribes, not only created an advanced culture, but also a tribe with great influence in the history of the mainland, dating back to about 3700 years. Wearing gold and silver jewelry and using it as a funerary item is a major feature of the tombs at the Huoyaogou site.
As for why the earliest gold ware in China will be found here. When people think of Gansu, they often think of the Silk Road. This ancient trade route, which began in the 2nd century BC and crossed the interior of Asia, lasted for more than a thousand years and promoted economic and cultural exchanges between China and the world. The Silk Road, with a total length of more than 7,000 kilometers, starts from Chang'an, crosses the Hexi Corridor, and is divided into two roads, north and south, the north road out of Yumen Pass, and the south road out of Yang Pass. The time is about 2000 years forward from the Han Dynasty, as one of the origins of the spread and spread of ancient civilizations, the Eurasian steppe, accompanied by the eastward migration of ancient Indo-Europeans and the great migration of Central Asian nomads that began in about 2000 BC, the golden culture also gradually moved eastward. The geographical location of Gansu has just become a crossroads of the intersection of eastern and western civilizations, northern grassland civilization and central plains farming civilization, and it is not surprising that China's earliest gold products appear in this intersection of eastern and western civilizations. In the following two thousand years, through the Shang Zhou, the Spring and Autumn Warring States, the Qin and Han Dynasties, the golden culture gradually penetrated into the Central Plains, and at the same time, it was constantly influenced by the Civilization of the Central Plains and blossomed everywhere in the land of China.
Now look at this pair of gold earrings, is it not awe-inspiring? Simple and pure, without any carving of the original atmosphere, the author feels that it is not too much to use any words to describe, after all, let us see the ancestors of 4,000 years ago, no longer satisfied with the stomach to wear warm, began to learn to "dress" themselves. If one day it appears on a special exhibition in a museum, don't miss it!
Photo of this issue: Zhang Wenbin
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