The two Han dynasties were the stereotyped stage of the specific agricultural system of the mainland, and the rapid development of iron smelting technology from the Warring States to the Western Han Dynasty, the previous wooden, mussel and bone tools were gradually replaced by iron tools, and the improvement of tool materials and the richness of instrument types had a positive impact on agricultural production efficiency and farming technology.
The formation of the great unification situation in the Han Dynasty is inseparable from the advanced agricultural system. The agricultural tools excavated in the Han Dynasty tomb site in the Sulu Yuwan region are the true portrayal of the perfection of the specific agricultural system in the two Han Dynasties, the promotion of new agricultural tools and the improvement of existing agricultural tools make them more suitable for all aspects of agricultural production, bringing a new atmosphere to agricultural development, these changes in the Sulu Yuwan region seen in the Han Dynasty with farming as the theme of the portrait stone has been fully displayed, compared to the excavation of agricultural tools, the portrait theme combines laborers and utensils more vividly.
First, the nature analysis of agricultural tools excavated in Sulu Yuwan area
(1) The location of the excavation of agricultural tools
Henan Nanyang Yangguan Temple Han portrait stone tomb, found a piece of damaged iron, the whole is wide and narrow trapezoidal, the side is wedge-shaped, double-edged structure, the bronze hole where the wooden handle is installed is rectangular, and the outside of the brasshole is decorated with string patterns. Through observation, it can be seen that the burial artifacts in the tomb are concentrated in the cloister on the west side of the burial chamber, and the excavation work of this iron is filled in the burial passage near the tomb door. The nature of the two pieces of iron is obviously not intended for burial.
Most of the tombs of Liu Jiaqu in Shaanxi County, Henan Province, collapsed, and the tudong tombs were the most serious. Most of the tombs were excavated, except for 5 smaller tombs. The interior of the burial chamber is heavily silted, and artifacts are mostly found in the mud, and the location relationship is not clear. Liu Jiaqu Han tombs are distributed in the eastern suburbs of Hanshan City as a whole, from the analysis of the scale of tombs and the types of burials, most of the tomb owners belong to the small and medium-sized landlord class, but do not exclude local bureaucrats.
Two Han tombs have been excavated in Dajue Temple, Changqing District, Jinan, of which M2 is located 4 kilometers west of the Yellow River and 1 kilometer south of the Dasha River in the Huangpan District. The iron hoe appeared in a special place at the same time as the iron axe, and was obviously not used as a burial object. Since the tomb has a history of being stolen many times, it is likely that these two artifacts were left by tomb robbers.
In the Han tombs in the Yuwan area of Sulu, the phenomenon of the above-mentioned iron tools being left in the tomb chamber or tomb passage has also been found in the tombs of the same era in other parts of the country, such as the Changsha Elephant Trunk Tsui Han Tomb in the early years of many thefts, and the iron production tools excavated in M1 were also found in the excavated Tombs of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, indicating that the tomb was excavated in the Sui and Tang Dynasties at the end.
(2) Characteristic analysis and functional discussion
Based on the analysis of the excavation location, it is concentrated on the burial inside the burial passage filling, the robbery hole, and the main burial chamber. From the analysis of the accompanying artifacts, most of them are excavated individually, and the number is one piece, and there is no fixed artifact combination relationship.
From the analysis of the types of agricultural tools unearthed, most of them are tools such as rakes, harrows, hoes and ploughs, and the plough mirrors used with ploughs have not yet been discovered. For example, the sowing tools are skeletonized, and the harvesting tools are sickles, knives, and knives.
During the Two Han Dynasties, the funeral concept of "death is like life" prevailed, and if agricultural tools were used for burial, they should be selected and made to make complete and unused utensils for burial. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, due to the rise of the weak landlords and powerful forces in the central government, the manor economy prevailed, and imitation pottery ceremonial ware was gradually replaced by model Ming ware.
A special phenomenon is that there are a small number of pottery figurines that hold agricultural tools or engage in production activities. Such as the lingbao Zhangwan Han tomb excavated from the holding figurines, Jiyuan Sijiangou Han tomb excavated from the stepping figurines, this type of artifact shows the image of the Han Dynasty laborers, as well as the way the utensils are manipulated and used. Compared with other types of model tools and agricultural production tools, the image is extremely rare.
(3) Cause analysis
The reasons for the above problems may be the following aspects: First, agricultural tools, as indispensable means of production in the daily life of laborers, may be cherished to a higher degree than imitation pottery vessels and model ming utensils, which is the proof of folk beliefs at that time.
Second, agricultural tools as a scarce tool, in the Han Dynasty was also controlled by the government, the Han Dynasty in the county set up iron officials, the implementation of iron casting official camp, in the excavation of agricultural tools casting iron model object there are many identification inscriptions.
