Part of the beadwork excavated from the Wangniuling Han Tomb in Hepu Profile picture
Recently, the 4th China Frontier Archaeology Forum was held online, and archaeologists made more than 40 wonderful reports on new archaeological discoveries in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Tibet, Sichuan, Northeast and South China. Due to its special geographical location, the border region has close interaction with neighboring countries and regions, and is often a bright pearl on the Silk Road, and is the first stop for Western culture to enter China. Many stories of cultural exchanges between East and West on the Silk Roads have been rediscovered in frontier archaeology after thousands of years, and the legends of the past have been unveiled.
Glass beads across the ocean
The colorful beads may be nothing more than the embellishments on the wrists and necks of the tomb owner, and in the eyes of archaeologists, they are not just exquisite ornaments, with the help of scientific and technological means to analyze their composition, production process, source and origin, etc., can interpret the complex story of trade and technology communication.
Located in the southern part of Hepu County, Guangxi, the Wangniuling Han Tomb has unearthed a total of more than 4,000 pieces of various beadwork ornaments. They are made of crystal, agate, amber, glass, some crystal clear as dew, some as hot as coral, and some are refreshing mint blue. From today's aesthetic point of view, they are also really exquisite. Zhang Xiao, a postdoctoral fellow at Sun Yat-sen University's School of Sociology and Anthropology, said that these beads are typical "imported products". The fact that so many imported beads have been unearthed in the Wangniuling Han Tomb is related to its special geographical location. Hepu was the seat of Hepu County during the Two Han Dynasty, and one of the starting ports of the Maritime Silk Road. According to the "Book of Han and Geographical History", when Emperor Wudi of Han "had a long translator, belonging to the yellow gate, and entering the sea with the applicants, the city pearl, the biliu glass, the strange stone and foreign objects, and the gold mixed together". In the Han Dynasty, led by court officials, they carried silk and gold by ship from Hepu and other places closest to the South China Sea to trade with countries in South and Southeast Asia. Some scholars believe that "Biliuli" is another name for "Liuli", which is one of the ancient names for glass. This historical source shows that the glass beads unearthed from the Wangniuling Han Tomb may have been "imported" across the sea in this way.
Pubei County, near Hepu County, also belonged to Hepu County in ancient times, and more than 5,000 glass beads were unearthed at the site of the old city of Yuezhou in the county. "According to the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Machinery, these beads are Indo-Pacific trade beads from South Asia and Southeast Asia." Wei Weiyan, associate researcher at the School of Anthropology and Sociology, Sun Yat-sen University, said. Indo-Pacific trade beads refer to the single colored glass beads made by the drawing method, that is, molten glass liquid is pulled into hollow thin tubes with special tools, and then the thin tubes are cut into small beads, which are widely produced and disseminated in the Indian and Pacific regions. The large number of glass beads unearthed from the ruins of the old city of Yuezhou further proves that during the Southern Dynasties, Hepu was still one of the important nodes of the Maritime Silk Road.
Through the dazzling imported glass beads, we seem to be able to glimpse the prosperous scene of Hepu's "cloud sails are high, day and night stars", and make up the thousand-year legend of one of the ports of origin of the Maritime Silk Road.
A Christian monastery of the Tang Dynasty
After Zhang Qian carved out the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty, along the land Silk Road connecting Central Asia and West Asia, with the desert camel bell introduced into China, not only exotic treasures such as jewelry, jade, and spices, but also exotic religious cultures including Nestorianism.
During the Tang Dynasty, Nestorianism (Nestorian Christianity) was introduced to China along the Silk Road. Sheng Tang adopted an inclusive and inclusive attitude towards foreign religions, so Nestorianism was able to spread in the capital Chang'an and other places. According to the "Great Qin Nestorian Popular Chinese Stele" inscribed in the second year of the founding of Tang Dezong (781 AD), it is recorded that at its peak, Nestorianism had "ten ways of law flow, and temples full of hundred cities".
The ruins of the ancient city of Tang Dynasty Dun, located in Qitai County, Changji Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, reveal the ruins of a Tang Dynasty Negoto monastery that was built in the first half of the 8th century AD, which can serve as a commentary on this history. A uniquely shaped glazed pottery vessel was unearthed in the monastery, with a blue-blue glaze and blue writing on it, "Now it is preliminarily judged to be Syriac, and the words 'we', 'life' and 'god' are pronounced, which may be a kind of utensil used for some special religious activities at that time." Ren Guan, executive leader of the archaeological excavation of the ancient city site of the Tang Dynasty Dun, said. Nestorianism originated in present-day Syria, so Syriac is used, and the "Great Qin Nestorian Popular Chinese Stele" also coexists with Chinese characters and Syriac.
