According to the ancient Chinese history books, the Yellow River Basin is the focus of the emergence and development of Chinese civilization. In the north, there were important early dynasties of xia and shang, while in the south, wuyue, chu and other kingdoms appeared until the Spring and Autumn period, and it seems that the history of civilization in the south is more than 2,000 years later than that in the north. However, with the continuous discovery of archaeology, the advanced cultural and civilization sites in the south have been discovered one after another, and people have begun to realize that the south is also the center of gravity of China's early civilization.
First, the upper reaches of the Yangtze River - the ancient country of Southwest Yi
The first surprising site of the southern civilization is the Sanxingdui site. As early as 1929, the Sanxingdui site had been discovered and excavations began in 1933. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, many systematic archaeological excavations were carried out on the Sanxingdui site, and finally the cultural relics of this site were basically displayed in front of the world in 1981. The Sanxingdui site found 18 house bases, 3 ash pits, 4 tombs, more than 110 jade tools, more than 70 pieces of pottery and more than 100,000 pieces of pottery, a large number of bronzes, etc., dating from 4500 to about 3000 years ago, equivalent to the Neolithic to Shang Dynasty period of the Central Plains.
There are many kinds of bronzes excavated from the Sanxingdui site, and the style is very different from the Central Plains, and the large bronzes include bronze sacred bird trees, bronze da liren, bronze masks, etc., indicating that its bronze casting technology is not inferior to the Yin Ruins site. However, the time of these bronzes appeared about 3,000 years ago, equivalent to the late Shang Dynasty. According to the Records of the State of Huayang, the ruins of Sanxingdui may be the ancient Shu civilization. Later, people found Neolithic sites such as Jinsha ruins and Bowa sites in the Sichuan Basin and found their origins. After the discovery of the Sanxingdui civilization, people called it the "source of the Yangtze River civilization".
There is also an important ancient country in the Sichuan Basin - the State of Pakistan. The Daxi culture has been discovered within the confines of Pakistan. In 1972, archaeologists found three high-level tombs of the Cuban state in Fuling City, unearthing 54 weapons, 41 living utensils, 8 production tools, 37 musical instruments, and 52 other cultural relics. In 2002, Chongqing carried out large-scale excavations of the Xiaotianxi Tomb Group, and found and excavated 10 Warring States tombs and 1 Han Dynasty tomb, with a total of nearly 400 cultural relics unearthed. The cultural relics unearthed in Pakistan are mainly concentrated in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, indicating that its degree of civilization is lower than that of the ancient Shu civilization.
Bronze artifacts excavated from Pakistani tombs
It is the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, which has always been regarded as barbaric, and the bronze ruins of the pre-Qin period have also been discovered. In 1956, archaeologists excavated the site of the Jinning River Poso in Yunnan And unearthed the "Seal of the King of Dian", which proved that the site was the site of the ancient Dian Kingdom. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, more than 50 tombs have been found here, and a large number of bronze weapons have been unearthed, which is very local. The bronze ware of the ancient Dian Kingdom was basically in the Warring States to the Han Dynasty period, which was similar to the time of the Dian Kingdom. Of course, the bronze culture of the Yunnan Kingdom is not the earliest bronze culture in Yunnan, Yunnan appeared as early as the late Shang Dynasty, red bronze and bronze, and by the Spring and Autumn Period, the bronze culture matured.
Yunnan bronzes
The bronze sites found in Guizhou mainly include the Weining Zhongshui Site, the Hezhang Cola Site, the Pu'an Mountain Site and the Xingyi Site, which are the bronze civilization created by the ancient Yelang Kingdom. The Hezhang Cola site was discovered in 1958, 15 ancient tomb groups were found, and more than 3,100 cultural relics were excavated, which were from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period, which basically overlapped with the time of the existence of the Yelang Kingdom. A unique "head burial" has been unearthed at the site, which is unique to the Yelang area. In addition, the ruins of copper smelting in the mountains have also been found nearby.
Coke ruins artifacts
Second, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River - Jingchu civilization
The middle reaches of the Yangtze River, known as "Southern Man" and "Jingman" in ancient times, are backward areas. According to historical records, there are Sanmiao, Jingchu and other ethnic groups living here. However, archaeological discoveries prove that these peoples once created a brilliant bronze civilization 3,000 years ago.
The famous bronze site found in Hubei is the Panlong City site discovered in 1954, excavating large buildings such as city sites and palaces and a number of high-ranking noble tombs, and unearthing hundreds of relics such as bronze, pottery, jade, stone tools and bone tools. The time of the site is about the Shang Dynasty. Recently, archaeologists have discovered large bronze smelting sites here.
