Author: Fan Yuzhou
Source: "Central Plains Cultural Research" WeChat public account
The original article was published in The Central Plains Cultural Research Journal, No. 4, 2021
Location map of the ruins of the double locust tree (Source: "Wenbo China" WeChat public account)
Henan Gongyi Shuang locust tree site is located in the central area of Heluo culture, which has a very important position in the study of Chinese civilization sources. In order to carry out the "Chinese Civilization Source Exploration Project" in depth, since 2013, with the approval of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Zhengzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the China Silk Museum, the Gongyi Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics and Tourism and other units have jointly carried out a series of investigations, explorations and archaeological excavations at the site of the double locust tree, and many important phased results have been achieved. On August 26, 2019, the "Second China Archaeology Zhengzhou Forum" was held, during which some archaeological achievements of the Shuanghuashu site and its related Xingyang Qingtai site were disclosed for the first time. On May 7, 2020, at the press conference on major archaeological discoveries at the Duyi Ruins of the Ancient Kingdom Era of Gongyi Shuanghuashu in Zhengzhou, Henan, a number of well-known archaeologists from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Peking University and other units participating in the on-site field investigation, according to the scientific dating results, believed that the nature of the Double Locust Tree site was a giant settlement site dating back to the Ancient Kingdom era around 5300 years ago, and suggested that it be named "Heluo Ancient Country".
There is no doubt that the site is the highest-specification central settlement with Duyi nature in the early stage of Chinese civilization, that is, the middle and late Yangshao culture, found in the Yellow River Basin so far. Now, based on the relevant research materials and field research results, the author will talk about some superficial understanding of several issues of the site, in order to consult the Fang family at home and abroad.
First, from the layout structure and functional nature of the site, we can see the core source of Chinese civilization
The site of the double locust tree is located 2 kilometers south of the south bank of the Yellow River in Gongyi City and 4 kilometers east of the Yiluo River, with a total area of about 1.17 million square meters confirmed by exploration, and more than 3,500 square meters have been excavated, which basically shows its layout structure. Based on exploration and excavation, it can be determined that the site is a large settlement surrounded by three ring moats: inner, middle and outer trenches, of which 1 is a large contiguous block-like ruins area built using the plate construction method, 3 are carefully planned rammed earth sacrificial platforms and 13 sacrificial pits, in addition to 3 public cemeteries and 4 kiln sites (see Figure 1). The site is rich in exquisite faience pottery from the late Yangshao culture, as well as cultural relics such as bone carvings, spinning wheels, bone needles, and stone knives related to the silk making process.
According to the structural diagram of the site, the site is a large settlement that has been carefully planned. The settlement has 3 layers of defense and 3 large trenches divide the settlement into 3 areas from the inside out. In the central area, a special wall was also set up to separate the residential area from large buildings, altars and tombs, forming a separate area. In the residential area, there are both residential buildings and pond gardens, as well as a nine-star celestial platform composed of clay pots, and at the southernmost point there is a small foundation site for unearthed silkworm bone carvings. Outside the wall is a relatively wide area, the northernmost is a large 15-bay temple-style building, and to its south is a long strip of large plates, and immediately in the middle of this ruins is an important burial community, the eastern side of which is an altar. This important burial community and altar, although connected to the large burial area in the central area of the inner trench, is relatively prominent throughout the large burial area.
It is worth noting that between the inner and middle trenches is a very narrow area without any buildings and other ruins. There is a small trench in the west-south between the inner and middle trenches, and a north gate in the north of the middle trench to communicate with the outside world. This undoubtedly shows that the function of the middle trench is only another defensive trench outside the inner trench, and its role is to better protect the area inside the inner trench, and the central area of the inner trench is connected to the outside world through the north gate of the middle trench. This structure clearly indicates that the area within the inner trench is the most important area of this settlement. From the existing archaeological discoveries, this is also confirmed: there are not only rich architectural ruins in the inner trench, but also a large number of cultural relics that can show the ideas and concepts of the time. Between the outer and middle trenches, only two burial areas are currently found in the west and northwest, of which the western burial area is smaller, but there are two access doors on the outer trench near it, which connect the exterior to the burial area. The large burial area to the southwest is a relatively enclosed area. Since the current situation outside the inner trench in the northwest and north of the north gate of the middle trench is unknown, it is impossible to judge its connotation, but the outer trench clearly extends westward around the large burial area in the northwest around the burial area and forms a relatively closed area with a small trench extending at the northwest corner.
