The nobles of the Zhou Dynasty created a complicated system of ritual music, leaving behind a variety of bronze Yi ware, and their lives were full of reverie, but the life of the nobles in the early Spring and Autumn Period seemed to be far from the beauty of imagination. From the perspective of archaeology, Professor Zhang Changping, based on the excavation results of the North White Goose Cemetery, combined with his own research on bronzes in the same period, showed the social turmoil and cultural reconstruction after the Eastward Migration of the Ping King.
This article is compiled from a lecture by Professor Zhang Changping of the School of History of Wuhan University, "This Can Be Turned into a Remembrance of The Aristocratic Life in the Early Spring and Autumn Period". The lecture is the eighth session of the second season of the "Archaeological Cloud Lecture Hall" series sponsored by the Shanxi Archaeological Museum, and this season mainly revolves around the exhibition "Yan Ji's Dowry - The Life of Women in the Zhou Dynasty Revealed by the Archaeology of The White Goose in Yuanqu North", hosted by Zheng Yuan, vice president of the Shanxi Archaeological Research Institute.
Professor Zhang Changping graduated from the School of Archaeology and Archaeology of Peking University, and is now the vice dean of the Yangtze River Civilization Archaeology Research Institute of Wuhan University, a professor of the School of History, a national talent program inductee, a former researcher at the Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Hubei Provincial Museum, and a visiting professor at the French Institute for Advanced Study and the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations of the University of Chicago. His research direction is Shang Zhou archaeology, Chinese Bronze Age bronzes, and he has authored many monographs such as "Research on Southern Bronze Ware in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties", and is currently responsible for the archaeological work of the Panlong City site.
Professor Zhang Changping is the author of "Research on Southern Bronze Ware in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties"
"This sentiment can be turned into a memory", that is, the past life was very good, and now it is more difficult, which is based on the comparison of the social scene after the King of Zhou Ping moved east with the scene in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and on the basis of Professor Zhang Changping's past research, the exhibition content of "Yan Ji's Dowry" was added. The exhibition is based on archaeological discoveries from the White Goose Cemetery in YuanquBei in 2020. It is rare to organize exhibitions based on the results of excavations within a year, which reflects the efforts made by archaeologists in recent years to attach importance to archaeological research. When viewing the exhibition, it is not only necessary to look at the cultural relics in it, but also to pay attention to the exhibition itself. When looking at the exhibits, everyone has their own understanding, and when watching the "exhibition", we must pay attention to the theme of the exhibition set by the organizer and the expression of ideas of each unit. Such an exhibition is run through with big red, which is very close to the theme of "Yan Ji's dowry".
Archaeological finds in the North White Goose Cemetery
Although the "Yuanqu North White Goose Cemetery" was not selected as one of the "Top Ten New Archaeological Discoveries in China in 2020", it involved important issues such as the social pattern after king Ping moved east and the political positioning of Caiyi at that time. At the time of the two weeks, new characteristics appeared in the social and cultural landscape: after the periods of Xia, Shang, and the early Western Zhou, the early state had slowly matured in the middle of the Western Zhou, and many phenomena of standardizing social behavior had emerged. In terms of material culture, social classes are merged. Especially after the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty, complete sets of bronzes such as ding, gui, pan, and za were used to promote the solemnity of social etiquette and sacrifice activities. Bronzes at this time had several common ornaments, such as the tapering pattern (which is a symmetrical flattened pattern with an eye in the middle and a hook at both ends, which is an abstract representation of imagining animals), heavy ring patterns (similar to vertical scales after 90 degrees of rotation, which may be used to express scales on the body of animals), and so on. In addition to the bronzes in the Northern White Goose Cemetery, these popular ornaments at that time can be seen in the Jinhou cemeteries M93 and M102, and their ages can be inferred according to the time series of the burial of members of the Jinhou family. There are similar patterns on artifacts excavated from the Yuguo cemetery outside Shanxi and the Sujia'an site.
