In the Western Han Dynasty historian Sima Qian's "Records of History", there is an article "Five Emperors Benji", which records the worship of the five tribal leaders in China in ancient times. Ancient events, according to sima Qian's "Records of History", have passed nearly 2,000 years. Still, the Chronicle of History is the best historical record we can read about the past. According to the Records of History, the activities of the Five Emperors of ancient China were mainly in the Yellow River Valley today.
However, with the continuous development of archaeological discoveries in China in recent decades, new archaeological remains have also been found in the Yangtze River Basin area. These archaeological remains prove that during the obscure Period of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, China's primitive society showed a trend of star-studded development, especially in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, where archaeologists discovered a large number of archaeological remains and amazing bronze cultures.
Bronze artifacts excavated from Sanxingdui culture (the author took a real shot)
First, the beginning of civilization in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River: Baodun culture
The Sichuan Basin in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River is a typical plateau basin. The basin is far away from the Neolithic culturally developed areas in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and with the obstruction of the Qinling Mountains and Daba Mountain, the Neolithic culture in the southwest region is relatively isolated, so the local characteristics are very obvious.
The basin as a whole presents a topographic structure of high in the north and low in the south, high on the east and west sides, and low in the middle. The basin can be divided into the western Sichuan Plateau (including near the Chengdu Plain) and the hills in central Sichuan, and the places near Chongqing show a parallel ridge valley.
Sichuan basin
Among them, the hills in central Sichuan are the largest, and the western Sichuan Plateau, dominated by Chengdu, is smaller, accounting for only a little more than 1/8 of the entire basin area. From the topography, we can see that the eastern sichuan and central Sichuan regions in the Sichuan Basin are mainly mountainous and hilly, with an altitude of 700-1200 meters, due to the lack of alluvial plains in this area, so the Neolithic remains found are relatively small.
In contrast, a large number of Neolithic cultural relics have been found in the entire western Sichuan region, which is dominated by the Chengdu Plain, the most famous of which are the Baodun culture, sanxingdui culture and Jinsha culture that we are familiar with.
In the Neolithic Age, the degree of human transformation of the environment is very low, so the development of rice agriculture is relatively slow, and the soil in western Sichuan is mostly subtropical clay structure, the fertility of the land is relatively low, coupled with the early Minjiang River often flooding, the agricultural development of the entire western Sichuan region is very chaotic and underdeveloped, archaeologists have found some simple rice cultivation and dry farming grain in the north, but the scale is average.
The Min River has always been the mother river of Sichuan (the author's actual photo)
Around 5,000-4,500 years ago, agriculture in western Sichuan began to improve greatly, and archaeologists in the hinterland of the plain discovered the Baodun culture. The morphological characteristics of the Baodun culture, in addition to the large settlement sites, rice farming has also begun to take shape. However, the Baodun culture of this period may have been influenced by the Majiayao culture in the northern Gansu and Qinghai regions from the source.
Pottery excavated from Baodun culture (the author's actual photo)
By the time of 3700 years ago, Baodun culture began to develop further. At this time, the Central Plains region had entered the Xia Shang period, and the bronze culture in the Central Plains and the exchanges with the region gradually increased. At this time, in Sanxingdui, which is not far from the Baodun culture, a more developed bronze culture has emerged.
Gold artifacts unearthed from Baodun culture (the author's actual photo)
Sanxingdui culture has made a big leap forward from before, whether it is in terms of scale, production and lifestyle of settlements, or the production of jade and bronze. The transition from Baodun culture to Sanxingdui culture indicates that the civilization development in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River has entered a new chapter.
Second, the representative of ancient Shu bronze culture: Sanxingdui culture
Archaeologists believe that the culture from Baodun to Sanxingdui is an important stage in the evolution of ancient Shu culture, and the ancient Shu culture and the later Yunnan ancient Dian culture are regional cultures with typical local characteristics.
Regarding the development of the ancient Shu state, according to the latest archaeological research, archaeologists mostly believe that the ancient Shu culture lasted for nearly 2,000 years, and its development time was almost synchronized with the Xia Shang culture in the Central Plains. The bronze culture of Shudi is even more amazing with its own characteristics.
Bronze mask of the longitudinal portrait unearthed from Sanxingdui (the author's actual photo)
A large number of bronze birds, bronze sacred trees, bronze statues of bronze people, and exquisite gold and jade objects have been excavated from the Guanghan Sanxingdui site, which are extremely complex in style and production process. In addition to reflecting the superb production skills of the ancestors of Shudi at that time, these bronzes also showed some of the religious beliefs and living habits of the people.
Jade artifacts excavated from the Sanxingdui site (the author's actual photo)
From the perspective of geographical distribution, the main activity area of Sanxingdui culture is in today's Guanghan and Chengdu areas of Sichuan, but its influence has spread to today's eastern Sichuan and Chongqing, and even today's northwest Hubei has also been influenced by the ancient Shu culture.
In addition to the study of archaeological artifacts, the combing of documents is also an indispensable work of historians, in the "Book of Shang", "History" have records about the ancient Shu state, the ancient Shu state even participated in the Zhou war to destroy the Shang, indicating that before the Zhou, the ancient Shu culture and the Central Plains culture had close exchanges.
Later, archaeologists found the famous Jinsha site in the area of Jinsha Village in Chengdu, and the Jinsha site was excavated later than the Sanxingdui culture, so some archaeologists believe that the Jinsha site is actually a continuation of the Sanxingdui culture. However, in terms of the scale of the Jinsha site, compared with Sanxingdui, the Jinsha culture has shown a significant regression.
Jinsha Site Museum in Chengdu (photo by the author)
Wen Shijun said
At the end of the Warring States, with the gradual strengthening of the Qin State, in order to realize the dream of unifying the world, the Qin State launched a war to destroy Shu, and the Shu culture that had lasted for nearly 2,000 years came to an abrupt end. Today, due to the lack of historical materials, we are still unable to fully understand the social conditions and historical evolution process of the ancient Shu State at that time. The ancient Shu kingdom left people with, in addition to these exquisite bronzes, jades and gold, is an infinite reverie.
bibliography
Han Maoli, Sixteen Lectures on China's Historical Geography, Peking University Press, 2015.
Editor-in-Chief of China Cultural Relics Bureau: Map of Chinese Cultural Relics - Sichuan Volume, China Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1996.
Lucic, Spatial Structure in Chinese History, Central China Normal University Press, December 2015.
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