As mentioned above, within the walls of the central area is an exquisite living area, where the pond garden can be entertained, the palace can live and rest, the nine stars composed of clay pots in front of the door can symbolize the heavenly spirituality of the occupants, and the place where the bone carvings of silkworms can be excavated can be dedicated to the gods of silkworm mulberry silk weaving. This large-scale site was both the living quarters of the magnates of the time and the spiritual space for deifying authority. It can be said that this large site already has the basic function of the court of later generations.
In the central area beyond the wall, there is a 15-bay temple-like grand building outside the palace, which should be the center of political activity for the settlement magnates at that time to receive the leaders of the foreign settlements and the subordinate members of the surrounding settlements, which is equivalent to the imperial court of later dynasties. On its immediate south side, important tombs and associated altars stand out from the entire burial area. It may be the ancestral tombs and sacrificial altars of the settlement magnates. If this inference is correct, the structure of this area has taken on the rudimentary shape of regulation similar to that of the later dynasties.
The structural phenomena found at the site are clearly evident as a large settlement site that has been carefully crafted. Its layout shows that all structural designs are centered around the proper protection of activities within the central area. It is also evident from the distribution of the three burial areas and the different environments in the entire settlement structure that this is a settlement with obvious social stratification. The layout of the large buildings, important tombs and altars in the central area clearly shows that the settlement has produced a whole set of political and religious systems based on social class differentiation. The interior and exterior of the wall distinguishes the functions of living and living from political activities, and also makes the settlement center have the structural function distinction of the former dynasty and harem left ancestor and right society. From the structure of this settlement site, it can be seen that the phenomenon of social stratification has been formed, and the separation of living areas and political areas has appeared in the center of the settlement. The magnates who lived within the walls already had the strong ability to control the outside world through political activities, and the society they commanded had crossed the threshold of civilization, and almost laid the basic form of coordinating the palace structure and political and religious functions of the dynasties of Chinese civilization in later generations. In this sense, the layout structure of the Gongyi Double Locust Tree Site and its apparent functional nature can indeed be regarded as the core source of Chinese civilization.
II. Discussion on the nature of "Urn City" and "Big Dipper Nine Stars"
Existing research believes that the part of the wall enclosed in the central area of the double locust tree site is the "Urn City", and it is believed that the central residential area of the Ancient Kingdom of Heluo already has a typical Urn City architectural structure. This is debatable, and the author believes that the actual function of this wall is to distinguish the living area of the elite from the political activities, so that the life and living of the magnates and political activities do not interfere with each other. Although this structure played a certain protective role in the safe residence of the magnates, it was not equivalent to the urn castle used for protection by later cities or Miyagi Castle. Because although there were also urns for guarding in later generations, there were no non-military buildings in the urns. It might be more realistic to see the enclosure as a separation from the temple of living quarters from the temple of political activity, and as a whitewash of the authority of the magnates. Therefore, if you cannot see this wall, you can assume that the space enclosed by it is the urn city of the hereafter.
Another notable relic in the double locust tree site is the so-called "Big Dipper Nine Stars". It was discovered by the Zhengzhou Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology on the porch in front of the largest of the 4 rows of large-scale housing sites connected by the roadway of the site, and it is a group of 9 clay pots arranged in the shape of the Big Dipper. Because seven of the clay pots are placed in a shape similar to the Big Dipper, the excavators called the combination of the clay pots on either side and the clay pots in the shape of the Big Dipper "Big Dipper Nine" (see Figure 2). Scholars have believed that the discovery of the astronomical relics of the Nine Stars of the Big Dipper indicates that the worship of the "Big Dipper" more than 5,000 years ago was one of the highest beliefs of the ancestors of Yangshao. One of the stars that is no longer visible today may be a jingxing star, that is, a supernova. And quoted from the "River Map" to record that "the Yellow Emperor ruled, the Jingxing was seen in the Beidou also", believing that the appearance of the Jingxing near the Beidou was the prosperous era of the Yellow Emperor ruling the world. Thus inferring these 9 clay pots, it is possible to record a supernova explosion.
There is no further explanation as to why the astronomical relic is the "Nine Stars". Considering that this combination of clay pots is distributed in the porch in front of the largest house with an area of 220 square meters in the living area of the magnates, it should have a special meaning, and the excavators infer that it is the "Big Dipper" star in the celestial phenomenon should be very insightful. Linked to the nearby Xingyang Qingtai site also has the "Big Dipper Nine Stars", it is conceivable that decorating the façade with the "Big Dipper Nine Stars" has become a cultural symbol. However, why not use the "Big Dipper Seven Stars" but use the "Nine Stars" is really puzzling.
