The Sanxingdui excavations proved that there was a dialogue between the Chinese ancestors and the ancient civilizations of the world.
The top ten new archaeological discoveries in China in 2021 were recently announced, and archaeological projects including the Sanxingdui site were selected. In the 6 newly discovered sacrificial pits of Sanxingdui, a total of more than 2,000 pieces of gold, bronze, jade, pottery, etc. were unearthed, and important cultural relics included gold masks, bird-shaped foil ornaments, bronze-crowned kneeling figures, and kneeling portraits with heads turned, which not only enriched the cultural connotation of the Sanxingdui ruins, but also triggered people's thinking about the source of Sanxingdui civilization and its relationship with foreign civilizations.
How to compare the similarities and differences between the Sanxingdui civilization and the ancient civilizations in the world? How did the ancient bronze civilizations of the East and the West "air" dialogue? Huo Wei, distinguished professor of Sichuan University, director of the Sichuan University Museum, dean of the School of History and Culture, and director of the Chinese Archaeological Society, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency's "East and West Question" to conduct an in-depth analysis of this.
The interview transcript is summarized below:
China News Service: What progress has been made in the archaeological excavation of the six newly discovered sacrificial pits in Sanxingdui?
Huo Wei: At present, the excavation of the No. 3, 4, 5 and 6 sacrifice pits of the Sanxingdui site has been basically completed and has entered the indoor finishing stage; the excavation of the No. 7 and 8 sacrifice pits is expected to end in the second half of this year.
Among the artifacts unearthed from these 6 sacrificial pits, the bronze statues associated with the sacrifices are particularly noteworthy. In the past, archaeologists have found small kneeling figures in pit No. 2, but they are small and simple. In the new round of archaeological excavations, there is a "strange" bronze vessel with a large body, a square pedestal and intricate patterns. The reason why it is called "strange" is because at the time of excavation, there were other human parts above the pedestal, and the shape was strange, which was a new type of instrument that had never been discovered before.
The bronze is being restored in the laboratory, and although it has not yet been fully restored, it can be seen that it consists of three parts, including the figure on top, the portrait itself, and the pedestal. The bronze pedestal has kneeling figures in the four corners of the pedestal, and there are bronze figures carrying objects on the platform, who are likely to be priests who undertake sacrificial activities, and use honor as important sacrificial artifacts to carry out sacrifice activities in a specific place, the altar. Needless to say, this artifact is a national treasure- cultural relic, and it is likely to record the scene of the ancient Shu ancestors sacrificing to the gods.
In the ancient bronze culture in the world, no group of artifacts exactly similar to the artifacts excavated from the Sanxingdui site has been found so far. Relying only on the bronzes excavated in the Central Plains, it is impossible to display the myths, legends and aesthetic interests of the ancient Chinese ancestors in an all-round way. The discovery of the Sanxingdui site has greatly expanded the cultural outlook of the Chinese Bronze Age, allowing people to see that the ancient Chinese ancestors not only created a group of bronze artifacts that represented the social hierarchical order and symbolized the power of the state, but also had a rich imagination, a delicate vision and a broad vision of observing the world, refuting the recognition that some scholars in the past believed that the Chinese nation lacked imagination, did not have artistic creativity and exaggerated and rich mythological imagination.
Excavation module. Courtesy of Sichuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
China News Service: Why should we compare the similarities and differences between the Sanxingdui civilization and the ancient civilization of the world from a larger time and space scope?
Huo Wei: Chinese civilization originated and developed independently, but this does not affect the comparative study of Ancient Civilizations between China and the world, so as to carry out dialogue between different civilizations. Observing Sanxingdui from the perspective of the world's ancient civilizations, we will find some similar cultural phenomena that transcend the level of specific archaeological artifacts and can rise to the level of the spiritual world, artistic concepts and forms of expression.
The excavation of the Sanxingdui site has brought many problems to the academic community, the most important of which is how to answer the ins and outs of Sanxingdui head-on. Archaeology usually compares the unknown things unearthed with the known things, so as to determine their age, nature, function, distribution area, etc. At present, a considerable number of artifacts excavated from the Sanxingdui site have no reference objects, so it is necessary to find a reference system in a larger space-time range. At the same time, we should also observe and analyze the concepts, spiritual worship, and aesthetic interests represented behind the artifacts.
From the perspective of mythological systems, ancient Chinese myths are different from foreign ancient myths, and there are also commonalities. For example, both Chinese and foreign countries have vividly interpreted elements such as the sun, moon, and stars, and the gods that dominate the human world. In the past, most of these problems were reflected in the mythological records of the text, but the various artifacts unearthed at Sanxingdui reproduced the disappeared mythological world in physical form, providing more clues for comparison.
