Archaeological discoveries of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty armor were mainly excavated from Chu tombs, and the Chu tombs with armor relics found at present are mainly concentrated in Changsha, Jiangling, Nanyang and other places, and there are also some large Chu tombs in other regions, such as the tomb of Zeng Houyi. Most of the armor of the Zhou Dynasty was leather armor, which can be seen from the excavation of the armor from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng.
The condition of the armor excavated from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng
The largest number of relics found in the Chu tombs is the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng, whose chamber is divided into four chambers of east, north, middle and west, and the armor and some carriages, horses, and weapons were excavated in the north chamber. There was originally a large wooden frame in the room, but later due to the collapse of the wooden frame, the rafter chamber entered the water, and the armor pieces drifted to the whole room. After collation and restoration, the tablets found in the tomb belong to 13 individuals of armor, two of which are relatively complete, and the nail pieces have a variety of shapes. The armor on the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng is the most important physical material of this period. Archaeologists divide it into three types.
The first type of long strip. The nail plates are long strips and are divided into two types according to the edge characteristics of the nail plates. Type A: The nail plate is a regular rectangle. The nail plates have different numbers of eyelets at the edges and inside. Typical such as the front and rear middle pieces of zenghou yi tomb No. 3 and No. 7 A, the left and right sides of the A piece are mostly single holes, 4 each, 1 group of 2 upper and lower sides, and 1 single hole in the middle part. Type B: The edge of the nail plate has a zigzag, and this type of tablet is a special-shaped piece of the A type of film. Typical of this type of nail piece, such as the armpit pieces on both sides of the No. 3 and No. 7 nails of Zeng Houyi's tomb, the upper edge is mostly curved, which coincides with the curve of the human body.
Class II trapezoidal pieces. The lower edge of the nail plate is generally larger than the upper edge and is trapezoidal, and the left and right edges of the nail piece generally have a group of eyelets, two groups of eyelets, and the number of internal holes is not equal. Type A: There is a set of 2 holes on each side and the upper and lower sides. Its interior is divided into two cases: whether there is a perforation or not. Type Aa: No eyelets inside. Zeng Houyi Tomb No. 3 A This type of piece has 2 groups of 4 holes on each side, and No. 7 A has 2 groups of 2 holes on both sides of this type of piece. Type Ab has perforations inside.
Three types of special-shaped tablets. It is divided into the following forms. Sulfonal tablets: The nail plates are shaped like the sulfur in jade, and there are also a certain number of eyelets on the edges. Such films have been found in the first film excavated from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng. Ox-shaped piece: This type of piece is the side piece of the standing collar, and tombs No. 3 and No. 7 of the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng have this type of piece, and the shape is symmetrical left and right. Curved rectangular pieces. The flake shape is curved, which is used for the connection between the front and back chest and the two tucks, and each ace is generally on both sides of the front and back, and the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng is narrow and long.
Structure and properties of the Eastern Zhou Leather Armor
Although there are more leather armor in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty excavated by archaeology, only a few Chu tombs such as the tomb of Marquis Yi of Hubei, the tomb of BaoChu in Jingmen, Hubei, and the Tianxingguan in Jiangling, Hubei are restored and have a complete structure. It is divided into two types: the first form is the shawl. The other is without a shawl. In the excavated tombs, only the Tianxingguan No. 1 Chu Tomb Armor has not found a cloak, and the other armor has a cloak. The main part of the A is composed of a standing collar, shoulders, upper brigade and lower brigade.
In the study of the structure and shape of the phinching, it has been found that the shape of the phidê in the Warring States period is basically the same, and the sleeve armor of the tomb armor of ZengHouyi and the tomb armor of Baoshan No. 2 are shaped like tiles, and the difference between the two lies in the number of layers of the armor pieces and the number of nail pieces in each layer. The two pieces of Zeng Houyi tomb arm armor that have been repaired are made up of 13 layers of armor pieces, but in the arrangement of each layer of armor pieces, the two collar armor sleeves restored by Zeng Houyi's tomb are different, and the no. 2 armor is made of 4 armor pieces per layer, two pieces on each side of the middle line, 5 pieces per layer of No. 7 A, and the entire armor sleeve is on the left and right sides of the middle row of pieces. The number of layers of armor before and after the middle of the Warring States period was further increased, such as the armor sleeve armor of Baoshan Tomb No. 2 up to 18 layers, and the performance was better than before. In addition to the armor excavated from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng and tomb of Baoshan No. 2 to restore the shape of the shawl, some pieces of clothing have also been found in other tombs, such as the tomb of Wangshan No. 1 in Jiangling and the tomb of Chu of Xincai Geling, and the shape of the phid's pieces excavated from these tombs is basically the same as that of the aforementioned Zeng Tomb and Baoshan No. 2 Tomb, which shows that this kind of shaped shawl was more prevalent in the Warring States period.
In the Zhou Period, it was the development of leather and armor-making handicrafts, which made the armor made of leather also very strong, and in the car battle, leather armor with shields was enough to achieve the purpose of defending the attack of bronze weapons. Although leather armor is rarely found in the archaeological excavations of the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng, this is related to the fact that leather products are not easy to preserve.
The structure and properties of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty
Only two of the restored and complete pieces of the guan were found in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and two of the tombs of Marquis Yi of Zeng during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period can be restored as earlier specimens. The iron gizzard excavated from Yanxiadu has matured in the shape of the gizzard, the shape and grouping of the gizzard pieces, and can be regarded as a typical representative of the late Eastern Zhou Dynasty. In addition, fragments of the gizzard have been excavated in some tombs, and according to their shape, the approximate position of them in the intact gizzard can be roughly determined.
Generally speaking, the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng in the early Warring States period has the following characteristics, the whole is composed of green pieces, the shape of the pieces is different, and each piece is not interchangeable in the compilation of the pieces. The overall structure of the gizzard is made up of layers of gizzards, and the room for movement is relatively small, but the overall shape of the gizzard is still bowl-shaped, and the frontal protection is simple, and the lower forehead has not yet been protected. Compared with the earlier gizzards, these two early Warring States gizzards still have their own advanced points. First of all, these gizzards have been made of gizzards, and compared with the integral gizzards, the production of the gizzards can be different from person to person, and these gizzards have an active layer on the neck, which increases the room for head movement than the hemispherical gizzards of the Western Zhou Dynasty.