On March 18, the Qin han cemetery of Zhengjiahu Warring States in Yunmeng County, where the "First Long Wen Yao of China" was unearthed, was selected as one of the six new archaeological discoveries in China in 2021, making the "hometown of Jian Mu" Yunmeng and Jian Mu unearthed from Hubei Province, once again attracting attention.
The unearthing of Simple Documents has allowed the reproduction of ancient civilizations that have been sealed for many years. A few days ago, a reporter from Hubei Daily interviewed the Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the Jingzhou Museum, the Jingzhou Cultural Protection Center and other units for the excavation and protection of Jianmu, as well as Chen Wei, director of the Jianbu Research Center of Wuhan University and a member of the expert committee of the "Ancient Scripts and Chinese Civilization Inheritance and Development Project".
The picture shows: The cover of the "Collection of Warring States Briefs Unearthed in ChuDi"
The "hometown of Jian Mu" Yun Meng frequently appears important Jian Mu
In 2021, the late Warring States tomb in the Zhengjiahu Cemetery unearthed a long wen mu yao (a kind of multi-prismatic wooden mu, with seven lines on both sides of the wood, each line is about 50 words, the full text is about 700 words, and the font is typical of Qin Li. Luo Yunbing, project leader and vice president of the Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, introduced that the yao is the earliest "China's first long literary treasure" seen in the current era, with rare shape, rich connotation and great academic value. The text contains the words of the strategist Zhu Who lobbied the King of Qin to establish righteousness, and the "vertical and horizontal" color is strong, showing a historical picture of the struggle and mediation between the eastern countries and the Qin, and at the same time involves the war relations between Wei, Yue and Wu during the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, and the "Battle of weiyue Suxu's wilderness" and other events contained in it are the first to be seen. The Yao wen is not found in the records of the lineage, providing a new type of literature on strategy and questioning, enriching the political history materials of the late Warring States period, and is a precious text for studying the social thought of the time.
Pictured: Yunmeng Zhengjiahu Cemetery unearthed Changwen Yao (courtesy of Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology)
As early as 1975, about 3,000 meters away from the Zhengjiahu Cemetery, the No. 11 Qin Tomb of Yunmeng Sleeping Tiger Land shocked the world because of the excavation of Qin Jian. A total of 1155 pieces of Qin Jian were unearthed from the tomb, including a large number of legal documents before and after the unification of China by the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC, such as "Eighteen Kinds of Qin Laws", "Miscellaneous Copies of Qin Laws", "Sealing Diagnosis Style", "The Way of officials", etc., which were copied by the grass-roots officials of the Qin State "Xi" in their daily work, with a total of more than 40,000 neat Qin Li Chinese characters. Experts believe that the Qin laws contained in these Qin Jian have formed a system and are quite complete, representing the most advanced legal civilization in the world at that time. In the first season of CCTV's "National Treasure" in 2017, the host Sabine incarnated as the owner of Qin Jian "Xi" and staged a "Qin Dynasty version of 'Today's Statement'" that traveled through time and space, which received widespread attention.
Pictured: M324 excavated from the cemetery on the north bank of the Longhui River in Jingzhou is an infrared scan of Chujian
The "National Treasures Exhibition season", which was broadcast at the end of 2021, recreated the legendary story of China's first family letter "Heifu Mumu" unearthed from the Qin Tomb No. 4 in Sleeping Tiger Land in the artistic way of scene singing. The wooden mu is written on both sides, the ink book is in the form of a private letter from the soldier Hef to the family, describing the situation of the expedition and asking for clothes, from which we can glimpse the feelings of ordinary people in the context of Qin's unification of China.
Hubei is a well-deserved province of Jianmu
"Hubei unearthed dozens of batches of Jian Mu, about 10,000 words, is a well-deserved Province of Jian Mu." Chen Wei said in an interview that the majority of the excavations of Jian Mu from the mainland are hubei, Hunan, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang and other places, and in terms of content, the importance of the excavated jian mu in Chu is self-evident.