Since ancient times, Chinese civilization has been a civilization that attaches great importance to astronomical observation. Because Chinese civilization entered the agricultural society very early, agriculture is to be sown, managed and harvested according to the specific time of the year, and only through astronomical observation can the agricultural time be accurately determined, so that the tillage is in accordance with the laws of nature and harvested. Therefore, Chinese civilization is one of the earliest civilizations in the world to create astronomical observations and records. The constellation that can best be observed by the human eye in the night sky is the Big Dipper. The Big Dipper is an ancient spoon-shaped constellation composed of seven stars: Tianshu, Tianxuan, Tianji, Tianquan, Yuheng, Kaiyang, and Shaking Light, so it is collectively known as the "Big Dipper Seven Stars". Because the two stars at the mouth of the pole are in a straight line with the North Star, pointing to the North Star, it is also called "finger polar star". The position of the Big Dipper relative to the North Star is relatively unchanged. Due to the rotation of the Earth, it has been observed that its handle rotates with time throughout the year, rotating roughly 1 degree a day, exactly one degree a year. Therefore, the change of seasons can be determined by pointing the handle, which can be used as a basis for determining the agricultural time. Therefore, the bucket handle point has long been used in China as a guide to the timing of agricultural production. The "Guanzi Huanliu Chapter" records: "The east finger of the bucket handle, the whole world is spring; the south finger of the bucket handle, the world is summer; the west finger of the bucket handle, the world is autumn; the north finger of the bucket handle, the world is winter." "It is the observation and summary of the seasonal rotation of the Big Dipper by the ancient agricultural society." With the "Big Dipper" handle point to investigate seasonal changes, so as to determine that agricultural time to guide agricultural production is a very early cultural tradition in the Central Plains, Chinese mathematics is to observe the "Big Dipper" bucket handle point changes in the birth of the production, and even China's oldest mathematical dictionary "Zhou Hip Arithmetic Classic" proposed in the world-renowned famous mathematical law - "ShangGao Law", are based on the astronomical observation of the "Big Dipper" as a "quaternion calendar" and formed.
As for the questions about why the site of the double locust tree is the "Big Dipper Nine Stars" and whether one of them is a "Jingxing", the author examines the following questions. As far as the Big Dipper is concerned, the ancients believed that there are two stars related to the Big Dipper near the 3 stars on its handle, which are auxiliary stars of the Big Dipper, which are called "auxiliary" stars and "bow" stars respectively. In the Taoist document "Seven Signatures of Yunji", volume 24 has the so-called "Big Dipper Nine Star Position Chief" article called the Big Dipper as the "Big Dipper Nine Stars", and quoted the ancient Classic "Huang Laojing" to say: "The first day of the Big Dipper Pivot Star, then the Yang Star's soul god also; the second day Xuan Star, then the Yin JingXing's soul god also; the third day Machine (Jie) Star, then the true star's Lu Jingye; the fourth day's power star, then the Xuan Pluto Star's Lu Jingye; the fifth jade heng star, then the Danyuan Star's Lu Lingye; the sixth Lu Yang Star, then the Polar Star's Spirit Spirit; the seventh shaking light star, then the Heavenly Guan Star's soul Ming Ye." The eighth hole star is the soul of the auxiliary star, the spirit of the yang mingye; the ninth hidden element star, the soul of the bow star is ethereal. He also advocated that each of the 9 emperors should have one star and 28 stars. This concept of "Big Dipper Nine Stars" once became a core concept of ancient society, and even penetrated into all aspects of social life at that time, for example, when discussing the changes in the human body stemming from the changes in the yin and yang of heaven and earth, it is believed that the changes in yin and yang of heaven and earth are determined by the "Big Dipper Nine Stars" and the operation of the five planets of gold, wood, water, fire and earth. Later generations of mathematics and astrology, such as the "Qimen Dunjia", are also measured by the "nine stars" representing the heavens and affecting the personnel and the blame, which shows the importance of the "nine stars hanging" for the ancients to understand the world.
