Archaeological history, the unveiling of the mysterious ancient country that "disappeared" for 3,000 years

Due to the limitations of historical conditions, many Shang and Zhou princely states did not have clear documents. Bad country is one of them, its history is rarely recorded in the annals of history, long unknown, in recent years archaeological discoveries of the cultural relics represented by the inscription bronze, so that this "disappeared" 3,000 years of mysterious ancient country to re-appear in people's sight.

Today, the Shanghai Museum, together with the National Museum of China, Suizhou Museum, Zhengzhou Museum, Nanyang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, etc., specially launched the "Legend of Hanhuai - The Essence of Bronze Artifacts of the Nightmare Country", taking 60 bronzes from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the early Spring and Autumn Period as the carrier, for the first time comprehensively and systematically restoring the historical appearance of the Bad country.

The strange pattern of the "human eye" on the animal face belongs to the bronze ware of the Nightmare Country

"This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of modern Chinese archaeology. In order to better display the style of Chinese civilization and carry forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture, over the past 100 years, several generations of archaeologists have made unremitting efforts to continuously explore the unknown, reveal the origin, and supplement the history with first-hand physical materials. Yang Zhigang, director of the Shanghai Museum, said.

The earliest record of the kingdom of Evil in the literature is found in the "History of Yin Benji": "With Xi Bochang, Jiuhou, and Ehou as the three dukes... The Marquis of Ehou is strong, the disease is discerned, and the Marquis of Ehou is preserved. "E is the night, according to which it can be seen that the kingdom of Yu had contact with merchants at the end of the Yin Dynasty, and was a vassal of the Shang Kingdom with the Zhou people. The Marquis of Ehou was ranked as the Third Duke, indicating that he had considerable power and was an ancient clan. However, this fangguo tribe with a long history has been short-lived in the literature and has not left any traces to be traced. Archaeological discoveries give people the opportunity to understand the bad country that was once active between Han and Huai during the Western Zhou Dynasty.

According to Sun Jianhui, deputy director of the Suizhou Municipal Museum, the archaeology of the Badland dates back to the 1940s, but the most sensational is the excavation in 2007 , when archaeologists excavated an early Western Zhou tomb in Yangzi Mountain, Suizhou, Hubei Province, and unearthed 27 bronze heavy objects, 9 of which were cast with the inscription "Badhou". The finest of them gathered in the exhibition hall on the fourth floor of the Shanghai Museum this time, showing the unique and unique artistic style of the bronze ware of the Nightmare Country.

Among them, there is a kind of artifact with the strange pattern of the animal face "human eye", which belongs to the nightmare country and is not seen in bronze ware in other regions. It can be seen from the appearance of the Badhou Fangmu and the Beast Face Pattern (a pair) that the main part of this type of bronze is a high-relief face, compared with the common animal face pattern on the bronze, although the composition is similar, but the whole is more similar to a human face. They have bright eyes, the eyelid structure is similar to the human eye, the eyelids, orbits, eyeballs and pupils are clearly layered; the curved eyebrows are composed of vertical lines, like two crescents; the nose is raised, and the nose wings are round and wide, resembling a human nose. Because it has both animal face pattern characteristics and a realistic similar human face, scholars call it "god face pattern". The "god's face" has bent eyebrows, as if smiling, three-dimensional and vivid, and vivid.

The bronze is gold in color, which was called gold or jijin in ancient times. The bronzes that have been passed down or unearthed so far usually show green rust on the surface of the utensils. However, due to the difference in burial conditions such as geology and moisture, some of the bronzes unearthed in Suizhou, Hubei Province, have formed rare blue rust, which is magnificent and strange and moving. The realistic human face, mysterious smile, and ghostly blue rust on the bronze ware of the Nightmare Country present a unique cultural outlook.

In addition to artistic and academic value, there are still three major mysteries to be solved

In addition to its high artistic value, the Bronze Ware of the Nightmare Kingdom also has important academic value. Taking the Yu Ding and the Badhou Fangding on display as examples, the two cultural relics vividly record the history of the bad country from prosperity to decline. The two states were important vassal states of the Western Zhou Dynasty that guarded the southern border and controlled the passage of the Golden Road. According to the inscription on the inner wall of the Xiahou Yifangding, in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, the Xiahou Kingdom married the Zhou royal family, and the Xiahou Yifang offered a pot, feasted with the King of Zhou, and shot a salute in parallel, showing the friendly and close relationship between the Xiahou and the Zhou King. However, the inscription on the inner wall of Yu Dingqi's abdomen shows that such a good situation was unusual, and in the late li dynasty, Hou Yifang led a rebellion in Dongyi and Nanhuaiyi, shaking the Zhou Dynasty, and the King of Zhou used the Western Sixth Division and the Yin Eighth Division to cut down the nightmare, and finally ended with the capture of the Badhou Yifang and the suppression of the bad country.

After the rebellion against Zhou, the Kingdom of Nightmares and the Nightmare Clan were never seen again in the records of the Canonical History. At one time, it was thought that the bad country had since perished. In 2012, Xia Yupu in Xindian Township, Nanyang City, found an ancient tomb group from the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period, and more than 80 tombs were cleared out through scientific excavations, and a large number of bronzes unearthed were cast with inscriptions such as "Badhou", "Bad ginger" and "Badhou", including four generations of Badhou couples. "The discovery of the tomb of the Xiahou nobles in Xia Yupu proves that from the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the early Spring and Autumn Period, the Kingdom of Xia did not die out, but moved from Suizhou in Hubei to Nanyang, Henan, and also had a certain strength and influence." Cui Benxin, deputy director of the Nanyang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said that this new discovery rewrote the traditional view that the bad country was destroyed by the rebellion of the Yifang rebellion, and provided new clues and dawn for understanding the geographical location and historical development of the bad country. The bronzes unearthed from the tombs of the four generations of The Nightmare Marquis and his wife also reflect the development of bronze art from the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the early Spring and Autumn Period.

For example, "concubine" is a person or thing given by marrying or accompanying a woman in ancient times. The ceremonial vessels made for the marriage of women in bronze are collectively referred to as "concubines". In this exhibition, there is a bad pot from the early Spring and Autumn Period, which is a concubine. On the outside of its lid there is an inscription "Nightmare Hou Zha (作) Meng ji 媵 kettle", that is, the dowry vessel made by The Nightmare Hou for his daughter Meng Ji. It is generally believed that smokers were more common in the Han Dynasty, but a smoker lid without a body on display proves that in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, people had used smokers and the process was quite exquisite.

"Archaeological discoveries have fully confirmed the existence of the bad country, but there are still many mysteries and details to be solved, which require further in-depth study." Wei Xinying, deputy research librarian of the Bronze Research Department of the Shanghai Museum, told reporters that there are currently three major mysteries to be solved around the Badhou Kingdom: First, the instrument made by the Xiahou for his daughter in the cemetery of the Xiahou family in Nanyang Xiayupu reveals that he is the surname of Ji, while the instrument made by the Xiahou before the late Western Zhou Dynasty to marry the daughter of the King of Zhou is marked as the surname of Jiao, why does there be two surnames in one country? Second, when did the Kingdom of Nightmare move from Suizhou to Nanyang? Since the bronzes of the Nightmare Kingdom in the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty are rarely seen, it is difficult to obtain first-hand information and evidence about the migration of the Badger Country. Third, why did the bad country, which was originally good friends with the Zhou royal family, later turn against the Zhou royal family? It is hoped that this exhibition will be used as a guide to stimulate more attention and discussion from all walks of life.

Reporter Li Ting

Source: Wen Wei Po