A collection of stolen curved grains excavated from the Jinhou cemetery M93 at the Shanxi Museum
Heavy ring patterned mound excavated from M102 of Jinhou Cemetery (picture from the Internet)
The excavation of the North White Goose Cemetery has not yet been completed, and more important tombs such as M1, M2 and M3 have been found. Among them, the M1 level is higher, and the important "dowry" of "匽姬甗" has also been unearthed in M3. While M2 and M3 are considered to be couple tombs, according to the ceremonial system of the time, the husband's tomb is often larger, but here the lady's tomb M2 specifications are larger. In the early Spring and Autumn period, the tomb of the lady was sometimes larger than the tomb of the monarch, which may be due to the more prominent family of the woman.
Collection of "匽姬甗" excavated from the M3 of the North White Goose Cemetery at the Shanxi Archaeological Museum
By the time of the two weeks, a mature ceremonial system that marked the hierarchy of society had been formed. For example, the provisions of the Son of Heaven using jiuding and the princes using seven dings are recorded in the historical documents of the generations. In fact, ancient societies were as complex as modern societies, and there was no simple yardstick to measure social class. Therefore, in different fiefdoms, the rank of the princes may also be different. For example, the Marquis of Jin in the tomb of the Marquis of Jin in Shanxi used Wuding, while the monarch of the State of Yu, who was the prince of The Zhou Dynasty, used Seven Ding, and the nobles of zengguo in the ruins of Sujia'an in Jingshan used Jiuding. Therefore, Jiuding may not be exclusive to Zhou Tianzi. However, it can be determined that in the same feudal country, the number of Ding and Gui represents the level of class. In the North White Goose Cemetery M1, six dings and six pieces of gui were excavated, which are decorated with plagiarism. In addition, there are six manes of the same shape and fourteen chimes. The number of manes is usually the same as that of gui, but the normal situation should be "seven dings and six gui", the tomb has not been stolen, and the reason for the lack of a piece of ding is not yet known. Although the strict regulations at that time were not strictly enforced in various countries, the ceremonial society had basically taken shape. M1 is not particularly large, but it is a very high-level tomb. Because the tomb of Yu Ji (虢国墓地 M2001) and the tomb of Yu Zhong (虢国墓地 M2009), which belong to the same two weeks, are equipped with "Seven Dings and Six Gui". In terms of the number of Ding and Gui, the owner of the M1 tomb of the Northern White Goose Cemetery seems to be in a comparable position with the monarch of the Yu Kingdom at that time, but the latter tomb also has a large number of other burial items, and the former seems to be a strong façade.
There are also many mysteries in the North White Goose Cemetery M3, among which two key artifacts have been unearthed - "匽姬甗" and "Grabbing the Gui". The "匽姬甗" reads "虢季 for 匽姬媵/Yongbao use enjoyment", which was created by 虢季 to marry 匽 (燕) 姬. Scholars can use this to guess the ownership of the cemetery. The grab is decorated with a special plagiarism of left and right symmetry, which is different from the central symmetrical plagiarism that prevailed at the time of the two weeks, so its age is earlier, probably in the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty, which is inconsistent with the age of the entire cemetery. A group of chimes was also unearthed in M3, which often appeared with chimes, but the latter was not seen in M3. If there is a chime in the tomb at the time of two weeks, the owner of the tomb is of the same rank, even if he is not a monarch. The artifacts unearthed in M3 such as 觯 and Fang Yi adopt the shape of the early Western Zhou Dynasty, and often only high-ranking nobles will bury such artifacts during the two weeks, so although they are roughly made, they symbolize the identity of the past. There are only four dings in M3, and they are different from each other, which is the result of a patchwork, not the "lieding" used by the great nobles at that time. The smallest of the four dings is similar to the artifact, so there are actually only about three dings, from which it can be inferred that the person's social status at the time of burial was low. Compared with the four identical but early shapes in his tomb, this group of Dings does not seem to be a good match, and the fall of the early Spring and Autumn Period is in stark contrast to the beautiful past of the Western Zhou Dynasty.
