The small-mouth bottom bottle is a pottery artifact excavated from the Yangshao cultural site in the Neolithic period of mainland China, and three main forms have been found: banpo type, temple bottom ditch type and Majiayao type. Although the shapes of the instruments are slightly different, they all have the common characteristics of small mouth, long round abdomen, and pointed bottom. This artifact was first seen in the Yangshao culture banpo type in the Weishui River Basin, dating back 5,000 years and continuing until the early days of the Longshan culture. "It has a wide range of distribution, west of Dagan and Qingzhou, east of the hinterland of Henan, south and northwest of Hubei, and north of central and southern Inner Mongolia, northern Jin, and northwest Hebei." ”
Functional analysis and use of various requirements of utensils, semi-open small-mouth pointed bottom bottles are mostly red pottery, the two ends are pointed rugby-shaped, one end is small straight, the middle long round abdomen, the other end is pointed bottom, and the lower waist is symmetrical binaural. In addition, the mouth at the front of its thin neck has a deliberately thickened protrusion, forming a pronounced orifice. The role of the cusp is not only suitable for water purification, but also especially for the placement of cone inserts in cultivated land. The cones are placed in the cultivated fields, and the small-mouth pointed bottom bottle is easy to use, with the good function of continuous water purification and cleaner drinking. The small-mouth pointed bottom bottles excavated in large quantities of sites, ash pits, and mass burial sites must first be practical utensils for life, combined with their unique shapes, which should be the "thermos bottle cups" used by the ancestors at that time. The small-mouth pointed bottle is the most typical representative of Yangshao culture and plays an extremely important role in Yangshao culture.
sculpt:
Utility analysis of small-mouth culets to discuss the utility of small-mouth culets, first of all, carefully analyze its shape. Small mouth abdomen anterior shoulder with ears is overall thin. Prevent small sips and sprinkling of water, easy to pour down, easy to drink when easy to take in, set with no double ears. Small mouth, thick tires, special bottom, play a certain role in heat preservation. Small openings are easy to seal, thick mud tires can delay temperature loss, and special culets should have excellent insulation. In ancient times, the ancestors chose water to live, lived by the mountains, and people lived by nature. According to how to save effort and conveniently obtain domestic water, ancestors constantly looked for tools and utensils to draw water to make. On the other hand, due to the reasonable structure of oranges and pomegranates, simple production has quickly become the preferred water tool, and the form of the water pump must meet the functional and mechanical requirements of these two simple appliances. That is, the shaking of the rope is easy to enter the water, and the water does not splash outside the bottle, resulting in the beautiful shape of the small-mouthed pointed bottle that we see.
Unsolved Mysteries:
The small-mouth pointed bottle that has been highly acclaimed for its utility is a half-grave type with a peculiar shape, especially the ears of the waist and abdomen, which is easy to think of as a reclaimer that uses the center of gravity to adjust the balance. Since its excavation in 1953, it has been used as a absorber for the ancients and has been recorded in middle school history textbooks as a conclusive conclusion. But by the end of the 20th century, some archaeologists and scientists had conducted a series of scientific tests using physical objects and models. It was found that the small-mouth cupped bottom bottle did not have the excellent performance of automatic pumping. Thus, since then, there has been a growing cry against the theory of water extraction vessels, and various doctrines have emerged one after another. In order for the reader to better understand the relevant doctrine and the point of view of this article, it is necessary to make statements and comments on several major popular doctrines. Half a century since its discovery, its use in the lives of the ancients has been inconclusive, and ideas such as water extraction vessels, sacrificial vessels, rice cookers, wine vessels, and Pluto are still being debated.
The water collector says:
The absorber of strange properties, he says, is still the mainstream view in academia today. According to the water collector, the structure of the small-mouth pointed bottom bottle is: when drawing water, the bottle wears a rope through both ears, the empty bottle enters the water, automatically sinks in the water, after filling the water, the center of gravity moves so that the bottle mouth is standing upwards, and the bottle mouth remains flat upwards when drawing water, so that many archaeologists recognize that the small-mouth pointed bottom bottle is a water extraction device.
The rice cooker says:
The banpo type and the Majiayao type small-mouth pointed bottom bottles mostly have binaural ears. The ears must have been used to tie the tether. When heated with fire and used as a rice cooker, or buried in a fire as a thermos bottle, the rope tied will always burn out, and the ears of the tether are meaningless.
The warm water bottle says:
Inserting the front-end small-mouth pointed bottom bottle directly into the ground placement factory Once the culet is inserted underground, it is much more stable than placing the flat bottom directly on the ground. Moreover, if the body is buried in the ground, it will play a role in heat preservation.
In addition, the insulation effect of the small-mouth pointed bottom bottle means that because the person is dead and the body is cooled, its insulation effect is exactly the expectation of the living for the resurrection of the dead. An artifact does not have only one utility, but the utility of other factions that must have its primary utility is related to its primary utility. Of course, small-mouth pointed bottom bottles can receive many effects from irrigation, water storage, water transmission to grain storage. Therefore, although the small-mouth pointed bottom bottle is a water vessel, the revelation with its particularity is considered to be a commonly used artifact in daily life. At home, you can store hot water as a "warm water bottle" and try to keep warm to the door. The use of the culet as a "warm water bag" has a thermal insulation effect and can also ensure the stability of the body.
