Hou shijiahe culture "fish holding dolls" and mountain sacrifice activities

Abstract: A large number of pottery sculptures from the post-Shijiahe cultural period have been excavated in the site represented by Dengjiawan, of which the "fish-hugging doll" is the most eye-catching because of its unique shape. In the past, there has been a lot of discussion about "fish dolls", but this article re-examines these "fish dolls" and the roles they play, believing that these pottery dolls should be called baozhang dolls, and they represent the image of a wizard holding a tooth zhang. In the literature, an important function of Yuzhang is to sacrifice mountains and rivers, so the "fish holding doll" shows the activity scene of the wizard sacrificing the mountain to the rain, and such a mountain sacrifice and rain seeking activity is also in line with the overall dry and cold environmental background of the Jianghan Plain in the post-Shijiahe cultural period. All the ceramic animals and dolls excavated from the Dengjiawan site are a comprehensive embodiment of this sacrifice activity.

Ceramic sculptures such as ceramic animals and ceramic dolls are important connotations of Houshijiahe culture. At present, there are more than 20 excavations of pottery sculptures, and the total number of excavations has reached more than 10,000 pieces, of which the Dengjiawan site has the largest number of excavations. Among all ceramic sculptures, the character form and action of "fish holding dolls" are more consistent, compared with other vivid and lively, diverse forms of ceramic dolls, it is solemn and solemn, is the most interesting type of ceramic dolls, for such pottery dolls, there have been more discussions in the past. On the basis of previous research, this paper intends to re-explore the connotation of "fish-hugging dolls" and analyze the cultural meanings expressed, hoping to help understand the nature of the pottery sculptures of the Houshijiahe culture and the realistic scenes they reflect, and at the same time help to understand the belief system of the Post-Shijiahe cultural period. Or if there is any impropriety, please correct the Fang family.

First, the discovery and research of the "fish holding doll" of the Houshijiahe culture

At present, there are 13 "fish-hugging dolls" (Figure 1, 1-6) that have been published in the image or text materials, all of which belong to the post-Shijiahe cultural period, of which 10 are from the Dengjiawan site H67, and the other three are excavated from the Tanjialing site, the Wangjiadu site and the Chemushan site. Compared with other pottery dolls with various forms, the shape of the "fish holding doll" is unified, all of which are kneeling, straight, forward-looking, flattened whole body, high nasal protrusions, wearing a crown, horns on both sides of the crown, holding a "fish" in both hands on the abdomen, holding the "fish" tail in the left hand, and pressing the "fish" head with the right hand.

In the past, most of the research on the pottery sculptures of the Houshijiahe culture was summarized in a general way from the whole, but based on the particularity of the "fish holding doll", scholars will also discuss its function and the cultural connotation it expresses separately. For example, Zhang Xuqiu believes that "fish-hugging dolls" "seem to be interpreted as wizards praying reverently for success in fishing and abundance in life." Yan Wenming believes that "all these pottery dolls and clay sculpture animals ... may reflect a kind of sacrifice to celebrate the harvest." ...... The pottery dolls who sit on their knees with fish may represent the images of the sacrificers, and their dignified and solemn and devotional demeanor is impressive. Pottery dolls in various postures such as dancing are completely different expressions, and may show scenes of celebration." Song Yuqin referred to the relevant materials of the Naxi "sacrifice ceremony" and believed that "the kneeling pottery ,......, held a big fish in his hand found at the Site of Dengjiawan May be similar to the aforementioned Guardian God of the Naxi Tribe, or it may represent the image of a human wizard." Zhou Guanglin also referred to relevant ethnological materials, believing that the image of "people holding fish" "is intended to use the exuberant fertility of fish to express the psychology of human blessings and wishes for fertility and harvest, which should be the image of witches who are witches in the Shijiahe cultural period, or the image of the god of abundant production in people's hearts." The "Deng Jia Wan" report believes that most pottery dolls and pottery animals should be sacrificed. On the basis of denying the "theory of fertility witchcraft" and the "theory of sacrifice", Guo Lixin believes that the "human holding fish-shaped puppet" reflects a scene of a wizard's practice, and the "fish" held by the pottery doll has the same properties as other pottery animals, that is, these animals are the tools used by wizards to channel the spirit. In addition, Meng Huaping once made a special discussion on the "fish-hugging doll", believing that "the fish-shaped instrument may be a fish-shaped instrument for people, which is the artistic embodiment of the musician's music", but as for what kind of ancient instrument the fish-shaped instrument is, it is unknown. Guo Jingyun believes that this shows the image of the goddess holding Tao Zu in her hand.