Collection of "Grab The Gui" (one of them) excavated from the North White Goose Cemetery M3 at the Shanxi Archaeological Museum
The culture of stagnation from the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the early Spring and Autumn Period
In the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Lieding system was already established, social life began to move towards a stylized pattern, and the development of material culture was slow. In the Spring and Autumn Period, social unrest occurred, and the status of the King of Zhou declined to even inferior to that of some princes. Therefore, the cultural and economic development of the princely states lost their orientation, and even some lagging feudal states still followed the etiquette system of the late Western Zhou Dynasty during the Warring States period. In the past, scholars usually divided Western Zhou culture into three stages of development: before King Zhou Zhao was the early Western Zhou Dynasty, after King Zhou Zhao, before King Li of Zhou was the middle of Western Zhou, and after King Li of Zhou was the late Western Zhou. The "Xia-Shang-Zhou Dynasty Project" further subdivides the early and middle periods of the Western Zhou Dynasty, while the late period fails to subdivide. The material cultural remnants of the early Western Zhou Dynasty can be subdivided into three stages because of the rapid cultural evolution at that time, while the late Western Zhou Dynasty can no longer be subdivided because cultural development has entered a sluggish stage. For example, in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, the Bronze Ware Cellar in Yangjiacun has the same ornamentation, and the mane is also uniform, and the style of the utensils is roughly the same as that of "seizing the gui", and the yuguo cemetery and the ruins of Sujia'an at the time of the two weeks still use a similar style. It was only after the mid-Spring and Autumn period that culture experienced rapid development again.
As for why the early "grab the gui" appeared in the North White Goose Cemetery, we should start with the inscription of this artifact. The content is as follows:
Falcon (Wei) is the first month of the first month, and Wang Cai (in) is a week. At noon, each (grid) is in the large room. Uncle Nei (入) is right and stands. Wang Hu (Hu) Inner History Micro Book Order (命) Seizure: Ling (命) Female (Ru) Si Cheng Zhou Litigation Matters Yin Eight Divisions. Yi (give) female (Ru) Chi (see picture) City (芾), (Luan) 旂, use things. Take the worship (稽) head, dare to yang Tianzi Pi Xianlu Xiu Ling (fate), used as the Emperor Of The Emperor Zu Zhong (Zhong) Clan, Shuo Wen Kao Meng Bao Honor. Take its 10,000 years of eyebrow longevity forever, son = grandson = treasure.
He was a high-ranking nobleman in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, and the King of Zhou personally appointed him in the "TaiMu". The affairs assigned to the chief of the seizure are also very important, and there are two main things: one is to manage the "accompanying capital" into a week, and the other is to command one of the main forces of the "Yin Eighth Division". Judging from the existing artifacts, the seizure at least enjoys the treatment of "five dings and four gui". It may be the ancestor of the owner of the M3 tomb in the North White Goose Cemetery. Professor Zhang Changping believes that after the fall of the Western Zhou Dynasty, it was probably the descendants of the seizure who carried four pieces of gui for several generations, and finally used as burial items to show the glory of the past.