Why the "Big Dipper Nine Stars" became the "Big Dipper Seven Stars" in the future, the astronomers' explanation is that the "auxiliary" and "Bow" stars were originally dark stars, which may still be seen in the early days, and the future generations have disappeared, and the main stars that make up the "Big Dipper" have always been clear and visible, so future generations no longer call "Big Dipper Nine Stars" but take "Big Dipper Seven Stars" as their regular name. As mentioned above, some scholars regard the "stars" other than the "Big Dipper" as "Jingxing", and believe that their view of being a supernova in history may be just a subjective assumption. The so-called "Jingxing" in ancient times refers to the sudden appearance of Ruixing, and the Jinshu Astronomical Chronicle says: "Ruixing, a Jingxing." "Wenzi Jingcheng" also said: "Therefore, the shape of the capital is moving in the sky, the scenery is seen, the yellow dragon is under, the phoenix is to, the liquan is out, the jia grain is born, the river is not overflowing, and the sea is not surging." "It is a kind of auspicious phenomenon. Wang Chong played in "On Balance" as "the ancient quality can not push the five stars, do not know how the year star, too white, see the big star is called the jing star" . It is believed that the year star is Jupiter, and the white star is Venus, which has nothing to do with the Big Dipper and the supernovae of history. Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be seen that the "Big Dipper Nine Stars" in the site should be the origin of the "Big Dipper Nine Stars" cultural tradition in Chinese civilization.
As for why the "Big Dipper Nine Stars" were placed in the porch in front of one of the largest houses in the area where the magnates lived, this may be related to another ancient Chinese cultural tradition about the "Big Dipper". Sima Qian, in the Book of Heavenly Officials, once believed according to the ancient Chinese cultural tradition: "The bucket is the imperial car, transported in the center, the four sides of the system, the yin and yang, the four times of construction, the five elements, the degree of the festival, the determination of the ages, all tied to the bucket." It can be seen that ancient China had the tradition of regarding the "Big Dipper Star" as the Heavenly Emperor's Car, and the famous Shandong Jiaxiang Wuliang Ancestral Han Portrait Stone had a portrait of "Dou wei Di Che", painting an emperor sitting in a bucket spoon shaped like a car, and the bucket handle 3 stars just resembled a car rut, without wheels, obviously treating the Big Dipper as a car. If you link the legend of "Emperor Ju xuanyuan hill" in the history books, and repeatedly say that "the Yellow Emperor built a boat car", and the double locust tree site and the Qingtai site have the "Big Dipper" relics that symbolize the "emperor car", then these ruins are likely to be the abuse of the above legends, and provide important evidence for the academic community to believe that the double locust tree site is the Yellow Emperor's "Heluo Ancient Kingdom" Duyi site.
Another important discovery is that there is also a complete skeleton of an elk heading south and facing the doorway in the middle of the site, and it is not difficult to imagine that this elk should be closely related to the "Big Dipper Nine Stars". Excavators believe that Taoism has the saying of "three stalks", referring to the dragon, tiger, deer and three divine beasts, which are bridges to help the gods and witches to the sky, and elk should also have the meaning of deer moose. If the "bucket" is the "imperial car", this elk is likely to be a driving elk, which together with the Big Dipper constitute a special status that means that the magnate can drive a parade. The decoration of this astronomical astrology shows the purpose of the elite to establish human authority with the help of astronomical ideas.
Third, about the significance of bone silkworm carving
A national treasure-level artifact, the earliest bone silkworm carving artwork in China, was also unearthed at the site of the Double Locust Tree (see Figure 3). Together with the earliest silk objects unearthed from the Qingtai ruins and other surrounding contemporaneous sites, it confirms that the ancestors of the middle reaches of the Yellow River had begun to raise silkworm reeling around 5300 years ago. Its discovery strongly proves that China's sericulture and silk weaving have appeared as early as the middle and late Yangshao culture, and have a complete and mature production system of silkworm mulberry and silk weaving, laying the initial foundation for the formation of the Silk Road in the future.
Several urns of children buried in silk have been found in the Yangshao cultural settlement in the Zhengzhou area. Through the detection of skull attachments and urn bottom soil samples in the urn coffin at the Wanggou site, traces of mulberry silk dating back more than 5,000 years were found. This is the earliest silk fabric found worldwide. The above discoveries are not only an important harvest of the archaeological excavation project of "Searching for the Source of Chinese Silk - Research on the Origin of Archaeological Culture and Civilization in the Middle and Late Yangshao Period in Zhengzhou" since 2013, but also an important material evidence for exploring the appearance of early sericulture civilization. For these findings, some scholars believe that this burial custom of wrapping silkworm clothes after death is that people hoped to be resurrected like silkworms breaking the cocoon and flying in the sky after death, and believed that children's urns were mostly small-mouth pointed bottom bottles, resembling silkworm pupae, reflecting the ancestors' worship of the silkworm god.