Farming Kettle Says:
The obvious advantages of special water tools pointed bottom water vessels specially made to adapt to the special water environment in purifying water quality and improving the utilization rate of turbid rivers are likely to be important reasons for the small-mouth pointed bottom bottle to become a common artifact at Yangshao cultural sites. However, for the specific use of the strange shape of the small-mouth pointed bottom bottle in the production and life of the Yangshao aborigines, further research is needed to make a clear and reasonable explanation. The small-mouth bottom bottle is probably a special water bottle invented by the yangshao aborigines to replenish water for their field labor under specific conditions. The small-mouthed bottom bottle exists only in the remains of Yangshao culture. That is to say, the small-mouth pointed bottom bottle is a special water ——— farming kettle with a peculiar shape and wonderful function made by the yangshao aborigines to meet the water replenishment needs of field labor in the special water environment.
Ritual vessels:
The proponents of the ritual doctrine based on expert views are mostly experts and scholars engaged in archaeological and ancient cultural research. Teacher Su Xuqi, a master of Chinese archaeology, was one of the advocates of ritual theory of sacrifice, and before his death: "A small-mouth pointed bottom bottle is not necessarily a water pump." The unitary characters in the oracle have the pictogram of a pointed bottom bottle. The meanings composed of it are like honor and dream, and what is in it is not the water that is drunk daily, nor the wine that is drunk daily, but the wine used for rituals and sacrifices. The pointed bottom bottle must be a sacrificial vessel or ceremonial vessel, that is, without wine, it will not be a ceremony. Wang Renxiang, another well-known archaeologist, believes that the small-mouth pointed bottom bottle should be a sacrificial vessel. He believes that the distribution range of cusp is roughly in arid and water-scarce areas, so the existence and use of cusplets may be mainly related to the activity of praying for rain.
The main reason why small-mouth pointed bottles are not sacrificial vessels: (1) Small-mouth pointed bottles are unearthed in large quantities, which should be very common practical tools at that time, but sacrifices and ceremonies are activities attended and led by a small number of people such as wizards and chiefs, and there is no need for so many sacrificial vessels) Most of the small-mouth pointed bottom bottles unearthed are roughly made, and the models are very different, and they do not seem to have the sacred and solemn characteristics that ritual vessels should have. The possibility of a small bottom bottle as a sacrificial ritual is low, and therefore the theoretical reliability of the doctrine of sacrificial etiquette is also low.
Wine vessels, Pluto, etc.:
These views themselves lack theoretical systematicness and rigor, so the credibility and reliability of the theory are low.
The "squeegee" was originally an irrigation water collector invented by the ancient working people of the mainland, which has the physical characteristics of "tilting itself when empty, gradually standing upright when filling, and automatically flowing after filling". Confucius warned that this vessel should be modestly ordained, and future generations can use it as a warning device to warn people to "incur losses, benefit with humility, and be full of abstinence."
The water purifier says:
The main function of the water purification performance analysis and experimental small-mouth pointed bottom bottle should lie in its unusual pointed bottom, followed by large-mouth pointed bottom jars, pointed bottom pots and other pointed bottom pottery. The wisdom invention of the pointed bottom water vessel to adapt to the high sediment water environment, in fact, the small-mouth pointed bottom bottle, the large-mouth pointed bottom jar, the pointed bottom pot and other pointed bottom pottery are likely to be the wisdom masterpieces created by the Ancestors of Yangshao in order to adapt to the special water environment, that is, to purify the turbid river water
The backwaterer says:
The clay vase filled with water is suitable for carrying on the shoulder, and the chest bottle is close to the body of the person carrying the water, which prevents the danger of the clay bottle falling. Therefore, the idea that the small-mouth pointed bottom bottle is a backwater carrier is proposed. Irrigation utensils have a small mouth and a slow water outlet, which can be watered while walking, which is suitable for early on-demand agriculture. In addition, the change in the shape of the "wine" glyph of the wine making apparatus also indicates that the original wine vessel was a pointed shape. In the ruins of Banpo and Jiangzhai, it was found that the larger pointed bottom bottle lug has a round hole slightly below, and the catheter is placed into the round hole to filter the fermented beverage.
Wang Xiansheng believes that the small-mouth front bottom bottle has no practical value, but is only symbolic and polite. Its shape, placement, and mattress structure in the mouth are not designed from the perspective of practicality, but may be used for religious and ritual-related worship and rain prayers.
Zhu Xingguo proposed that the small-mouth pointed bottom bottle was a soul bottle. He believes that the front bottom bottle is similar to the core of the fruit core, which is the destination of ancient life and the starting point of new life, in which life is constantly running. Moreover, vintage bottles are mostly unearthed in tombs, reflecting the ancients' application of vintage bottles to tombs. Obviously, they hope that the vintage bottle can condense the soul of the old life like a core, give birth to a new life, and reincarnate life. The pointed bottom bottle is the authentic soul bottle mouth, and the relationship between the pointed bottom bottle and the altarpiece has been proposed by scholars in the 1980s.
Sun Xiao believes that in addition to the use of irrigation, winemaking, back water and other uses, most of the ears are pinched below the mountainside to form, causing the imbalance of the "virtual respect" and "full view" of the shoulder sense can also be used as a "tribute instrument". Recently, Zheng Zhiqiang subdivided this view, arguing that the real name of the small-mouth amphora pointed bottom bottle in the Yangshao era should be "lazy sleep". Its function is to "advise" that "political leaders must have a clear mind when making administrative decisions."
In general, the above views can be roughly divided into two types: water vessel theory and ceremonial vessel theory. The former's use from the perspective of real life belongs to the category of "metaphysics", while the latter transcends appearances and already belongs to the category of "metaphysics".