"Grab the Gui" (M3:35) cover inscription rubbing
The turmoil and chaos that followed the eastward migration
In the early Spring and Autumn Period, the location of today's Northern White Goose Village was not far from the new king's capital Chengzhou, and may even be located in Qinei, ruled by the zhou king's family, which is somewhat similar to the situation in the state of Yu. The situation was very turbulent at that time, and by the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period, the struggle around Wang Ducheng Zhou was the most complicated, such as the Jin state once wanted to dominate, while the Chu state tried to "conquer the Central Plains". In the spring and autumn period of more than three hundred years, dozens of princely states perished. Therefore, the nobles at that time also faced a lot of pressure. For example, the state of Yu was sealed by King Wu of Zhou, whose ruler had assisted the King of Zhou and had a high social status, but after the King of Zhou moved east for more than a hundred years, it was destroyed by the Jin state. Although the rulers of the Jin Dynasty were direct relatives of the King of Zhou, their original social status was not high. However, in 771 BC, Marquis Wen of Jin supported the King of Zhou Ping and moved east, thus elevating his status. However, in 679 BC, the Duke of Quwowu took over the Jin Dynasty, and it is conceivable that the nobles of the original Jin Dynasty also underwent pressure from within until their demise. After 661 BC, the Jin state destroyed the states of Geng, Huo, Wei, Yu, and Yu, and a large number of nobles went into extinction.
Professor Zhang Changping found that although many nobles in the early Spring and Autumn Period were still maintaining the old etiquette system, they seemed to have "struggled". For example, four dings and five pieces of gui were excavated in the M93 of the Yima Shihe Cemetery in Henan, which seem to be of higher rank, but a closer look can be found that it is similar to the situation of the M3 of the North White Goose Cemetery. Many of these artifacts have their own surfaces: one of them is obviously a meditative vessel and is smaller in size, while the four-piece gui and two square pots were found with a fan soil inside and the lid could not be opened. At that time, it seemed that with less cost, it was hoped to produce artifacts that reflected the high-ranking aristocratic status of the tomb owner. The situation is similar in the same family's Shangshihe cemetery M94, in which although square pots and water vessels embodying identity status have been excavated, only a smaller one is a pin, which can be inferred that although the social hierarchy of the tomb owner is not low, it lacks corresponding wealth.
Although the exhibition "Yan Ji's Dowry" creates a festive atmosphere, the married life at the time of two weeks may not be as beautiful as modern people think. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the concept of "same surname and no marriage" was formed, and there are relevant records in many documents. For example, in the "Li Ji Qu Li", there is "taking a wife without taking the same surname", and in the "Chinese Jin Language", there is also "the same surname does not marry, and the evil does not breed", and so on. However, by the Spring and Autumn Period, some countries had begun to see the phenomenon of marriage with the same surname. For example, the "Zuo Biography" records that "the Duke of Jin xian married Jia and had no children", and the State of Jia here is the same as the State of Jin, which is a princely state with the surname of Ji; and the Duke of Jinping even has "Four Ji", who was criticized for marrying Wei Ji for "losing his government". It is a country where marriages with the same surname are common. The "匽姬甗" in the M3 of the Northern White Goose Cemetery may be a case of marriage with the same surname, because the kingdom of Yu and the state of Yan are both princes with the surname of Ji. The emergence of this phenomenon may be related to the weakening of blood relations with the same surname in the Spring and Autumn Period. In addition, political marriages between the aristocracy of the Spring and Autumn Period were common, and some rulers of small countries hoped to seek refuge in powerful countries by marrying daughters, and the kings of powerful countries sometimes used this method to ally with other countries.
"Yan Ji's Dowry" exhibition
In addition to socio-economic factors, the changes in the form of ceremonial vessels in the Spring and Autumn Period were also related to the lack of cultural paradigms caused by the decline of the Zhou royal family. For example, in the north of present-day Hubei, there was a zengguo, which had a large geographical area of more than 200 square kilometers. Although this fiefdom is not found in the records of the generations, it has a metal resource and is very rich. Zeng Guojun was also very strong, using nine pieces of Ding. But because Zeng's location is far from the political center, his political influence has yet to be determined. Zeng Guo's bronzes are very stylized and have no design innovation, for example, the gui in the North White Goose cemetery is a combination of the mouth edge plagiarism and the belly tile pattern; and the Zeng Guo's gui is basically only decorated with plagiarism, heavy ring pattern, etc. at the mouth edge, just like the use of fixed formulas. Professor Zhang Changping believes that the arrangement of ornaments has high requirements for the level of artistic design, while Zeng Guo's utensils are mostly "painting scoops according to gourds".