By comparing the form of the modern silkworm with this bone silkworm carving, it can be seen that it is a capture and capture of the vivid image of the silkworm when spitting silk. The author believes that the reason why such a vivid silkworm carving is due to the worship of the silkworm god. In the excavated fragments of the Wanggou site, there is a piece of Luo fabric in the "Ayala Silk Satin", which has been dyed. In order to prevent discoloration, the ancestors degummed this piece of dyed luo, and after raw silk degumming, it is called cooked silk, and this luo is also the earliest cooked silk fabric found in the world. There is no doubt that the sericulture agriculture and silk technology at that time were basically mature. If the site of the Double Locust Tree is indeed the core settlement site of the Yellow Emperor's period, it is associated with documents such as the "History of the Five Emperors" and other documents that repeatedly record that the Yellow Emperor "married the daughter of Xiling and was for the ancestors", and there have always been cases of sacrificing the ancestors as the "first silkworm" of the silkworm god, and the bone silkworm carving is likely to be the embodiment of the silkworm god, which is related to the belief of the ancestors.
The rest of the argument
The Site of the Double Locust Tree is not an isolated cultural site, in recent years, in its surrounding areas have been found in the Wanggou ruins of Xingyang, Qingtai ruins, Zhengzhou southwest suburbs of Huanggang Temple ruins and a series of important sites of the same period, these sites and the double locust tree ruins together constitute a large settlement group, showing that this area is the core area of the origin of Chinese civilization. In terms of its scale and structure and the richness and characteristics of its cultural relics, there is no doubt that the double locust tree site is the core site of this settlement group, with the characteristics of early Duyi.
Many years ago, according to the development and growth and growth of archaeological culture in the Central Plains, the author pointed out that since the middle of the Neolithic Period, the Central Plains region has first risen from east to west, the Magnetic Hill Culture, the Pei Ligang Culture, and the Old Guantai Culture, and the connection between them is quite close, and a large cultural region has been formed. This clearly shows the closeness of the cultural ties between them from the types of utensils they share, such as round bottom bowls, flat bottom bowls, three-legged bowls and round bottom bowls. Compared with the relatively isolated development of the Xinglongwa culture, the Houli culture and the Pengtoushan culture that appeared at about the same time, this obviously has obvious development advantages.
In the subsequent Yangshao culture period of the late Neolithic period, the Yangshao culture banpo type developed from the old Guantai culture developed northward, covering northern Shaanxi and Erdos regions, and at the same time extending eastward along the Yellow River to the area west of present-day Luoyang, and also affecting the Nanyang Basin through the Han River Basin; while the Yangshao culture Hougang type located in the eastern part of the Central Plains extended to a large area such as present-day northern Henan, southern Jin, jinzhong, northeastern Lu, northern Hebei, and southern Inner Mongolia. From the archaeological data of this period, it can be clearly seen that the above two cultural factor areas containing the Yangshao culture Banpo type and the Yangshao culture Hougang type, after a long period of agitation and interaction, finally formed the Yangshao culture temple bottom ditch type with strong development. After the formation of the Yangshao culture, the Miaodigou type quickly expanded to the surrounding area, the north extended to the Hetao area, the southern end affected the upper reaches of the Han River and the northern part of Hubei, the eastern part reached the northern part of the North China Plain, and the western part extended to the Gansu Huangshui River Basin, and formed the widely influential Miaodigou Phase II culture at the end of the Yangshao culture. Although there is still controversy in the academic circles about the origin and nature of the Miaodigou Phase II culture, under its influence, a cultural region with a relatively unified cultural outlook has been formed in the vast area of the upper and lower reaches of the Weishui River Basin, Western Henan, Jinzhong and Southern Jin. Therefore, it is not difficult to imagine that compared with other related archaeological cultures in the surrounding areas, the archaeological culture of the Central Plains was not only a strong culture at the center at that time, but also played an obvious leading role in the exchange with other types of archaeological cultures. The archaeological culture of the Central Plains reflects the long-term reproduction and survival of the ancestors in the Central Plains, located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, continuous labor and development, and after absorbing many cultural factors from neighboring areas, the basic conditions for the formation of civilization were created, and finally the early Chinese civilization that stood in the world was born.
As far as the formation and early development of Chinese civilization is concerned, it is undeniable that the Central Plains culture is a prelude to the central position and plays a leading role. The discovery of the Gongyi Double Locust Tree site once again strongly proves that the Central Plains region is the core area of the origin of Chinese civilization and plays an unquestionable leading role in the formation and early development of Chinese civilization.
The author, Fan Yuzhou, is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of History of Nanjing University
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Editor: Xiang Yu
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