Traditional archaeologists believe that the Panlong site is the site of the Shang Dynasty, but I think that the forces of the Shang Dynasty could not reach this area, and the Panlong site should be the site of the early Chu State. There was a war between the Shang Dynasty and the Chu State, and the Shijing Shang Song Yin Wu has: "Tart Yin Wu, Fight Jing Chu ... Wei nu Jing Chu, living in the southern township of the country. " sentence.
Ruins of Panlong City
In 1919, Hunan discovered a large bronze vessel of the late Shang Dynasty, the Dish Fangding; in 1938, the Four Sheep Fangzun was discovered; in 1959, the Human Face Fangding was discovered. In 1963, archaeologists discovered the Tanheli site in Hunan; in 1983, Hunan unearthed a large bronze cymbal with elephant patterns, which is the largest single musical instrument among the pre-Qin bronze instruments found so far, known as the "King of Cymbals"; in 2001, the largest copper urn in China was found at the Tanheli site- the giant urn with animal face pattern. Exactly which ancient country smelted the bronzes in Hunan is still a mystery. From the perspective of style, these bronzes are obviously influenced by the bronze style of the Shang Dynasty, but they are also full of local characteristics.
Plate Katakata
Four Sheep Square Zun
Face to face
The most famous bronze site in Jiangxi is the Xingan Oceania site. In 1989, archaeologists found tombs from the Shang Dynasty here, and a total of 486 Shang Dynasty bronzes, 754 jades, 356 pottery, 5 Chinese treasure-level cultural relics and 23 national first-class cultural relics were unearthed. The number of bronzes here, the strange shape, the beauty of the ornamentation, and the fineness of the casting are rare in the country. According to its scale, oceania tombs should be a king-level tomb, and there is no information on which king it was; there is no historical record of what kind of ancient kingdom appeared in the ancient Jiangxi area. At that time, the discovery of the new continent proved that there was once a powerful ancient civilization in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, so let's call it "Three Miao" and "Jingchu" for the time being.
The middle reaches of the Yangtze River are also the origins of China's rice cultivation civilization. The site of Xianren Cave in Wannian County, Jiangxi, is one of the most famous early Neolithic sites in China, in which the world's oldest pottery has been found to date, dating from 20,000 to 19,000 years ago, according to radiocarbon dating. The Jade Toad Rock site in DaoXian County, Hunan Province, unearthed the world's earliest specimen of cultivated rice, about 10,000 years ago, which is also the earliest food crop found in China.
Third, the lower reaches of the Yangtze River - Wuyue civilization
The lower reaches of the Yangtze River, including Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangsu, were the core areas of the ancient Wuyue civilization. According to historical records, the Wuyue civilization only appeared in the late Spring and Autumn Period. However, according to archaeological findings, the time of the Wuyue civilization can be advanced to 4,000 years ago.
In this area, the Hemudu culture has been found, which is the origin of the typical rice cultivation civilization in the Yangtze River Basin of China. The Liangzhu culture, which recently became a world cultural heritage, is an important site in the late Neolithic period of China, with more than 7,000 pieces of jade unearthed, which can be said to be the most brilliant prehistoric cultural site found in China. In addition, the prehistoric sites found in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River include the Lingjiatan site. These sites may be ancient Yue kingdom sites.
According to historical records, the State of Wu was an ancient state that was divided into Western Zhou and sent to Jiangnan. However, archaeological discoveries have proved that the State of Wu has always existed here, and the Western Zhou Dynasty only acknowledges its power. The ruins of Yangsunjia Village discovered in Jiangsu Province are the only known bronze smelting and casting sites of the State of Wu, where a large number of cultural relics of the State of Wu from the Western Zhou to the Spring and Autumn Period have been found.
The Yue King hooked the sword
epilogue
In summary, the southern region created brilliant ancient Shu civilization, Jingchu civilization and Wuyue civilization in the Bronze Age, and its civilization was no less than that of the Xia Shang Zhou in the Central Plains, and even higher in many aspects. So why is the history of bronze civilization in the south not recorded, and it is going into decline? The reason for this is that iron ploughing and cattle farming appeared in the north during the Spring and Autumn Period, which greatly increased productivity. It was also during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period that the northern civilization began to completely surpass the southern civilization, and even conquered the southern civilization, and the ancient Shu, Chu, and Wuyue all perished one after another during the Warring States period, and their history was not written down.