Stylized Zeng Guo Bronze Gui (Zhang Changping: Research on Zeng Guo Bronze Ware, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2009)
Zeng Guo, who is far from the political center, also has some problems in terms of cultural level. For example, the Bronze Ware of the ZengGuo Excavated in Present-day Suizhou is "Qi Right Disk", and the shape of the vessel is almost exactly the same as that of the late Western Zhou Dynasty. There is an inscription on the plate and the glyphs appear to be regular.
The "Right Disk" excavated from tomb No. 1 in Anju Taohuapo in Suizhou Museum (Lile Handong - Essence of Zhou Dynasty Bronzes Unearthed in Suizhou, Hubei Province, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2012)
The inscription reads as follows: "Falcon (唯) plays the role of its jijin treasure disk on the right, and uses ten thousand years [son] = sun [=] yongbao to enjoy [eternal] use it." Among them, the words "son", "grandson", "zhi" and the heavy text symbol are upside down, and the order of inscription arrangement is problematic, and the sentences are not smooth. This kind of "anti-book" problem is common in artifacts in the early Spring and Autumn Period, which shows that the cultural level of the makers and users of artifacts is not high, and may even be illiterate.
Inscription of "Starting right disk" (Yin Zhou Jinwen Integration, 10150)
In 1966, a pair of "Zeng Zhongxu's Father's Fang Pots" were excavated from the Sujia'an site in Jingshan, which are now in the Collection of the National Museum of China and the Hubei Provincial Museum. The "Zeng Zhongxu Father Square Pot" is about 66 centimeters high, weighs about 32 kilograms, and has a large volume. As a "star cultural relic", the pot is highly regarded, and has been selected for exhibitions such as "The Great Bronze Age of China" held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1980. The art historian Robert L. Thorp called it a "monumental pot" in his essay "The Sui Xian Tomb: Re-Thinking the Fifth Century." Su Fangshu commented in the catalogue "Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections" that the bronze was of "a higher quality than that of the Kingdom of Yu." In the domestic catalogue of "The Great Sacred Relics - The Most Beautiful Works of Art in Ancient China", it is also included in the hundreds of cultural relics, and introduced: "The new artistic life will stand out from the shackles of traditional forms." ”
The "Zeng Zhongxu Father Square Pot" excavated from the Sujia'an site in Jingshan, national museum of China
The style of the square pot is more stylized, and in the early days, it was based on the "ten" shaped strap pattern, and then added dragon patterns and other ornaments between the dorsal stripes, and there were also cases of semi-relief dragon patterns in the belly of the pot. In contrast, "Zeng Zhongxu's Father's Square Pot" seems to be extremely innovative. However, the decoration of the multi-layered ripple layout on the pot has appeared on many round pots in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, such as "several father copper pots". Almost every layer of ornamentation on the "Zeng Bo Kui Kettle", which belongs to the same state as the "Zeng Zhongxu Father's Pot". In ancient China, square bronzes tended to be of higher grade than round ones. Generally in high-grade tombs, only square pots have been excavated, but the ornamentation of "Zeng Zhongxu's father square pot" has "copied" lower grade round utensils.