Archaeological findings have found that the iron agricultural tools that have been excavated from the tomb are likely to be abandoned by the tomb robbers, and their nature cannot be attributed to the burial goods alone. During the Two Han Dynasties, the practice of thick burial prevailed, especially in the construction of high-grade tombs, and the properties of iron agricultural tools found in the burial seal soil and the filling of the tomb passage were related to the construction of the burial chamber.
The judgment of the nature of agricultural tools excavated from tombs in Sulu Yuwan area needs to be considered by a variety of factors, such as the shape of the utensils, the physical properties of the material itself, the tomb theft and disturbance, and the tomb structure. The specific nature has the following aspects, as a tool for the construction of tombs, auxiliary or cooperative use of iron production tools, and special tomb robbery.
Second, the image of agricultural production seen in the Han Dynasty portrait stone in the Sulu-Yuwan region
(1) Distribution characteristics of Han portraits in Sulu-Yuwan region
The distribution of Han portrait stones in Jiangsu and Anhui is centered on the Xuzhou area in northern Jiangsu, and is distributed radially in three directions: east, south and west, and gradually decreases with the radiation distance. The densely distributed areas of portrait stones are divided according to the administrative areas of the Two Han Dynasties, mainly under the jurisdiction of the Xuzhou Thorn History Department, and a small number of areas are under the jurisdiction of the Yuzhou Thorn History Department and the Yangzhou Thorn History Department.
Shandong to northern Jiangsu, northern Anhui and the adjacent northern Henan and southern Hebei junction is one of the more prosperous areas of the two Han dynasties, whether from the tombs of high-ranking princes or the tombs of the powerful clans, the number and distribution density are relatively important throughout the country, and the prevalence of portrait stones in the region fully illustrates this.
The abundant iron ore resources in the region have led to the development of the local iron smelting industry, and the development of the iron smelting industry has provided convenient conditions for the mining and processing of stone materials. It is worth mentioning that the earliest portrait stone decoration techniques of the Two Han Dynasties have been found in the area, and the yin line on the stone wall of the inner side chamber of the tomb of King Liang of Yongcheng, Henan Province, is decorated with leaf ornaments, which is also a typical theme of portrait stones popular in the late Western Han Dynasty.
The Shandong region is located in the territory of Qi and Lu, since the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, there have been many hundred schools of thought, and this area has developed into the Qin and Han Dynasties as one of the birthplaces of orthodox Confucianism and early Taoist thought, so there are many kinds of portrait stones expressing the above themes.
(2) Portrait themes of agricultural production
Portrait stones related to farming activities and agricultural tools are mainly divided into three categories. Portraits of a single figure holding agricultural tools are mainly reflected in mythological themes. In the second category, the background of the scene of field farming activities is mostly farmland, mainly for the theme of farming. The third category, grain processing after grain harvesting, has a theme of grain processing.
The second portrait related to agricultural production in wuliang temple is called "Xia Yu Zhiquan", and the picture is the same as the previous portrait. The depiction depicts the figure wearing a large brimmed hat shaped like a bucket hat, holding a concave hammer in his hand, and the position of the skeleton is obliquely placed on the chest and shoulder, and the blade is upward. The crown of the character is adjusted, and the movements shown should also be symbolic acts.
It can be seen that the allusion of Xia Yuzhishui was already prevalent at that time, especially in the Shandong region where the number of ceremonies was standardized. By observing the notched scythes highlighted in the picture and combining them with the actual objects unearthed from the Han tomb, it can be concluded that the portrait stone has a certain realistic style.
(3) Problems reflected in agricultural portraits
According to the portrait, the plough used animal power to pull in the Two Han Dynasties was basically the model of two cattle and two people or two cattle and one person, and the "two cattle lifting bar" style was the most common. Most of the livestock used are cattle, but there are also farming maps of Huangjialing in Maruten County.
The plough structure mainly includes straight-handled plows and crank-handled plows. The number of ploughs is mostly one, and the plough on the cultivation map of Sihong County is a typical example of the frame plough of the Han Dynasty. The main structure of the plough is the edge end in contact with the surface, that is, the structure of the plough is mainly inverted triangle, also known as the "V" shape, sharp and sharp, and the soil breaking effect is obvious.
The Han Dynasty farmer weeding portrait stone found in Nanyang vividly depicts the management activities of the field during crop growth, the hoe used, the handle is slender, and the blade of the hoe is slightly curved inward, so that in actual use, it can move freely between crops while protecting crop roots and seedlings, while breaking weeds, and the lightness of the handle can also reduce the physical exertion of laborers.
3. Discussion of related issues
(1) Population size
The types of agricultural tools unearthed in the Sulu-Yuwan region are compared with those in the whole country, and the types are basically complete. In the analysis of the number of single agricultural tools, such as iron ploughs, iron, and shovels in the total number of found in the country, the proportion of the above areas has obvious advantages, indicating that the above areas are one of the important areas for agricultural development, iron manufacturing, and agricultural tool promotion in the two Han Dynasties.
