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The relationship between Sanxingdui culture and Central Plains civilization
Li Jingheng
One
As an important branch of Chinese civilization, the ancient Shu civilization was associated with the Central Plains civilization at a very early stage, and the founder of the Xia Dynasty, Dayu, came from the land of the Western Qiang in Sichuan. In the concept since the Han and Jin Dynasties, Dayu originated in the western Sichuan region, and volume 82 of the Taiping Imperial Records cites the Shu Benji as "The people of Guangrou County, Wenshan County, Yuben", that is, the land of Mao and Wen in the upper reaches of the Min River. "Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Zhi, And Qin Mi Biography": "Yu Sheng Shi Niu, present-day Wenshan County is also." "There are many Qiang RongDi in the western Sichuan region, so Yu is also called "Rong Yu", such as the "Five Emperors of the Hidden Fu", which says "White Emperor Wen Order Rong Yu". The "Huayang Guozhi ShuZhi" records: "Yi people camped together in their land, and did not dare to live in the pasture. There have been, fleeing from it, not daring to chase, cloud fearing Yu God. "As far as the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Qiang of western Sichuan still worshipped the local Dayu homeland as a sacred space. For this kind of record of the hometown of Dayu in the Han and Jin Dynasties, some scholars believe that this is an ancestral story made up by later generations to climb the center of Huaxia, such as Wang Mingke's "Yusheng Stone Button" and other records and worship of Yu gods, which only show that "they do not want to be regarded as remote barbarians", not real history.
Sanxingdui copper shell (courtesy of Sanxingdui Museum)
But there are often shadows of real history behind legends, such as the homeric epics of ancient Greece, which have long been regarded as myths and legends rather than history. But with the excavation of the ruins of Troy, Mycenae, and Crete by Schliemann, Evans, and others, it has been proved that homer epics also preserve the vague historical shadow of the earlier Aegean civilization. With the enrichment of archaeological data, the Dayu symbol represents the cultural elements of the Central Plains and the Yellow River Basin, and the evidence of the connection with the western Sichuan and ancient Shu regions has increased, and there are also vague historical shadows behind them. For example, the prehistoric Neolithic faience pottery culture, which is commonly found in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River, is related to western Sichuan and northwest Sichuan. Since the beginning of the 20th century, faience pottery characteristic of the Yellow River Basin has been found in the western Sichuan region, and faience pottery has been found in Wenchuan Jiangweicheng, Maoxian Boxi and Yingpanshan, Malkang Haxiu, Jinchuan Liujiazhai and other places. Through the analysis of the chemical elements of majiayao faience pottery in the upper reaches of the Yellow River and the sites of Malkanghaxiu in northwest Sichuan, Boxi in Maoxian County and Yingpanshan in northwest Sichuan, it is shown that the faience elements in northwest Sichuan are very similar to those in the upper reaches of the Yellow River and are continuously transported from the north. Some scholars believe that the style of western Sichuan faience pottery is similar to that of the Yellow River Basin, but there are also differences with faience pottery such as Majiayao, some of which are locally produced. Whether it is a theory of dissemination or some local production, it does not deny the background that there was more exchange between the culture of the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River during the period of faience culture and the culture of western sichuan and northwest Sichuan. This material cultural exchange using faience pottery as a medium shows the historical shadow behind the legends of Dayu and Chuanxi.
On the other hand, there is a connection between the ceremonial vessels excavated from the Sanxingdui site and the Erlitou cultural ritual vessels representing the late Xia Dynasty. In 1931, there were 11 pieces of tooth zhangs unearthed in Guanghan Sanxingdui, and a large number of tooth zhangs were unearthed in the two sacrificial pits of Sanxingdui, which were related to the ritual of sacrificing mountains and rivers. Mr. Lin Xiang referred to this kind of tooth zhang as "Chinese tooth zhang" and pointed out that "as an important ceremonial jade, the Xia Zhifang country is common, and the Yin merchants do not use it". Sanxingdui site No. 2 sacrifice pit unearthed carved with "sacrifice map" of the Jade Bianzhang (that is, "sacrifice mountain map" Yuzhang), according to scholars, this ritual vessel was made in the first and second phases of the Central Plains Erlitou culture, and then introduced to the ancient Shu region through Longxi, Longnan and northwest Sichuan, reflecting the migration of a branch of the Erlitou culture, sanxingdui culture preserves the Erlitou Xia culture or some ritual systems of the Xia Dynasty. Sanxingdui unearthed the Erlitou style Zhongyuan ritual tooth zhang, "is a formal symbol, spiritual belonging." The ancient Shu where Sanxingdui is located is the Fang Kingdom that has been covered by the "Xia Li", and the legend of "Yusheng Xiqiang" is the shadow of this kind of historical clue. Although the Sanxingdui sacrifice pit era was later than the Erlitou culture, this influence reflected the continuation of the "loss of etiquette and the wilderness", and after the iteration of the Xia Shang in the Central Plains, the ancient Shu still used some "xia rituals". Similar to the hundreds of years after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the Joseon Dynasty of Joseon, which "honored Zhou Siming", still adhered to the Ming Dynasty's dress and crown system, and even used the era name of "Chongzhen Two Hundred Years". In the Japanese court, there have even been preserved the ancient Chinese imperial crown (abolished in the Meiji period), Tang Dynasty Gagaku and so on.