Studies have shown that there are many important Janes unearthed in Hubei: the Bamboo Jane of the Tomb of Marquis Zeng Yi of Suizhou Drum Dun unearthed in 1978 records the carriages and horses used for funerals and the accessories on the vehicles, weapons, armor, driving officials, etc., which is the earliest bamboo relics seen in China. The Hanjian of Zhangjiashan in Jiangling, unearthed in 1983, is rich in connotations, and the Book of Arithmetic is similar to the Nine Chapters of Arithmetic, classifying arithmetic problems into each chapter and explaining their solution methods, but at least a century and a half before the Nine Chapters of Arithmetic. The Jingmen Guodian Chujian unearthed in 1993 involves a large number of Confucian and Taoist classics. Among them, Guo Dianjian's Lao Tzu (A, B, C) is the earliest surviving Warring States manuscript, and is a living material for studying the writing and circulation process of Lao Tzu in the Warring States period.
Pictured: Location map of M12 cemetery in Hujia Grassland Cemetery, Jingzhou
In recent years, there have still been many batches of important Jian Mu excavated in Hubei. In 2018, a batch of Western Han Dynasty Jian Mu was excavated from the Hujia Grassland Cemetery in Jingzhou, which is the largest number of Jian Mu excavated from a single tomb seen so far, with a total of 4642 pieces, creating several "most". For example, the earliest medical prescription compilation literature was found, and some medical prescriptions were very close to the "classic formulas" in the "Treatise on Typhoid Fever" and the "Golden Shortage" in terms of drug composition and functional indications, and the clinical application history of the passed down from generation to generation was more than 300 years in advance. The medical prescription involves many aspects of treatment, health care, childcare, planting, breeding, etc., and is simply named "Making the Teeth White Fang", which records that "the 100 days of beauty and guijing, and the teeth are white", which is the ancient method of using Chinese medicine cinnamon sticks or cinnamon to make teeth white.
Pictured: Jingzhou Hujia Grassland Cemetery M12 chamber plane
Pictured: Bamboo shoots excavated from M12, Hujia Grassland Cemetery, Jingzhou
Pictured: Jingzhou Hujia Grassland Cemetery M12 unearthed western Han Dynasty Jian Mu
In 2020, The cemetery of Zaolinpu Paper Mill in Jingzhou unearthed Chujian, involving Qi Huangong and Guan Zhongzhiguo, Wu Yue Zhengba, Mojia Thought, Xiangyi Shu, etc., some of which can be read in conjunction with the Chuanshi Ben and Qinghua Jian, providing new materials for the study of the dissemination, revision, and falsification of ancient books of the pre-Qin Dynasty. In 2021, the Chujian content excavated from the Wangjiazui cemetery includes "Confucius Yue" and "Book of Poetry", providing new materials for understanding the style and time of writing of the current "Analects" and "Book of Poetry". The first discovery of "double-column characters" is speculated to be related to music.
Pictured: M12 excavated from the Hujia Grassland Cemetery in Jingzhou is a simple infrared scan of the Western Han Dynasty calendar
Pictured: M12 excavated from the Hujia Grassland Cemetery in Jingzhou is an infrared scan of the Western Han Dynasty Chronicle
Chen Wei said that there are many Janes unearthed in Hubei, which should be related to the preservation conditions. The archaeological community says that "dry for thousands of years, wet for ten thousand years, not dry and not wet for only half a year", the groundwater level in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River is high, and the pH of the water in the relevant areas is nearly neutral, which is conducive to the preservation of lacquer, wood and bamboo. Bai Yunxiang, director of the Qin and Han Archaeology Committee of the Chinese Archaeological Society, also pointed out that the lacquered wood tools unearthed by Yunmeng, including Jian Mu, have a very obvious and prominent status in the country. One is because people at that time used a large number of lacquered wood as burial items; second, because a number of water-filled ancient tombs were excavated in this area, and lacquered wood was soaked in water and isolated from oxygen, and it was possible to be well preserved after more than 2,000 years.