Figure 1: "Fish-hugging dolls" and attachments excavated from the Dengjiawan site

1.H67:5 2.H67:50 3.H67:57 4.H67:4 5.H67:56 6.H67:7 7.T4:14 8.T4:15

The above views basically represent the mainstream understanding of the academic community on the "fish-hugging dolls" of the Houshijiahe culture. Through analysis, it can be seen that the existing views can be roughly divided into two categories: one is that the object held by the pottery doll is the embodiment of the fish or fish, which is basically the understanding of most scholars; the other is that the object held by the pottery doll is a kind of ceremonial instrument with a forked end like a fish's tail, or can be called a "fish-shaped instrument". It can be seen that the objects held by the pottery dolls are the key to our understanding of the cultural connotation of the "fish holding dolls" and even the activity scenes represented by all the ceramic sculptures in DengJiawan. Therefore, we intend to re-analyze the image of the "fish-hugging doll" and its objects, and use this as a starting point to discuss the activity scene reflected in the pottery sculptures excavated at the DengJiawan site.

2. The image of the "fish doll" and the object it embraces

(1) The image of a "fish-hugging doll"

The houshijiahe culture has a rich variety of pottery dolls, taking the Dengjiawan site as an example, considering the nature of its religious sacrifice, we may be able to speculate that different forms of dolls played different roles in the sacrifice activities. So what is the role of the "fish doll" in it? Previous studies have mostly believed that "fish-hugging dolls" are wizards, but they are relatively lacking in detailed demonstration process, and we basically agree with this view, but we still intend to make a comprehensive investigation of the pottery dolls, jade figures and other human figures seen in the post-Shijiahe cultural period, hoping to provide a certain supplementary argument for this point of view.

At present, most of the pottery dolls found in the post-Shijiahe cultural period are from the Dengjiawan site, and there are also a small number of sites such as Xiaojiaya ridge, Tanjialing and Sanfangwan that also belong to the Shijiahe ruins group, while the areas outside the Shijiahe ruins group are only found in the sites of Baimiao, Wangjiadu, Chemushan and so on. The pottery dolls seen are diverse in form, and according to their crown ornaments, they can be divided into two categories: crown-free and crown-wearing. Among them, according to the style of its crown, the crown pottery can be divided into three sub-categories: class A is an arc-top crown, the crown is higher, the crown top is rounded or slightly pointed, and the two sides are flattened or slightly lowered (Figure 2, 1, 2); Class B is a round crown, the crown is shorter, and the flat top (Figure 2, 3); the C crown is more than the two sides of the head tied into a upward angle (Figure 2, 4, 5). According to the relatively complete ceramic dolls, it can be found that the A-type crown is only seen in the "fish-hugging doll", the B-type crown does not know its puppet form because there is no complete doll, and the C-type crown is a dancing doll; the crown-free person has his hands bent on the chest, as if dancing.