Sanxingdui Museum No. 1 Sacred Tree (Courtesy of Yun He Vision)
In addition to Yazhang, Sanxingdui also uses Erlitou ceremonial vessels such as pottery cups, bristles, yao, high-stalk beans, and bristles. The number of pottery cups and high-stalk beans in Sanxingdui is relatively high, and the pottery cups and pottery yao in the Erlitou culture are important ceremonial vessels, especially the complex shape of the pottery cup, if it is not through the transmission, imitation and specific meaning of the ceremonial function, it is impossible to be designed and manufactured in large quantities, which is also a reflection of the use of "summer ceremony" in Sanxingdui. The pottery cups unearthed from Sanxingdui, such as CbT6:41, are very similar to a pottery cup from the second phase of the Erlitou culture, with a thin body and thin three legs, and even the eagle-billed button cover of the two is also consistent; the high-sorded bean AAT4:39 of Sanxingdui is also highly similar to the pottery beans unearthed in Erlitou. Different sites 1,000 kilometers apart have unearthed such similar ceremonial vessels, which cannot but be surprising and thought-provoking. "The Sanxingdui culture was influenced by the Erlitou culture and accepted certain cultural factors of the Erlitou culture, mainly including sealed pottery, bronze plaques, and tooth zhangs in jade." The similarity between these three-star ritual vessels and the Erlitou culture shows that there is a cultural connection between the two. Daily utensils are more likely to accept foreign elements, but the field of etiquette is relatively conservative, and there will be restrictions on the acceptance of foreign etiquette elements. The large use of the relatively early "Xia Li" in the Sanxingdui ritual system does reflect to a certain extent the historical shadow behind the legend of "Yusheng Xiqiang".
Two
Of course, the three-star pile ceremonial vessel also has a strong local cultural element, and its style of golden scepter, gold mask, bronze god statue and so on is different from the Central Plains, but there are some similarities with the cultural elements of ancient Eurasia. Mr. Duan Yu pointed out that the bronze idols, golden scepters, and golden masks were originally produced in the Near East, and later spread to southeastErn Europe and the South Asian subcontinent, and affected the ancient Shu Sanxingdui culture. In addition to the influence of external cultural elements, Sanxingdui bronze culture has a high degree of locality, local unique style, as scholars say, "The importance of Sanxingdui is that it presents diversity, it is the only place where different types of artifacts are cast in bronze, reflecting the local belief system." No other local culture has ever found this way of expressing its native culture in bronze. ”
Ivory accumulation in The No. 2 sacrifice pit of Sanxingdui Ruins (Courtesy of Sanxingdui Museum)
In addition, Sanxingdui's large use of ivory for religious rituals is also very unique. In the Central Plains cultural system, ivory is also sometimes used in religious activities, such as the Zhou Li QiuGuan Hu Zhuo Clan: "If you want to kill its god, then sink it with the teeth of the oyster noon, then its god dies, and the abyss is a mausoleum." This means that two pieces of ivory are passed through the wood one vertically and one horizontally to form a cross-shaped artifact, which can be sunk into the water to kill the evil water god, and even make the abyss where the water god lives become a high ground. There are few records of the use of ivory in the religious ceremonies of the Central Plains, and the ancient Shu civilization represented by Sanxingdui and the more advanced Jinsha, the use of ivory in its sacrificial ritual activities is very frequent, the number is huge, which is also the unique locality of Sanxingdui, using both "Shu Li" and some ancient "Xia Li". During the Xia-Shang-Fangguo Alliance period, the Central Plains Dynasty or from the liturgical music to the surrounding countries had some radiation or influence, but at that time the common situation was "gentlemanly etiquette, do not seek to change customs", Yu into the naked country to undress, respect the unique local etiquette of each country.