The Yue people remember to restore the daily life of the ancients
The JianMu literature inherits oracle bones and gold texts, and the paper manuscripts and engraved documents have an important position in the development and inheritance of Chinese civilization.
Chen Wei said that as far as cultural classics are concerned, many Jian Mu texts are the same or equivalent to the handed down documents, which is helpful to understand the early textual appearance of the handed down documents, their formation ages and circulation processes, or to correct the errors in the transmission version. A number of reproductions, such as Guodian Zhujian's "Six Virtues" about early Confucian concepts, and the early Taoist document "Taisheng Water", which tells the origin of the universe, are also very precious. Studying these "new materials underground", there has been a qualitative leap in the understanding of the Warring States script, especially the Chu script, and a clearer understanding of the development context of the pre-Qin Zhuzi thought.
As far as the judiciary is concerned, from the Sleeping Tiger Land Qin Jian and Han Jian to the Zhangjiashan Han Jian, a large number of Qin and Han laws have been unearthed, providing a basis for restoring the early appearance of the Chinese legal system. This also changed the view of Japanese scholars that there was no systematic law in China during the Qin and Han dynasties.
Pictured: Yunmeng Sleeping Tiger Land Qin Jian (Courtesy of Hubei Provincial Museum)
In terms of history, in 2019, the cemetery on the north bank of the Longhui River in Jingzhou unearthed Chu Jian and comprehensively presented the military etiquette of the Chu State, involving the rituals of the Chu State sacrifice and the records of the Chu State's carriages, horses, weapons and equipment. These materials are of great significance to the understanding of the military system and history of the Chu state. For another example, the direction of the qin and Han an lu county is inconclusive, and through the combing of the sleeping tiger land Han Jian, it can be determined that it is in the present-day Yunmeng City Pass.
Pictured: Location map of the cemetery on the north bank of the Longhui River in Jingzhou
"Through the excavation of Jian Mu, the interpretation of history at the mesoscopic and macro level cannot be ignored," Chen Wei said, "At the same time, the content of the Jian Mu also involves all aspects of daily life, which can be seen as a condensation of the cultural life of the ancients." ”
"Quality day" is similar to a calendar note, which is a private document type. In the past, the "quality day" with the most years found was the "quality day" of three years in the Yuelu Academy, but the "quality day" of Yunmeng Sleeping Tiger Land Han Jian was recorded continuously for more than ten years.
Pictured: M324 chamber plane of the cemetery on the north bank of the Longhui River in Jingzhou
In 2006, archaeologists obtained more than 2,000 Jian Mu when cleaning up the Han tomb No. 77 in Sleeping Tiger Land, dating from the last year of Emperor Wen of Han. Chen Wei and others have learned about the living life of the ancients through in-depth research on the "quality day" type of bamboo. "Looking at these pamphlets is like looking at the diary of the owner of the tomb who calls himself the 'Yue people.'" Chen Wei introduced that the Yue people were likely to be a diligent grassroots official in Anlu, and Jian Mu showed that he was always seconded to the county when he worked in the township, and even on the day of his father's death, he was still on a business trip in the area of present-day Huanggang, and returned to work immediately after the funeral.
Pictured: M324 head box burial utensils in the cemetery on the north bank of the Longhui River in Jingzhou
In addition to recording the official duties of the Yue people, the "Quality Day" also records private affairs, such as the specific record of the mother of the tomb owner from illness to death to burial. Some Zhu Jian also recorded that when the Sister of the Yue people died, 81 people came to send funeral gifts, a person named "Smoke" sent "wine and food", the Yue people recorded it, and when "Smoke" died, he also went to give gifts, so that the "gift exchange" was recorded for more than ten years. At that time, some years had as many as 20 days of ambush and as many as 30 days of ambush, which was unheard of.