The ruins of the ancient city of Tang Dynasty Dun are located on the east-west transportation artery between Bogda Mountain and the Gurbantunggut Desert in the eastern section of the Tianshan Mountains, and are also an important choke town and transportation hub on the Silk Road. The ruins of Nestorian temples excavated this time include Nestorian elements, as well as elements of Han culture, as well as multicultural factors brought about by the Silk Road. "Beads of different textures such as agate, turquoise, jade, and amber were unearthed in the temple, reflecting the collision and fusion of aesthetics of different cultures of the East and West on the Silk Road in the Nestorian monastery." Ren Guan said. The richly shaped backlit icons in the murals of the ruins of Nestorian temples are a combination of the rich painting style of Tang Dynasty characters and Nestorian characteristics. At the same time, pieces of Jun porcelain and stranded porcelain plates were also unearthed in the temple. The stranding process is a new process of Tang dynasty ceramics. Western beads and porcelain from the Central Plains appeared in Nestorian temples at the same time, which is also a testament to the integration of Eastern and Western cultures.
Burial customs with gold coins in the mouth
On the Silk Road, there was a group of high-nosed and deep-eyed people who led camels to sell silk, jewelry, and livestock, and they were Sogdians who were famous for their ability to do business. The homeland of the Sogdians was in the valley of the Two Rivers of Central Asia, centered on Samarkand (in present-day Uzbekistan). The Sogdians were not only messengers of trade and commerce along the Silk Roads, but also messengers of cultural exchanges between East and West. They also promoted the exotic Sogdian music and dance to the east, adding "Hu Feng" elements to the art of the Central Plains.
In the martyred horse tomb in the ancient city of Shaliangzi in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, a gold coin contained on the right side of the tomb's owner's mouth was found. Liu Yang, associate professor at the School of Sociology and Anthropology at Sun Yat-sen University, introduced the excavation process of the gold coin: "When we picked up [the tomb owner's] head, a small piece of mud fell, just revealing a little golden light, and at the time we thought it was a gold tooth of the tomb owner, only to find out later that it was a gold coin." "This gold coin depicts a handsome, beardless crowned king, wearing armor, with a gun in his right hand diagonally coming out of his left shoulder and a shield at his left hand. There are two perforations on the gold coin, indicating that the gold coin should be the hanging ornament of the tomb owner during his lifetime. The gold coins are molded on one side and are extremely thin, which should be imitations of the gold coins of Justinian I of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Liu Yang introduced that this is the sixth case of gold coins found in China, and 4 cases were previously found in the Astana tomb in Turpan, Xinjiang, and 1 case in the Tang Shi Daode Tomb in Guyuan, Ningxia, all of which may be related to the Sogdians, so the case found in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia may also be influenced by Sogdian customs. Hohhot is located on the ancient steppe Silk Road, so it is likely that Sogdians were active here. Qi Dongfang, a professor at the School of Archaeology and Museum of Peking University, believes that there is an east-west transportation route from Hexi through Baotou, Hohhot, Datong, through northern Hebei to Chifeng in Inner Mongolia, to Chaoyang in Liaoning, which is an international route from northern China to the west in history. The prosperity of the Silk Road in the northern steppe naturally led the Sogdians who were good at business to enter the area of present-day Liaoning and Inner Mongolia.
However, at present, archaeologists judge based on the burial style that the martyred horse tombs found in the ancient city of Shaliangzi are most likely Tang Dynasty Turkic tombs. Whether this tomb is a Turkic tomb influenced by Sogdian customs or may become the first Sogdian tomb found in China remains to be further investigated.
From the starting port of the Maritime Silk Road in southern Xinjiang, to the Nestorian monasteries on the land Silk Road in the Western Regions, to the martyred horse tombs on the Silk Road in the northern steppe, you can see the exchange and collision of Eastern and Western cultures. Archaeology confirms that the border region has played an important role in the development of the "Belt and Road" since ancient times. For thousands of years, the sound of the desert camel bell, the sea port cloud sails are high, and the legendary stories of Sino-foreign exchanges have been staged one after another on the prosperous Silk Road; Today, on the "Belt and Road" in the new era, more stories of mutual learning among civilizations and people-to-people ties are also taking place.
(Reporter Li Yun and Wang Xiaofei)
Source: Guang Ming Daily