The "Zeng Bo Kui Kettle" in the collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei
Zengguo culture was a branch of Zhou culture, but by the early Spring and Autumn Period, it had lost its direction of development, so many problems arose. Comparing the two inscriptions of "Zeng Zhongxu's Father's Fang Jug" collected by the National Museum of China and the Hubei Provincial Museum, it can be found that the former 'Zeng Zhongxu Father' missing cast "Zhong(Zhong)" character. In addition, compared with other bronze inscriptions of the same period, it can also be found that its text distribution does not constitute a rectangle, and the last line has only one word. But the biggest problem with this pair of pots is poor craftsmanship. When Professor Zhang Changping investigated the square pot in the collection of the National Museum of China, he found that its interior was transparent. After inspection, it was found that the bottom abdominal wall of the pot was cracked due to the insertion of pins, which was repaired because of defects in the bottom after casting, and another "Zeng Zhongxu Father's Pot" had a similar problem. In addition, in X-ray imaging, it can be seen that the neck of the square pot has a situation of uneven thickness. This may be caused by the craftsman's discovery that the lid cannot fit into the mouth of the pot, filling the inner core with a circle of mud strips to widen the mouth of the pot. Therefore, "Zeng Zhongxu's Father Square Pot" has great problems in terms of inscription, design, and process.
In addition, Professor Zhang Changping also pointed out that the utensils used by the nobles at a certain stage had specific ornaments. Because this is a "ceremonial instrument", we must abide by public principles and not invent rules ourselves. Among the bronzes of Zengguo, common utensils such as Ding and Gui can still follow the "ritual system", but the production of square pots is chaotic, which is the embodiment of Zengguo's remoteness from the political center. There is a certain system in any complex society. For example, the leg length of ancient Egyptian portraits would follow a fixed proportion and the standing posture would also be fixed. Therefore, the "etiquette system" not only exists in China, but also exists in ancient and modern China and abroad. Being able to "stand out from the shackles of traditional forms" may lead to artistic innovation, but it is not a product of etiquette.
Regional exchange and cultural reconstruction
The early Spring and Autumn period was not just a scene of stagnation and chaos. After the Zhou King lost his dominance, there were constant disputes between the princely states, and in the process, some of the princely states developed. After this period of hardship of the nobility, large regional groups were created, and new cultural centers were formed around regional hegemons. For example, both the Jin and Chu states cast bronzes with their own characteristics. As a result of the loss of political control, exchanges between regions became frequent. Several gold objects in the shape of claw prints have been unearthed in the North White Goose Cemetery M1. Ancient Chinese goldware is not commonly used, because gold is a very bright metal, generally used for decoration, while the ancient Chinese mostly used jade to achieve this function. In addition, the gold mines were not fully exploited at that time. Therefore, gold artifacts are often associated with foreign cultures. Some gold artifacts have been unearthed in the remains of the Jin, Yu, rui and other princely states located in the west, but gold is very rare in the remains of the central plains and southern princely states at the time of the two weeks. Professor Zhang Changping believes that the claw-printed gold ware in M1 may represent cultural exchanges in the northwest direction, and the tiger pattern jar in M1 may also have elements of the northern grassland culture.
A claw-printed gold artifact excavated from M1, a cemetery of the North White Goose in the Shanxi Archaeological Museum
Due to the northern location of the Jin Dynasty, it is not surprising that it has a northern factor, but at the same time, some of the bronzes in the Northern White Goose Cemetery also have the style of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. For example, a bronze yong bell was unearthed in M5 with a very long piece and a special deformed dragon pattern. It can be seen from the collection of artifacts in the north-south style that long-distance cultural exchanges became frequent in the early Spring and Autumn Period. Cultural exchanges and the merger of princely states formed a social pattern in the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period. For example, there is a bronze ding in the Jinshang Museum, and there are unconventional and fine crab patterns on the body and cover. Since the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty, the rough geometric ornamentation has been transformed into a delicate style at this time, which also reflects the qualitative leap in the cultural development of the "emerging period" after the formation of regional groups in the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period.
After the wonderful lecture, Professor Zhang Changping answered the following questions raised by the audience:
Q: In the Dinggui system, are there any special regulations for the items presented in the Ding, such as the appearance of cattle in the Dingzhong of the Heavenly Son, the Princes, and the Qing Dafu, is this related to the hierarchy regulations, and is it also evolving?