In addition, a number of jade figures from the post-Shijiahe cultural period have been excavated at sites such as Tanjialing, Xiaojiaya ridge, Luojiabailing, Zaolinggang and Liuhe. Du Jinpeng had noticed that these jade statues could be roughly divided into two categories, A and B, of which the A type of image was strange, the lines were smooth, and the B type image was no different from ordinary people; and he believed that the A class jade carving god statue and the Shandong Longshan culture had some inseparable relationship. Through observation, we think that it can be subdivided according to the facial appearance of the jade portrait and its crown ornaments, which can be roughly divided into four categories, class A is the same as The A category of Du Jinpeng, such portraits have strange images, wearing crowns, protruding noses, mouths with fangs, clear auricles, and arcular rings (Figure 3, 1, 2). Class B facial expressions are more ferocious, with fusiform eyes, raised outer corners of the eyes, wide nose wings, closed mouth, the corners of the mouth downwards, decorated with rings; wearing a round crown on the head, flat top (Figure 3, 3, 4). Class C facial appearance is no different from ordinary people, fusiform eyes, a wide nose, clear auricles, decorated with annular urn, wearing an arc crown on the head, and the sides of the crown are sagging at the corners (Figure 3, 5-7). Category D is not much different from Category C in terms of character appearance, but its crown style is a low crown with a flat top (Figure 3, 8, 9).

Figure 2: Classification of pottery doll crown ornaments

1.T4:23 2.H67:5 3.H118:13 4.H67:61 5.T3:1 6.T4:29 7. T4:3

(All of the above were excavated from the Site of Deng Jia Wan)

By comparing the characters of two different materials of pottery and jade, it can be found that the images of A and B types of jade are not found in the pottery dolls, while the images of the C-class pottery dolls and the crown-free dolls are not found in the jade portraits. The crown style of the A and B class pottery dolls and the C and D jade figures is basically the same, and should be able to correspond to each other.

In summary, there is a more obvious boundary between the image of the tao doll and the image of the jade person. Generally speaking, the upper nobility often holds control over jade resources, so the class to which the figure on the jade belongs should generally have a higher social status. Then the obvious boundary between the images of the potters and jade people in the Houshijiahe culture seems to imply that different kinds of characters represent different social classes.

First of all, the Class A jade figure as a deity in ancient times should be certain, and the crown it wears has a certain similarity with the longitudinal beam crown discussed by Wang Renxiang. The longitudinal beam crown is found in prehistoric sites and has a wide influence, and is a standard crown ornament created by prehistoric people for the gods. Sun Qingwei further pointed out that such jade figures represent the god of the East. Class B jade figures, who wear a flat-topped crown on their heads, fusiform eyes, the corners of the eyes are up, the mouth is closed, and the corners of the mouth are down, and similar figures are found in the sanxingdui ruins a little later. A piece of jade zhang (K2:201, appendix 4) was unearthed from the Sanxingdui No. 2 sacrifice pit, on which several sets of alpine and human figures were carved, among which the figures at the top of the ladder, both in the crown style and facial appearance, were similar to the B-class jade figures of the Houshijiahe culture (Fig. 4, the upper layer of the pattern), and the figures of Sanxingdui were considered to be "gods such as mountain gods and mountain ghosts" or immortals in the upper realm. As the Sanxingdui culture, which inherits many factors of the post-Shijiahe culture, we have reason to believe that such a highly similar character image should also express similar cultural connotations.

Secondly, the C-class jade figure is similar to the crown ornament worn by the "Fish Holding Doll" (Class A pottery doll), although the materials used are different, but the expression of cultural connotation should be consistent, so its identity should also be the same or close, so it shows that the "Fish Holding Doll" also seems to have a higher social status.

Figure 3: Classification of jade gods and portraits of Houshijiahe culture

1. Xiaojia roof ridge W6:32 2.Tanjialing W9:7 3.Xiaojia roof ridge W6:14 4.Luojiabailing T20B:3

5. Zaolingang JZM4:1 6.Liuhe W18:1 7.Tanjialing W9 8.Xiaojialing Ridge W7:4 9.Tanjialing W8:2

In addition, the "fish holding dolls" are all kneeling. Kneeling, often considered to be a common body posture used by shamans during ritual activities, is the kneeling posture of the person who holds the zhang sacrifice mountain in Sanxingdui, which is considered to be a kind of figure of wu zhu (fig. 4, the lower level of the pattern). The kneeling style is also a common posture of the Shang Dynasty jade people, and AiLan believes that these kneeling jade people should be Shang Dynasty witches, and the figures with similar postures should also have the same identity. Therefore, we have reason to believe that the kneeling "fish-hugging dolls" should also belong to the type of witch, holding sacrifices in their hands or holding ritual instruments used in rituals.