Sanxingdui Yuzhang (Courtesy of Sanxingdui Museum)
Between shu li and xia li, the ancient Shu people of Sanxingdui also shared some common similar cosmology with the Central Plains people, the more typical ones being the bronze sacred tree, the sacred bird Fusang, and the Ten Days Faith. According to the "Sanxingdui Sacrifice Pit", the No. 1 sacred tree excavated from the Sanxingdui No. 2 Sacrifice Pit has a residual height of 359 centimeters and 9 standing birds on the branches, which is very in line with the records of the ancient universes such as Fusang, Ruomu and Ten Days in ancient books such as the Classic of Mountains and Seas and Huainanzi. "Shan Hai Jing Overseas East Classic": "There is Fuso on Yutani, bathed in ten days, in the north of moya." In the water, there are large trees, nine days to live in the lower branch, one day to live in the upper branch. The Great Wilderness East Classic also says: "In the midst of the Great Wilderness, there are mountains with the name of evil and swaying. There is a butter on it, three hundred miles of pillars, and its leaves are like mustard. There is a valley known as the Wenyuan Valley. There are fumu on Yutani, one is fangzhi, one is out, all of which are contained in Wu. According to these records, the cosmology of the Central Plains Witches in ancient times believed that there was a Fuso sacred tree in the east, on which lived 10 sunbirds, who took turns to be on duty in the sky. The "west" in the oracle bone is a bird's nest shape, and the bird carrying the sun will land in the underground yellow spring water, swim through the underground world, return to the top of the Fuso, and reincarnate in turn. The underground world is inhabited by dragons, turtles and fish. In this cosmic world, 10 suns take turns to rise and land in the Yellow Spring, and the turtles living in the Yellow Spring carry these sunbirds on their backs and pass through the dark underground world. 10 sunbirds cycle a circle, that is, a ten, thirty is a month, and the number "three" corresponds to the sunbird is a three-legged crow. Judging from the structure of sanxingdui No. 1 sacred tree, there are 9 sacred birds on the Fuso tree, which means that there is currently 1 sunbird on duty in the sky. Judging from the gold leaf of the sun god bird unearthed from the more late Jinsha, the ancient Shu people did regard the sun and the bird as one, and this cosmology is very similar to the Central Plains.
Christopher Hawkes once said that without documentation, archaeology is the most difficult part to understand in terms of religious and spiritual beliefs. Since there is no writing in the Sanxingdui period, if there is no literature in the Central Plains that is so highly compatible with the excavated sacred trees, it is difficult to understand the cosmology and spiritual world of the people in the Sanxingdui period alone. We can use the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" and other documents to completely correspond to the Sanxingdui Sacred Tree, which just shows that there was a spiritual and cultural exchange between the ancient Shu people and the Central Plains culture at that time, and this exchange is obviously a more in-depth part.
Three
There is an exchange of spiritual and cultural knowledge between the ancient Shu of Sanxingdui and the Central Plains culture, and some summer rituals are used. However, the so-called record of "Shu" in the Oracle Bone Of Yin Xu may not be regarded as the ancient Shu civilization in Sichuan at that time. The character in the oracle bone of Yin Xu that was interpreted as "Shu" was interpreted by Sun Yaorang, Wang Xiang, Ye Yusen, Shang Chengzuo, Yao Xiaosui, Xiao Ding, and others to advocate that it was the word "Shu"; Chen Mengjia, Rao Zongyi, Qiu Xigui, and Chen Hanping interpreted it as "Xun", "郇城" in the southwest of Linyi County, Shanxi; Mr. Li Xueqin also believed that this word was "Xun" instead of "Shu", in Xindi, Shanxi. It often happens that "Shu" is subject to the year, not to be years, and "Shu" shoots three hundred, which should not be far from the Shang King. The 20584 piece of the "Collection" records that 癸巳 is in "Shu", 癸卯 will arrive in Shang, 癸卯 is 癸巳 10 days later, that is to say, it takes only 10 days from this "Shu" to Anyang, which is obviously not the Shu of Sichuan. At that time, many places in the Central Plains were called "Shu", such as the "Yi zhou Shu Shi Prisoner" recorded that after the Wu King destroyed the Shang, "the new wilderness ordered shu", Zhu You once believed that this was in Tai'an, Shandong. Judging from the calendar days of the "World Prisoner", it only takes five or six days or a maximum of 10 days to get from Yin Ruins to this Shu, which is obviously not the Shu kingdom in the Sichuan Basin.