During the two Han Dynasties, the overall situation of mainland agriculture was still dominated by the small-scale peasant economic model, and to a certain extent, the number of people determined the scale of agricultural development, and large-scale agricultural production inevitably required a large number of production tools. Population density shows that the overall population density of jiangsu, Shandong and Henan regions during the Two Han Dynasties was much higher than that of other parts such as Hebei, Sichuan and Hubei.
In the Sulu Yuwan region, the types and quantities of agricultural tools unearthed in the first three provinces are higher than those in Anhui, which is inseparable from the establishment of the county state, and there are as many as 30 in the Suluyu region during the Western Han Dynasty, and only 5 in Anhui.
It can be said that the geographical scope of Anhui is not very different from that of Henan and Shandong, but it is far less than the two in terms of the richness and quantity of agricultural tools unearthed, and it is also lower than that of Jiangsu. This result is related to the number of tombs and sites of the Two Han Dynasties that have been excavated in Anhui. The number of laborers also played an important role, with pei county in the northwest of present-day Huaibei, Anhui, from 201 to 152 BC.
The number of laborers also played an important role, and Pei County, northwest of present-day Huaibei, Anhui Province, had a population density of only 5.5 (persons per square kilometer) from 201 to 152 BC. The JianMu materials excavated from the Han tombs in the Fenghuangshan area of Jiangling prove that the farming area of each household at that time was 20-30 mu, and the per capita was 5-7.5 mu. Relying on manpower and animal power of the Han Dynasty agriculture, people are the prerequisite, the sparse population is not conducive to the large-scale development of agriculture at that time, the above factors are also a major reason why agricultural tools are less found in the region.
(2) Farming methods
In the early days of the founding of the Western Han Dynasty, the mode of intensive farming was relatively developed in the Guanzhong region and the Central Plains, but due to the excellent geographical environment and climate in the southern Yangtze River Basin, the farming mode was not improved in time, and slash-and-burn cultivation still existed. In addition, compared with the northern dryland, the southern paddy field is more difficult to operate with intensive cultivation.
For example, the practical application of the generation field method and the district seed method, dryland is more common. In addition, the field weeding manipulation method can only be applied to dry land, paddy field crop weeding generally uses flooding method, the southern part of the mainland is popular this method, the main way is to cut the weeds that grow, and then release water to suffocate the grass roots. The whole process is very different from the northern reliance on shovels and hoes to remove weeds, which is also a major reason why such agricultural tools are rarely unearthed in the southern region.
(3) Regionalization characteristics
In the Sulu Yuwan region, the types of agricultural tools in the two Han Dynasties were quite different compared with other regions, and the physical analysis of excavated agricultural tools was mainly manifested as the iron plough-shaped system, such as the large plough wrenches at the Liaoyang Sandao Trench Site and the medium-sized plough wrenches excavated from the Han Tombs in Mancheng and Gaolou Village in Longxian County, and the same type of artifacts were not seen in Jiangsu, Shandong and Anhui, and the number of "V" type crowns installed at the front end of the plough was the largest.
The working environment of large-scale plough wrenches is constrained by soil texture and hydrological conditions, and the soil and hydrological environment in Northeast China, Hebei and Guanzhong are more suitable for large and medium-sized ploughing operations. In addition, the agricultural tools unearthed in the Sulu Yuwan region do not see the plough mirror, which is a component of agricultural tools that appeared in the Western Han Dynasty and is used in conjunction with the plough. Such artifacts have been unearthed in Zhaojia Village, Xianyang.
As an important tool for soil reclamation in the Han Dynasty, the iron plough is ahead of other regions in terms of shape size and complexity of components, which shows that the level of agricultural tool production in Chang'an, as the capital of the Western Han Dynasty, is relatively leading, and new agricultural tools are also the first to be applied in this area, which provides advanced production tools for local agricultural development and promotes economic development.
epilogue
The development of agricultural tools to the two Han Dynasties, regardless of the selection of materials mainly iron, as well as the production of agricultural production activities of utensils used in the basic complete agricultural production activities, or the functional level of a multi-purpose, the above three points show the advanced production technology level of the ancient working people on the mainland, as well as the scientific preparation and rational planning of field labor.
The agricultural tools found from tombs, sites and collections in the Yuwan region of Sulu have also been certified. The variety of agricultural tools and the comprehensiveness of their functions played a role in promoting many aspects of social production in the Han Dynasty, such as the abundant grain harvest promoted the development of the winemaking industry, and the advanced iron plough and the strong and sharp shovels accelerated the construction of ditches and the construction of a large number of water conservancy facilities.