Figure 4: Yuzhang and its detailed patterns were excavated from the No. 2 sacrifice pit at the Sanxingdui site

(2) The object held by the "fish doll"

As mentioned above, the "fish doll" is the representative of the shaman or secular leader, and combined with the special nature of the Dengjiawan site, the "fish doll" and the coexistence of pottery animals, pottery dolls, etc. should show the scene of human sacrifice activities at that time, then the objects held by the "fish doll" may be both sacrifices used to worship the gods and magic tools used by wizards in the sacrifice activities.

If the object to be held is a sacrifice, then it should be something common and edible. Previous studies have often called it fish, resulting in the interpretation of "fish-hugging dolls" mostly from the meaning of "fish". However, the process of argumentation is not sufficient.

First of all, the overall morphology of common fish in nature is mostly streamlined, while the "fish" held by the "fish-hugging doll" is a long strip as a whole, and there is no other feature that can indicate that it is a fish except for the similarity between the bifurcation at one end and the tail (Fig. 1, 7, 8). The Dengjiawan site also unearthed a realistic clay sculpture fish (Figure 5). Wu Xianzhu believes that this pottery fish belongs to the fish order, cyprinid order, and carp family. The overall shape of the pottery fish is approximately streamlined, which is far from the image of the "fish" held by the head and tail. At the same time, the tail of the pottery fish did not show a forked tail fin, which seems to indicate that in the concept of the people at that time, the tail fin was not the most important of all the morphological characteristics of the fish.

Secondly, if the object held is indeed a fish used as a sacrifice, then among the excavated pottery animals, the proportion of pottery fish with realistic images should be larger, but the fact is the opposite, the number of pottery fish is very limited. Therefore, it is reasonable to question the naming of the "fish-hugging doll".

Finally, among the ceramic sculptures seen, there are also many that also show the interaction between humans and animals, and there is not much difference between the animal images of these human interactions and the independent animal images of the same kind, so it can be shown that people do not retain only a certain salient feature of animals because of the interaction between humans and animals when making these ceramic sculptures.

Fig. 5: Pottery fish excavated from the Dengjiawan site (T28:3)

Some scholars have long proposed that the object held by the doll is not a fish, but a kind of "fish-shaped instrument", which is an instrument in the ritual activities of sacrifice, such as an instrument. This is certainly possible, as primitive religious sacrifices were often accompanied by music and dance. However, no instrument of similar shape has been found so far, so the evidence for considering it as an instrument is slightly insufficient. However, as a tool for sacrificial activities, especially the objects held by shamans, their nature is bound to be precious and sacred. As a post-Shijiahe culture at the end of the Neolithic period or the era of copper and stone, jade is the most likely of these artifacts with such a nature, and among the large number of contemporaneous jade types, only Yazhang, which has a similar shape, is the most suitable, for the following reasons.

First, from the detached attachments of the "fish-hugging doll" (Figure 1, 7, 8), the object held is a flat and long strip of objects that are basically equal in width at the end and tail, with one end forked, and its overall shape is similar to the morphology of the tooth zhang seen in archaeology.

Second, according to the proportion of the object held to the human body, it can be inferred that its length should be about 40-50 cm, and the length of the tooth zhang can also be comparable.

Third, the "fish-hugging doll" morphology is highly consistent, or it can be said that the object being held has a fixed holding method, that is, the left hand supports one end of the fork and the right hand holds the other end; and according to the general holding habit, this seems to imply that one end of the fork is its head (head) and the other end is its handle (tail/foot), which is consistent with the holding method of the tooth zhang seen by the bronze holder (K2:325) excavated from the Sanxingdui site; at the same time, it also indirectly indicates that the object being held may not be a fish.

