Editor's note: Although the ancient Shang and Zhou civilization is very far away from the present (taking the Battle of Makino in the Western Zhou Dynasty as an example, it is already 3066 years ago), but because of the late Ming dynasty novel "Fengshen Yanyi", people are not unfamiliar with it. In the novel, various immortals assisted the Western Zhou army and finally defeated the reactionary King Of Sui (they also had the help of the gods), but in fact, the Shang Zhou army could only rely on its own hands to win the war, so what should the costumes of the Shang Dynasty soldiers look like in the real history?
In previous film and television dramas, due to the lack of research, the armor of the warriors of the Shang Dynasty in the imagination of the prop master, produced a variety of styles such as Romanesque, online game style, and indescribable wind, which are obviously incorrect regardless of beauty and ugliness.
▲ Shang Dynasty generals in film and television dramas
Today's article will try to describe what a Shang Dynasty samurai looked like when he wore a helmet, so that everyone can get as close as possible to the real history. It should be stated that according to rigorous archaeology, the so-called restoration refers to the restoration of missing parts of excavated cultural relics, and the "speculation" made based on records or murals is actually imagination. Many of the "restoration" of a certain dynasty and a certain country on the Internet actually uses words that are not considered. Speaking of Shang Dynasty, then we must first start with the hairstyle, that is, what does the head of a businessman without a helmet look like?
There is no accurate written record of this, but we can refer to some sculptures to study (although not much). There are two main sources of Shang Dynasty sculpture in China, one is Yin Ruins, and the other is The Guanghan Sanxingdui in Sichuan. Judging from the excavated cultural relics of Yin Ruins and Sanxingdui, the Shang Dynasty should have kept braids. From the appearance, the braids of the Shang Dynasty look basically the same as the whips of modern big girls, that is, the hair is first divided into three strands, and then braided into braids. After the braid is braided, it can be directly hung behind the head, or it can be coiled up, the braid of the Shang Dynasty bronze head unearthed from the Sanxingdui Sacrifice Pit is a natural sagging state, while the hair braid of the Shang Dynasty stone man unearthed from the Yin Ruins will tuck the tail into the headband and coil it up. The headband is a common decoration of the Shang Dynasty, the ancients called the headband "頍", the material of the headband is unknown, according to common sense, it should be leather and textile.
▲ Bronze head excavated from Guanghan Sanxingdui with drooping braids
▲ Yin Ruins of the Shang Dynasty stone man, braided in a hairband
▲ Bronze head excavated from Guanghan Sanxingdui with hair bands
In the Shang Dynasty, many have been unearthed in China. These gizzards can be simply divided into two types, one used by the northern peoples and the other used by the Central Plains and southerners. Roughly speaking, the surface of the northern peoples is smooth, while the central plains and southerners have distinct patterns of Yin Shang characteristics on the gizzard. The bronze gizzard in the illustration in this article was unearthed from Xingan Oceania, Jiangxi. It is important to note here that this Oceania is not Australia, but oceania township in Shinkan County.
▲Shanxi Museum collects northern bronze gizzards of the Shang Dynasty
On September 20, 1989, villagers in Oceania Town, Xingan County, Ji'an City, Jiangxi Province, found a tomb while taking soil. Subsequently, archaeologists excavated the tomb, which is a tomb of the late Shang Dynasty, and a total of 475 bronzes, 754 jades, and 139 pottery were excavated. The excavation of the Xingan Tomb had an important impact on the study of domestic Shang Dynasty culture. A large number of excavated cultural relics show that as early as the Shang Dynasty, a political regime with a considerable degree of civilization had been established in the Jiangnan region. The bronze artifacts excavated from the tomb have a distinct Yin Shang style, and some of the shapes and ornaments of the utensils are quite different from those in the Central Plains. The copper gizzard appearing in this article is 18.7 cm high and has an inner diameter of 21 cm x 18.6 cm at the base. The front of the copper gizzard is cast with a typical Yinshang animal face pattern, there is an opening at the lower end of the front, the rear tip has a tassel tube used to place the ornament, and the top of the copper gizzard has a ridge (ridge line), and from the side, the entire gizzard is a slope with a higher front end.
▲Jiangxi Museum Xingan Oceania Shang Dynasty front
This copper gizzard in Oceania is quite similar to the copper gizzard excavated in the Yin Ruins area, and belongs to the typical Yin Shang civilization copper gizzard. This shows that at that time, the Yin Shang civilization had already had a greater impact on the Jiangxi region.
▲Jiangxi Museum Xingan Oceania Shang Dynasty top
So how is the gizzard worn, directly buttoned on the head? Of course not, and modern helmets, helmets are different, most of the ancient gizzards are relatively rough inside, the Shang Dynasty is no exception, if this gizzard is directly buckled on the head, the hair and scalp will not be comfortable, then what should be done? What the Shang Dynasty did is now unknown, but we can find a hint from the practices of later generations, such as when the Qing Dynasty wore helmets, it was necessary to wear a lining, that is, a cotton helmet, so that the people with the gizzard could be more comfortable, and the Shang Dynasty may also adopt a similar approach.
▲ Qing Dynasty lining and gizzard of the Haiphong Museum
Helmets are life-saving things, very important, if the helmet to the head of the buckle on the battle, may be the enemy sweeping a stick over, the helmet will be knocked off, so it is very bad. Therefore, just as modern people wear hard hats and also have straps, the Shang Dynasty may also use straps to tie the helmet tightly when wearing helmets, and the gizzard unearthed in Oceania has four perforations on the gizzard, which may be used to wear ropes.
▲Jiangxi Museum Xingan Oceania Shang Dynasty side
To sum up, how should a samurai of the Shang Dynasty wear his own helmet before going into battle? After the analysis of this article, the steps are as follows: first, first, arrange your hairstyle; second, wear a helmet hat (note, this step is conjecture); third, buckle the helmet on the head; fourth, fix the helmet and tie the straps (if any). After the above steps, the warrior's helmet is put on, and then he puts on the armor (if any), and he can use the weapon to kill the enemy happily!
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