A: The Jiuding system is the ideal state recorded in the scriptures, and the "Tai Prison" in the Jiuding may use cattle, sheep, etc. However, in archaeological practice, I have also paid attention to the bones in Dingzhong and found that Dingzhong has a certain relationship with what is recorded in the literature, but there is no necessary connection. The literature is based on the social context of the time, but the ancient scriptures are not archival records. So scribes write books with ideal norms, but in real life they don't follow them so strictly. For example, in the Jiuding of the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng, there are wild geese and other animal bones.
Q: Since Zeng Guo is more "local tycoon", is the form of Zeng Houyi chimes not traditional?
A: This is a complex issue, Zeng Guo existed as early as the last years of the Shang Dynasty, and from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Warring States period, it had a strong strength in the "Sui zao corridor". Before the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, it was a vassal state under the Zhou culture, and after the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, it was closely related to the Chu state and even became its vassal, so it was influenced by the Chu culture. For example, the Jiuding of Marquis Zeng is a "Chu-style Ding" with a flat bottom corset. "Chu style" does not refer to the invention of the Chu state, but refers to the cultural style formed in the Chu region. On the other hand, Zeng Guo maintained traditions in chimes, such as the description of the law in the inscription. Macroscopically speaking, after the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, Zeng Guo mainly used the customs of the Chu State, but also retained its own traditional style.
Q: Do you think the upper limit of the Guojiamiao Caomenwan Zengguo Cemetery falls on the late Western Zhou Dynasty or the early Spring and Autumn Period? Zengguo culture seems to have a phenomenon of "broken files" in the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty, and the burial customs of guojiamiao are different from Yejiashan in the early Western Zhou Dynasty.
A: This question is more professional, I will answer briefly. From an archaeological point of view, age is very important. But in fact, from the perspective of material culture, it is difficult for us to locate the absolute era, and the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period is only "overnight". There are two understandings of the formation of cemeteries in general: I think many cemeteries were formed in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, because the Zhou royal family regained control of the south at that time; but some scholars believe that many cemeteries were formed in the early Spring and Autumn Period, and many new cemeteries were built after the nobles moved east. Before the discovery of the Jin marquis cemetery, including the Yuguo cemetery M2001 and the "Tomb of Zeng Zhongxu's Father" in Sujia'an, etc., were sometimes attributed to the early Spring and Autumn Period by scholars, and sometimes to the late Western Zhou Dynasty, because we cannot determine an absolute chronological boundary. Changes in material culture and changes in dynasties do not coincide perfectly, so different scholars have different understandings. The Yejiashan cemetery was designated as the early Western Zhou Dynasty, not through the chronology of artifacts, but according to the historical event of the failure of king Zhao's southern expedition of King Zhou Zhao. If there is no documentary record, relying solely on material culture, it is difficult to even speculate on the change of dynasties such as "Wu Wang Keshang".
Q: Can we understand that "the Spring and Autumn Period was lagging behind in ceremonial culture, but it was progressive in ideology and culture"?
A: Etiquette and culture embody the superstructure, and I don't think there is progress or lag in this regard. In the absence of political control, ideological changes are more active, and there will be many collisions between traditional and emerging things. In the collision, some of the princely states quickly became powerful, while others quickly perished. Some things are developing rapidly, while others are relatively backward, and there are similar phenomena in ancient and modern Chinese and foreign cultures.
Q: You have repeatedly talked about the ornamentation of bronzes in your lectures, is there any special meaning to the arrangement of ornaments on bronzes?
A: China had a lot of decoration in the Neolithic Age, and in the process of the formation of the early state, a system of ornamentation was formed. One of the stolen stripes we just saw is an eye, which is the image of an abstract animal, and there are also animal face stripes, cockroach stripes, etc. To sum it up in one word, these are "illusory animal decorations". This also reflects the characteristics of abstraction in the development of ancient Chinese art, which is different from the Western style of realism. What is the significance of these abstract animal ornaments is a big question, and scholars at home and abroad are also divided. I think the animal face pattern should have some meaning, but what exactly it is remains to be studied.
