30 years ago, when the embankment was repaired in Ji'an, Jiangxi, the villagers came to help, but they did not expect to dig out more than a dozen rusty utensils. At that time, the villagers' idea was very simple, whoever dug out the things buried in the ground, the things were the ones, and they happily moved the utensils home.
The news that Ji'an Shingan had dug up the treasure did not go away. Soon it was surveyed by antiquities experts. With the efforts of the county party committee and cultural relics experts, 17 precious utensils were recovered.
When archaeologists studied and restored the utensils, they were surprised to find that they were dated to the same period as the Shang Dynasty, and the bronze making technology, as well as the special shape of the utensils, were also comparable to the Sanxingdui civilization that had been discovered.
However, because only more than 10 pieces of utensils were found, and partly because they had been broken at the time of excavation, there was no specific inscription on it, and it was impossible to say the source of this ancient civilization
At the same time, because the Ganjiang River embankment is being built here, in order to protect cultural relics and to study the source of this mysterious civilization, the archaeological team immediately opened a scientific archaeological excavation here.
What makes archaeologists excited is that a Shang Dynasty tomb was actually found here, and a total of more than 1,000 cultural relics were unearthed in the tomb, of which more than 30% were occupied, about 400 pieces, and the largest proportion was jade, with more than 700 pieces.
Before that, the total number of excavations of the Yin Tomb of the Lady is comparable, but the newly dried Shang Dynasty tomb has dozens of cultural relics than the Tomb of the Lady, and the bronzes here are also different from the Yin Ruins, and the shape looks a little unusual, making people feel a little "strange".
At the beginning of the excavation, no one expected that an unknown small place in Xingan, Jiangxi, had found a bronze kingdom comparable to Yin Ruins and Sanxingdui.
But during the Shang Dynasty, why did Jiangxi have a civilization comparable to the good tomb of the Yin Dynasty and the Guanghan Sanxingdui?
After research, the bronze ware of the Oceania Shang Tomb in Jiangxi Province has appeared many tiger-shaped utensils and patterns. Therefore, experts have read a large number of documents, corresponding to the characteristics of bronze artifacts, and speculated that the owner of this Shang Dynasty tomb is the king of the Shang Dynasty "Tiger Fang" state.
According to ancient legends, the Hufang were originally an ancient ethnic group in Gansu and Qinghai. With the change of the times, it gradually moved into the North China Plain and became a fang state of the Xia people. Later, the Xia Dynasty was replaced by the Shang Dynasty. The Hufang clan relocated to settle near Xingan in Jiangxi.
Tiger FangGuo appeared several times in the oracle bones of Yin Ruins, during the Shang Dynasty, the Tiger Fang Kingdom was once very powerful, so the oracle bone records that the Shang King fought against the Tiger Fang Kingdom several times, and the warriors of the Tiger Fang Kingdom were also very famous at that time, but there are few records of the Tiger Fang in history.
For the origin and theory of the Tiger Fang Kingdom, the legend is that they are very fond of tigers, but also use the tiger as a totem, so the warriors of the Tiger Fang Kingdom are also heroic and good at war, and in several confrontations with the Shang Dynasty, they can not fall behind the strength of the Tiger Fang Kingdom.
In the Tomb of the Shang Dynasty in Jiangxi Province, a bronze bronze statue with animal face pattern of the Shang Dynasty unearthed was called the earliest in history and the most exquisitely made tiger head hat by experts
The Shang Dynasty animal-faced bronze bracelet, according to the chronology of the time of production, is about 1600 BC - 1046 BC, a piece of more than 3,000 years of history
The Shang Dynasty animal face bronze blade is about 18.7cm high, the mouth width of the helmet is 21cm, the helmet mouth is about 18 .6CM, and it weighs about 2.21 kg
It looks like a domed hat overall. The front of the helmet has a slightly raised ridge as the midline, and the two sides are decorated with relief animal face patterns, one-corner outer rolls, long eyes on both sides, cirrus cloud textures erected on the left and right, and similar nostril curls in the center.
The top has a longitudinal ridge that rises from the front, and the lower parts on both sides are smooth and curved, full of tension, avoiding the rigidity of ordinary domes.
A small round tube protrudes from the posterior ridge and is used to insert the plume. There is a small hole next to each of the top horns for ventilation. Except for the front of the lower edge, which is slightly shorter and retracted, the others are at the same level and thicken along the edges.
There is a small hole on each side of the edge for piercing the rope, tying the helmet under the chin. The helmet is well preserved, the surface is smooth and bright, and the pattern is exquisite. It is a treasure among the bronze helmets found in archaeology today.
What amazes experts even more is its production process, according to speculation, this Shang Dynasty bronze is a form made, measured results, the wall thickness of the helmet is only 3 mm, because it is made of metal, its defense performance is very high-quality, and it is also very light to wear, without any bulky feeling.
According to the restoration of archaeologists, this bronze helmet, it conforms to the shape of the head of an adult man. When worn, it is filled with a soft fabric to protect the head from the direct impact of the copper helmet;
There is a small hole in the back of the horn on the top side, which is used as an internal and external ventilation to alleviate the discomfort of the head holding when wearing the knife; there is a small hole in the lower side for the knot rope, which is fastened under the jaw to prevent the skewing and slipping.
Due to the hole in the top, the bronze helmet has very good ventilation and breathability, plus the tether below to prevent the helmet from falling off due to tilting and sliding, so this earliest bronze tiger head hat, to bring up to give people the feeling of flexibility.
It can be said that during the Shang Dynasty, the craftsmen ingeniously considered the comfort of the bronze helmet with the head, as well as the sense of weight and the stability of wearing.
At the same time, the Shang Dynasty beast face pattern bronze blade, on the top can also put a long feather, such a feeling makes the wearer, more powerful and heroic,
Experts praise this Shang Dynasty animal face bronze, and it has also become a national treasure level cultural relics, the main reason is that it is not only one of the earliest and most exquisite tiger head hats in China, representing this early Chinese tiger culture.
At the same time, it was once worn by the King of the Tiger Fang, which can be said to be a helmet of the king, its unique shape and beautiful pattern, both with the Central Plains style and its own unique personality, showing the characteristics of the bronze ware of the Southern Shang Dynasty,
So far, it seems that its design is scientific and reasonable, and the production process is difficult, and it is a molding, while paying attention to the function of protecting the head in wartime, it also considers the appearance and beauty of defensive weapons.
It is in the collection of jiangxi provincial museum, if you are interested in friends can go to see this precious bronze tiger helmet in the New Year!
#文化大拜年 #