Finally, the Jingzhou Museum collected two pieces of Yazhang (Figure 6) in The WangjiawuChang, and the reporter speculated that the two pieces of Yazhang were not much different from the age of the site, both of which were in the late Shijiahe culture; the appendix of the two pieces of Yazhang was similar to the AaII. divided by Wang Yongbo, which was equivalent to the late Longshan culture (about 4300-4000 years ago), which was roughly equivalent to the age judged by the briefing, which showed that in the post-Shijiahe culture period, people in the Jianghan Plain area already knew the existence of such artifacts as Yazhang. It is even quite possible that it has entered the belief system of the society at that time and become an important instrument used by the people of that time in the sacrifice activities, so it is also a very reasonable choice to add the element of yazhang to the ceramic sculptures that imitate the sacrifice scene.

Based on the above discussion, we believe that the object held by the "fish-hugging doll" is not a fish, but a jade zhang. Therefore, the so-called "fish-hugging doll" should be called "hugging zhang doll" is more appropriate.

Figure 6: Yazhang collected from the site of Wang Jiawuchang

3. "Baozhang Dolls" and mountain sacrifice activities in the post-Shijiahe cultural period

(1) The environmental background of the post-Shijiahe cultural period

On the one hand, environmental archaeology-related studies have shown that between 4200 and 4000 years ago, the world experienced a cooling event, which led to the decline and fall of civilizations in different parts of the world. Similarly, the Jianghan Plain is also around 4300-4000 years ago, the climate changed from warm and wet to continuous dry and cold period, precipitation decreased, the accumulation of water in the site area decreased and gradually evolved into the residential land of the ancients, so the continuous dry and cool climate, the frequent occurrence of extreme climate disasters, led to the decline of Shijiahe culture. According to this, the Houshijiahe culture, which dates back to about 4200-3900 years ago, is also facing abnormal climate changes on a global scale, and in general, it is in a relatively dry and cold climate environment.

On the other hand, relevant studies of plant archaeology have shown that the type of livelihood economy in the Jianghan Plain is mainly rice agriculture, or a small amount of millet agriculture. Areas where rice farming is the tradition has a greater demand for water, especially in times of drought, so people often hold a certain ceremony to ask for rain, so as to ensure that agricultural production can proceed smoothly. So what are they sacrificing to?

The ancients believed that rainwater originated in the mountains, and the gods who lived on the mountains came and went, and there would be wind and rain. The Classic of Mountains and Seas, the Classic of Zhongshan: "The ,...... Divine Calculations,...... In and out will be stormy", and "the mountain of the cave court,......。 The Second Daughter of the Emperor ,...... Coming and going will be stormy. "The Great Wilderness East Classic": "There is a liubo mountain in the East Sea, which flows into the sea for seven thousand miles." There are beasts on it, shaped like oxen, with a body and no horns, one foot, and when entering and leaving the water, it will be windy and rainy. "Ritual Ritual Law": "Mountains, valleys, hills, clouds, wind and rain, see monsters, all know gods." "Xunzi Persuasion": "The soil is mountainous, and the wind and rain are thriving." "Speaking of the Garden": "Why do the five yues regard the three dukes?" Can be big cloth clouds and rain, can be big clouds and rain. ...... Why does Yamakawa regard the son of a man? Can produce things, can moisturize things, can produce clouds and rain. "Wenzi Shangde": "Lao Tzu said: The mountain is high and the clouds and rain are rising." "Later Han Shu Filial Piety And Filial Piety": "Since the spring and summer, the great drought has been ,...... The county has a famous mountain Ozawa who can rise the clouds and rain, and the two thousand stone chief officials each pray together and do their best. Since in the ancients' conception that wind and rain originated in high mountains, it is easy to think that the object of their request for rain should be the mountain and the gods who dwell in the mountains.