Q: Is the ornamentation of the Eastern Zhou more inherited or more innovative than that of the Western Zhou?
A: I think that the development of bronzes from the Erlitou site to the middle of the Warring States period can be divided into two major stages, with the late Western Zhou Dynasty as the dividing line. Prior to this, bronze ornamentation emphasized left-right symmetry. After the formation of the Dinggui system, the process of bronze has also changed greatly. For example, in the tomb of the late Shang Bronze Age "peak", the details of the ornamentation of almost every bronze are different. At this time, most of the bronze vessels were wine vessels such as Yao, Jue, and Xue, which could be viewed up close by the nobles who were close to them. The formation of the Column Ding in the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty requires a long-range view, so the ornamentation of a group of Dings is basically the same. After the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, this development direction continued, and mold printing ornaments were widely used. For example, many pottery molds have been found in the ruins of the Houma Jinguo, which are used to print patterns on clay models for casting bronzes. Bronzes using stencito printing techniques have many similarities, which are in line with the development direction of late Bronze Age artifact ornamentation. In addition, the application of stencil printing technology enabled large-scale production of bronzes, and a large number of bronzes were often excavated from tombs after the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period. Before the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, there were fewer bronzes in the higher-level tombs of the Northern White Goose Cemetery, and there were hundreds of bronze ceremonial vessels in the tomb of Zhao Qing later, and more than ten tons of bronzes were even excavated from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng. This is the result of the interaction of production, decoration, and social needs.
Q: After entering the Spring and Autumn Period, in terms of etiquette, bronze ware is to reminisce about the past. So from the perspective of living utensils, is it another development of ideology and culture?
A: After the early Spring and Autumn Period, the shackles of etiquette weakened, and some "radical" ideas were born, and the nobility paid more attention to themselves. For example, the late Western Zhou Dynasty's "Capture of the Gui" commemorated the important event of the king's appointment of courtiers, which rose to a high political height; and the inscription on the "匽姬甗" records the family scene of Yu Ji making utensils for Yan Ji. After the Spring and Autumn Period, the nobility emphasized more on the self, so it was common for someone to "make" something bronze inscriptions, which was an inevitable pattern under social changes. The small utensils excavated from the North White Goose Cemetery and other small utensils for makeup are also the embodiment of self-attention. Moreover, the understanding may be different in different regions, for example, in the area from present-day Shanxi to Shandong, which was economically and culturally developed at that time, the nobility paid more attention to their own life interests. Therefore, the Eastern Zhou Dynasty was also a colorful society, not a darkness. Any society is multidimensional, and we should look at it from multiple perspectives.
Q: A total of seven exquisite boxes have been unearthed from the North White Goose Cemetery, and many other exquisite artifacts have been unearthed in women's tombs, and you have also mentioned that the size of the M2 Lady Tomb is larger than that of M3, can you think that the status of women in the Spring and Autumn Period has undergone some changes?
A: Since ancient times, there have been women of high status in China, such as a large number of burial utensils in the tomb of the Shang Dynasty; the largest Ding in the Chinese Bronze Age also has a self-inscription of "Houmu E", which can be understood as the Ding was made to commemorate the mother. In the Shang Dynasty, in addition to commemorating male ancestors, there were many bronzes commemorating women. This situation continued until the two-week period, so that there were smaller male burials in the Northern White Goose Cemetery. In addition, the recent Excavation of the Suizhou Jujube Forest Cemetery M169 unearthed artifacts from Lady Zenghou with Zhongqi Jia, the daughter of the King of Chu, who took power at a time when the Zeng kingdom was in turmoil and maintained the power of the Zeng king. At some specific stages, women have occupied a higher social status, so it is sometimes seen that women have a higher status than men in the tombs of couples.