For example, bronze statues, masks, and heads constitute a group of bronze statues with "idolatry" characteristics as a whole, which is one of the prominent features of sanxingdui bronze civilization. Looking at the Sumerian, Akkadian, ancient Babylonian and Assyrian civilizations that arose in the two river basins of West Asia from 3000 BC to 1000 BC, people under this civilization system produced a large number of stone carvings, bronze cast figures and idols, reflecting the inner worship of theocracy and kingship from an artistic point of view, forming a systematic phenomenon of "idolatry". This tradition had a great influence on the later Western Greco-Roman classicist art. Human beings' group perceptions, aesthetic values and philosophies of life towards the gods of nature, worldly theocracy and kingship worship are expressed in many ways through the art of portraiture.
Thunderstorm (Director of Sanxingdui Archaeological Workstation) Photo
In addition, the ancient ancestors believed that there was a tree in the center of the earth where they lived, which could directly lead to the heavenly court and have a relationship with the sun, and such trees were often called "sun trees" or "cosmic trees". After research, the bronze sacred tree found at the Sanxingdui site is indeed related to the worship of the sun.
Although there are many similar factors between the Sanxingdui civilization and the ancient civilization of the world, this does not mean who spread it to whom, but on the basis of the same level of productivity and spiritual development, the ancestors around the world can independently create some similar cultural phenomena and artistically reproduce the connection between man and nature.
The main purpose of such comparisons is to understand and understand what similar thinking and material creations the human spiritual world had in ancient times, which is also the basic position and method of observing and studying Sanxingdui.
Bronze restoration. Thunderstorm (Director of Sanxingdui Archaeological Workstation) Photo
China News Service: The similarities between Sanxingdui and other ancient civilizations show what characteristics of the world's ancient civilizations? What are the implications for the development of human civilization?
Huo Wei: The Sanxingdui excavations prove that there can be a dialogue between the Chinese ancestors and the ancient civilizations in the world. Sanxingdui's unique expression can be compared with other ancient civilizations in the world, such as the Egyptian civilization, the Lianghe civilization, and even the close neighbors, ancient India, but the way of expression is similar, but the attention reflects the ideological realm, aesthetic concepts and artistic creativity of human beings at that time. It can be said that Sanxingdui makes up for a missing link in the archaeological physical evidence of the Past Chinese Bronze Age.
There was a view that Sanxingdui was a Western civilization, but I did not agree with this. Under the conditions of roughly the same cultural standards, ecological environment and social development, it is not surprising that different civilizations have independently produced some similar cultural phenomena. For example, the worship of the mysterious big eyes, sacred trees, and sun gods also existed in other ancient civilizations in the world, and there were similarities and differences in artistic expressions, and such archaeological phenomena that appeared in Sanxingdui could not be attributed to foreign civilizations.
Moreover, even some similar cultural phenomena require more careful observation and analysis. For example, the golden mask was used as a "covering" after the death of the king in ancient Egypt and ancient Persian civilization, a custom that has been passed down for a long time in the Eurasian steppe culture. However, in Sanxingdui, China, the gold mask covers the surface of the bronze human head, and its symbolic meaning and specific function are obviously different and cannot be generalized.
I think it's important to look at the world in the right way and to make people realize that there are similarities between East and West. The ancient ancestors recognized and reflected the world through spiritual creation activities, and left a precious legacy to the present, the rise and fall of the sun, the change of the four seasons, the infinite imagination brought by the universe and the starry sky... These not only left a deep imprint on the ancestors of the West, but also affected the Eastern world. In this sense, mankind is a community of common destiny.
Bronze in the pit. Thunderstorm (Director of Sanxingdui Archaeological Workstation) Photo
In any case, sanxingdui, which is a world-class archaeological achievement, its greatest value is undoubtedly to let the world have a refreshing understanding of the Chinese Bronze Age for the first time: more than 3,000 years ago, just as Eurasia entered the stage of prosperity and development of ancient civilization, in the ancient and vast land of China in the east, not only produced a set of bronze ceremonial vessels represented by the Central Plains Yin Zhou bronzes, jade, oracle bones, etc., reflecting the social values, hierarchical order and state power at that time. It also produced a mysterious, exaggerated, vivid and rich plastic arts, idol traditions and power symbol systems represented by the Sanxingdui civilization in the southwest frontier.
The above discoveries not only reshape the face of Chinese bronze culture with broader and more profound content, change people's previous understanding of the connotation of Chinese Bronze Age culture, but also show the many integration and commonality between the Sanxingdui civilization and the ancient civilization of the world, and carry out a wonderful dialogue between the ancient bronze civilizations in the East and the West.
Respondent Profiles:
China News Service reporter Wang Lei photographed
Huo Wei, currently the dean of the School of History and Culture (Tourism College) of Sichuan University, the director of the Museum of Sichuan University, the director of the Institute of Chinese Tibetology of Sichuan University, the key research base of humanities and social sciences of the Ministry of Education, and the convener of the Archaeology Department of the Discipline Review Group of the State Council, the judge of the National Social Science Fund, the member of the Undergraduate Teaching Steering Committee of the Ministry of Education, the director of the Chinese Archaeological Society, the vice president of the Sichuan Historical Society, and the vice chairman of the Sichuan Museum Society.
Source: China News Service