(2) "Holding Zhang's dolls" and mountain sacrifice activities

Based on the discussion in the previous section, we believe that the so-called "fish-hugging doll" in the past should actually be a "hugging zhang puppet", which provides a clue for us to re-discuss its cultural connotations. Yuzhang is more well documented in ancient texts, and its actual objects can also be seen in a wide area of the East Asian continent.

The Zhou Li Chun Guan Zong Bo records that "Zhang's residence shoots at the mountains and rivers to create guests"; the Zhou Li Dong Guan Kao Gong Ji also records that "DaZhang and Zhongzhang are nine inches, and Bianzhang is seven inches." ...... Zhangdi shoots, Su Gong, to worship the mountains and rivers, so that a little qi". The Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Classic of Nanshan: "The head of the mountain, the mountain of self-swaying, and even the mountain of Mimi, the ten mountains, two thousand nine hundred and fifty miles." Its deity is the head of a bird and the body of a dragon, and its shrine ceremony: Mao uses a zhang jade fistula, and the rice is used for rice, and a wall is made of rice and white suga." In the lowermost pattern of the jade zhang excavated from the Sanxingdui No. 2 sacrifice pit mentioned earlier, we can clearly see the image of the tooth zhang inserted on both sides of the mountain, which undoubtedly also indicates that the tooth zhang is a ceremonial vessel used to sacrifice the mountain. In addition, Yang Boda once went to the site of Yazhang excavation in Wanjiagou North Mountain, Wulian County, Shandong Province, to conduct field investigations, and believed that the Yazhang unearthed here was the jade zhang buried in Qishan Mountain. At the same time, the Yazhang found in Luoquanyu Village, Yinan County, Shandong Province, was also excavated in the mountain stone cracks in the gentle slope of the southwest hill of the village, and its burial nature is more likely to belong to the sacrifice pit, so some scholars believe that this is also a ceremonial vessel for the burial of the Qishan Mountain.

Although in the literature, the functions of Yuzhang include "Qishan Chuan", "Qijun Brigade", "Li Nanfang", "To Collect Corpses", etc., but "sacrificial mountains and rivers" should be the original function of Yuzhang, and other functions may be gradually derived later. Therefore, we believe that in the post-Shijiahe cultural period, whether it is the excavated jade zhang or the clay sculpture substitute held by the clay sculpture doll, it is a reflection of its original function, that is, the yazhang is also a kind of jade ceremonial vessel used by people in the post-Shijiahe culture period when worshipping mountain gods.

In summary, we believe that the mountain sacrifice activity is one of the sacrifice activities at the Deng Jia Wan site. With this in mind, it seems that we can also have a certain discussion about other ceramic sculptures that are co-produced with the "Baozhang doll". First of all, in addition to the dolls excavated from the DengJiawan site, there are other dolls, or holding objects, or back objects, or kneeling, or raising legs, or waving, with different forms. Although the affairs of these dolls with different shapes are no longer examinable, they seem to represent a series of activities from the preparation before the sacrifice to the process of sacrifice. For example, the back doll seems to prepare sacrifices for the sacrifice, the holding doll is offering sacrifice, and the dance doll is a person who dances in the sacrifice activity to the gods. Dance is an indispensable and important activity in the sacrificial activity, and in primitive religions it was a way for shamans to séance, a viable way to communicate with and make the gods appear.

Secondly, there are thousands of pottery sculptures excavated from the Dengjiawan site. After identification, there are about 23 species, including 17 species of wild animals and 6 species of domestic animals, mainly wild animals, and there are fewer types of domestic animals. It is recorded in the Book of Rites and Rituals that "mountains, valleys, hills, clouds, wind and rain, monsters, all are gods." At the same time, under the influence of the primitive religion of "all things have animism", "mountains have no size, all have gods, mountains are big, small mountains are small gods", then the animals living in the mountains should also be a kind of deity in the concept of the ancients, such as the Chu people worship of the Yang, that is, the baboons living in the mountains and forests. And a kind of "even-tailed bird" can be seen in the pottery sculpture birds, such birds are obviously not showing existence, but should be the product of the imagination of the ancestors, or have a certain divinity. Therefore, the excavated image of the terracotta wild animal is likely to be regarded as a deity by the residents of the time, and was the object of sacrifice in the mountain festival.