"Zuo Chuan, The Second Year of Chenggong", "Chu Shi invaded Wei, then invaded me, and Shi Yu Shu", this is Shuyi in the State of Lu, Shandong. The Book of the Continuation of the Han Dynasty and the Chronicle of the Counties says that "the Yingchuan County Governor's Office has ShuCheng", that is, Yu County, Henan also has Shu. Yang Kuan believed that Shu was in the northeast of Yu County, Henan, that is, in the turbid land of the Warring States of Wei, while Du Yong believed that Shu was in changge city, Henan. According to the Book of Han and Geography of Qi County, Tang Lan said that this Shu land was in the area of Yidu and Shouguang in Shandong, and the Japanese scholar Shirakawa Jing believed that this Shu was "an ancient tribe in western Henan". In any case, at that time, there was indeed Shu land in the Central Plains, and the word in Yin Xu Bu's speech would not be in the Sichuan Basin, even if it was not 郇, but "Shu".
The author believes that at that time, the Central Plains people did call the Sichuan Basin Shu, but the earliest ancient textual evidence that can be determined as the Shu of Sichuan should not be the Yin Ruins Oracle, but the ZhouYuan Oracle. The Zhouyuan oracle bone has the word "shu" in the glyph, and the Yin Xu oracle bone, which is mispronounced as "Shu", does not have a "worm" symbol. In addition, Zhou Yuan was close to Shu, especially the Hanzhong region of Shu, and was not as far away as the Shang Dynasty. ZhouYuan oracle bones H11:68, H11:10 have a record of "Cutting Shu", H11:97 has the word "Ke Shu", Li Zero believes that this is the Zhou-Shu relationship recorded by the Zhou people in the late Shang and early Zhou periods. Mr. Wang Hui also pointed out that the Shu in the oracle bone of Zhou Yuan is the Shu of the Eight Kingdoms of Zhou Wu united with Yong and Shu in the "Pastoral Oath". During the reign of King Wen of Zhou, the Zhou people first cut down Shu and "Ke Shu", and after the Shu state in Sichuan submitted to the Zhou people, it participated in the war to destroy the Shang during the zhou wu king period. This Shu includes the Han River basin in Sichuan and southern Shaanxi.
The Shu people participated in the Battle of Makino to destroy the Shang and won a great victory, and there is a record in the Book of Shang that the Artifacts of Fen Yin were recorded as the Zhou people distributing the treasures of Yin Shang to the allies participating in the war. The Muzheng Father's Own Treasure and Qin Father's Decoction unearthed from the cellar of Pengzhou Zhuwa Street are standard Yin noble artifacts, which are the victories won by the Shu people in the war. The Western Zhou "Ban Gui" inscription records that Shu and Fan, Mr. Zhou Zhenhe believes that it is in the northwest of Pengzhou City. The ancient "Bamboo Book Chronicle" also records that the Shu people offered Qiongyu and Wenhan to the King of Zhou.
It can be said that the relationship between the ancient Shu people and the Central Plains has never been interrupted. The legend of the Western Qiang from Dayu, combined with many archaeological materials, shows that there is a real historical shadow behind the legend. Sanxingdui culture is used for Shu li and xia li, and it is also a remote respect for the Central Plains culture in the identity of "losing the courtesy and seeking the wilderness". The Fusang and Ten Days Cosmology reflected in the Sanxingdui Sacred Tree shows that the ancient Shu people at that time were in close spiritual contact with the Central Plains. Although the "xun" in the Yin Xu oracle bone is not the word "Shu", the record of "Shu" in the Zhou Yuan oracle bone is unmistakable, and the ancient Shu state also participated in the Battle of Makino in the Central Plains and obtained the spoils of war, and the King of Zhou also respected the unique local etiquette of the ancient Shu state. Mr. Su Bingqi said about the famous "starry sky" on the origin of Chinese civilization that he believes that the local civilizations of the independent origin of various regions in China have made great contributions to the birth and development of the entire Chinese civilization. In this sense, the ancient Shu civilization represented by the Sanxingdui bronze culture is an important branch of Chinese civilization in the southwest land, which has highly developed its own unique local bronze culture while maintaining blood exchanges with the Central Plains culture.