"Different from the memorabilia of the documents passed down from generation to generation, the various changes in the world revealed by Jian Mu are rarely seen in the documents passed down from generation to generation." Chen Wei said. In the Epistle Jian Mu unearthed from the Tomb of the Sleeping Tiger Of Qin, when the soldiers went out to ask their families for clothes, they used three "urgent" words in a row to urge, which seems to be 100,000 urgent today, but in fact, it is a common usage of the Qin people to express eagerness, and there are similar uses in other excavated Jian Mu. Also in this letter, the soldiers also greeted a large number of people, from mothers and brothers, to newlywed wives, and even neighbors, "So it seems that the Qin people used to write letters and repeated greetings, and at the same time spoke slightly exaggerated." Chen Wei said with a smile.
Qin Jianzhong also found a large number of nine-nine multiplication tables, the "coupons" used in trading, and the rulers used in large-scale transactions, as well as ledgers, liquor orders, love letters, etc., which are closely related to the lives of the ancients. Chen Wei introduced that Liye Qinjian mainly used official documents, but also found "invitation to the banquet", "willing to participate in the above name plus 'no', it can be said that the earliest 'follow-up'". He believes that the diversification of the Jianmu literature can reflect that the general writing and reading skills were quite popular at that time.
Pictured: Jingzhou Hujia Grassland Cemetery M12 unearthed Western Han Dynasty Law Lingjian, JingfangJian infrared scan photos
Dialogue between ancient and modern with the help of infrared technology
The study of ancient scripts and Jian Mu is "unpopular", and to carry out academic research on excavated Jian Mu, it is first necessary to pass the interpretation and reading pass. The older generation of scholars will inevitably sit on the cold bench and work hard. Chen Wei's research on the excavated cultural relics "Ejun Qijie" has accompanied his academic career for decades. Through a lot of research, he made a new interpretation of "Yue", and then determined that the "E" here is not in present-day Wuchang, but in the Nanyang Basin. This view corrected the bias of Guo Moruo and others, and interpreted "over" as "going down the river", which was widely adopted by later academic circles.
In recent years, the development of science and technology has provided great convenience for the study of excavated Jane. Chen Wei said that after a thousand years of baptism, it is inevitable that the handwriting will be unclear, and it was very difficult to identify it by the naked eye. The Research Center of Wuhan University introduces infrared technology to see through the ink that penetrates into the interior of the Jane, and in the occasion of blurred and peeling surface handwriting, it can also help researchers see the original strokes in many cases. A wooden map of the Qin Tomb in Matan, Tianshui, Gansu Province, was excavated, and according to conventional photographs, the character indicating the direction was interpreted as "shang". But with the help of infrared images, a slanted "north" word jumped out of sight. Chen Wei said that the maps before the Tang Dynasty in China were basically up, south, and north, and after changing the "shang" in the map of Fangmatan to "north," it can be seen that the map, like other maps before the Tang Dynasty, has further strengthened the understanding of the orientation of ancient Maps of China.
The database is also an important means for the center to carry out academic research, thereby collecting, screening, classifying and entering a large amount of ancient book information. According to reports, the center has developed a database of ancient Chinese Jian Shu glyphs and dictionaries, including all published Chu Jian data, some Qin Jian Mu, Han Jian Mu data and ancient character book data, which can realize the retrieval of single words, partial sides and dictionaries, and has now entered 139,000 single word graphics and related document data, published on the "Jian Shu Network" for researchers to share and use. In addition, the center also cooperates with the Big Data Research Institute of Wuhan University and Wuhan Digital Literature And Technology to develop a comprehensive digital platform for Chinese Jianpu literature, and plans to include about 300,000 and 3 million words of Jianmu images, texts and related documents unearthed in China so far, and permanently preserve the "Chinese memory" on the excavated Jane in digital form to help researchers better carry out ancient and modern dialogue.
(Hubei Daily full media reporter Hai Bing Tian Peiwen correspondent Zhang Jun Li Jing)
Source: Jingchu Network