Among the domestic animals unearthed, there are mainly chickens, pigs, sheep, geese and so on. In the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", "Beishan Jing", "Dongshan Jing" and "Zhongshan Jing" often contain "Mao with a rooster, Yan Zhen", "Mao with a chicken to pray", "with a rooster (prayer) fistula" and other methods used to sacrifice its mountain gods. Among the pottery animals, the number of male chickens is the largest, so we speculate that domestic animals represented by male chickens are likely to appear as sacrifices in mountain sacrifice activities.

The ancient city of Shijiahe is located in the mountain plain area transitioning from the Dahong Mountains to the Jianghan Plain, and the overall terrain is high in the north and low in the south, and the Dahong Mountain is located north of the site. The ruins of Dengjiawan are located in the northwest of the highest terrain in the ancient city, and in terms of the entire city site, they are also the closest to the Dahong Mountain, so this is in line with the nature of its sacrificial mountains and rivers. Therefore, combined with the terrain around the Shijiahe ruins and the location of the Dengjiawan ruins, we can speculate that the mountain sacrificed should be Dahong Mountain or one of the high mountains.

Mountain sacrifice activities seem to be a cultural tradition of the pre-Qin period in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, not only in the prehistoric period can be seen related to the remains, after entering the Bronze Age, in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River can still find relevant clues to the mountain sacrifice activities. Jianghan Plain and Dongting Lake Plain have unearthed more late Shang bronzes, but unlike in the Central Plains, these bronze ceremonial vessels are basically not funerary objects, but most of them are excavated in earth pits, and the excavation sites are mostly located on the mountainside or the top of the mountain, such as the 2 pieces of liu rongshan brigade of Baisha Commune in Yangxin County and the bronzes of the old granary division in Ningxiang were excavated in the earth pits on the top of the mountain, while the bronzes in Huangcaizhai Village in Ningxiang County were found on the mountainside of Zhaizi Mountain. The discovery of bronze ceremonial vessels on the mountain far from the human settlement seems to be consistent with the record of the "Ritual Book sacrifice law" that "it is buried in Tai Fold, and the sacrifice site is also sacrificed", which cannot help but remind people of the records of the sacrifice mountain in the literature, the Zhou Li Dazongbo contains "to sacrifice the mountain and the river Forest", of which "Shen" is for Chuanze, and "貍" is for Chuanze, and "瘞" is for the mountain forest, and the "Erya Shi tian" is "sacrifice the mountain Yue County", that is, "or 庪 or county, placed on the mountain". Then, the Bronze Age tradition of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River should be able to find its source in the prehistoric period.

All in all, the pottery sculptures excavated from the Dengjiawan site should represent the remnants of the early mountain sacrifice activities, and the sacrifice of the mountain to seek rain is also in line with the overall dry and cold environmental background of the post-Shijiahe culture period.

IV. Conclusion

A large number of pottery sculptures from the post-Shijiahe culture have been excavated at sites such as Dengjiawan, of which the so-called "fish-hugging dolls" are particularly eye-catching. However, through analysis, we believe that the so-called "fish-hugging doll" should actually be a "hugging puppet". Relevant literature and archaeological findings show that an important function of Yuzhang is to sacrifice mountains and rivers. Therefore, the pottery dolls and pottery animals excavated from the Deng Jia Wan site reflect a kind of activity scene of the shaman holding the Zhang Sacrifice Mountain. The mountain is also the place where the gods live and where the wind and rain rise, so praying for rain is also an important purpose of the mountain. Most of these pottery sculptures expressing the activities of sacrificing mountains and seeking rain were excavated in the Post-Shijiahe culture period, which is also in line with the overall dry and cold environmental background at that time.