Wang Binghua: Strengthen archaeological research and deeply understand the civilization of the Western Regions

Author: Wang Binghua

Source: "Western Region Research" WeChat public account

This article was originally published in Western Region Research, Issue 4, 2015

"Five stars out of the East to benefit China" Jin protective arm China News Network photo by Liu Xin

He has been engaged in archaeological and historical research in Xinjiang for 55 years. Cover up and meditate, not much achievement, but a lot of feelings. One of the biggest feelings is that one of the keys to studying the history and archaeology of ancient Xinjiang and entering a new realm is to pay very serious and in-depth attention to the archaeological culture of Xinjiang and its surrounding areas.

In ancient times, China had exchanges and contacts with western Central Asia, southwest Asia, northern Africa, and vast areas of Europe, and Xinjiang was the main route. This historical and geographical background makes Xinjiang deeply rich in the treasures of historical and cultural exchanges between Asia and Europe. Archaeology, from time to time, will present a colorful historical and cultural picture, open a window of social life at a specific time period, you can get a glimpse of historical life pictures that are not seen in the documentary records, and absorb precious historical and cultural nutrition.

In ancient times, there was no written record, but the material and cultural life that people actually carried out would always leave a piece of scales and claws, and enter the sand and dust under the indescribable chance; Human beings have entered civilization, invented writing, and mastered the tools of writing, and the elites will record the words they wish to spread and inherit according to actual needs. These written records all contain and express the pursuit of the author of the text. Archaeological data are different from this: it is a material and spiritual existence in a specific period of time, which is discarded by chance, enters the garbage heap, and is covered in the ground under circumstances that are accidental and not necessarily clear to the owner; And very accidentally entered the field of vision of archaeologists. Therefore, the details of social material production, technology, science and technology, and spiritual culture in those years may be deciphered and grasped by modern scholars, so as to become the material and spiritual civilization of the ancestors at a specific time.

In ancient China, the northern gravel desert, the southeast sea, and the westward march, although there are Gobi, desert, glacial snowfield, there are also many obstacles, but it is still a road that can be crossed by manpower and animal power. Therefore, traveling westward through the land of Xinjiang is relatively speaking, a route that was more used by ancient ancestors. This process actually began very early, long before people mastered and invented writing, the ancestors had already traveled the blue, step by step, step by step, relay-like expansion, and constantly went far away.

More than twenty granite caves discovered in recent decades in the Altay Mountains have colorful ochre red paintings. The images of hunting, skiing, and praying for reproduction retain the silhouettes of the material and spiritual life of ancient humans. They all target large beasts such as herbivorous cattle and horses, and the hunters are armed with javelins, spears, and bows and arrows. Vivid, enthusiastic and intense hunting images still stand on the icy rock walls. And humans invented the bow and arrow 10,000 years ago. The use of witchcraft to hunt large herbivorous beasts in caves painted in ochre red colors is not uncommon in Europe, France, Spain and other places, and the era may be 20,000 years ago. Now in the Altay Mountains, the center of Eurasian exchanges, the theme and technique are similar, but the craftsmanship is more simple, is there a connection with the former? Thought-provoking.

Mesopotamia was the first center of wheat cultivation and cultivation in Eurasia. 4,000 years ago, wheat was also unearthed in the ancient tomb ditches and small river sites in the Peacock River Valley; The shell beads found in the Xiaohe cemetery are made of sea chrysanthemum clams that are only produced in the South China Sea; At the same time, millet cultivated in the North China Plain was also planted here; The ephedra revered by the inhabitants of the Bronze Age of the Peacock River is the same plant as the "Su Ma" believed in by the ancient Indian residents and the "Hao Ma" believed in by the ancient Iranian people, which has been verified by biologists; The most important cattle in the life of the ancient ancestors of the Peacock River belong to the early European strain... These archaeological relics clearly suggest that there were material and cultural exchanges between the East and the West in Xinjiang before human beings had written records.

The 21st Dynasty of Ancient Egypt (1017 ~ 945 BC), the fabric on the mummy of a pharaoh's maid, tested and analyzed, the material was actually silk (EFE News Agency reported on March 22, 1993); Dragonfly eye glass beads (material is soda-lime glass) originating in Egypt and as early as the 15th century BC, in the 9th century BC, has been seen in Luntai, Xinjiang, and by the 5th century BC, it has been mostly seen in Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, Hubei, Hunan, and has become a fetish in the minds of local nobles, known as "Lang Ying", regarded as a treasure that can bring life and happiness, and did not hesitate to give everything for it.

Their revelation is that on the basically continuous geographical plates of Asia, Europe and Africa, the Nile Valley, Mesopotamia, ancient India, Iran, and East Asian China are the centers of early human civilization that people have consensus on today. These centers of civilization are located in different environments and different products, and the spiritual civilizations based on material production also have their own characteristics. The difference between material and spiritual civilizations will create the need for exchanges and complementarity; And geographical connection, there is a step-by-step direct and indirect, relay contact and exchange possibilities. In the geographical plates of Asia and Europe, the exchanges and contacts that existed between ancient inhabitants may have occurred very early. Although there is no document on this page of the history of human civilization exchanges in Asia, Europe and North Africa, the archaeological relics that have been unearthed have evidence. When we explore and understand this page of the history of early human civilization today, we must break out of our old opinions, face the unearthed archaeological relics with full wisdom and calmness, and may unearth more archaeological relics, and dedicate ourselves to building a new history of early human civilization.

However, after human beings have entered civilization and have written recording tools, it is even more difficult to complete the facts of material and spiritual civilization that cannot be seen in the writings of upper-class literati. Take Niya, which has done a lot of archaeological work in recent years, as an example. This is the former site of the Elite Kingdom during the Han and Jin Dynasties, as a desert oasis kingdom under the Western Regions Protectorate of the Han Dynasty, there is a record of less than 100 words left in the Book of Han, indicating its geographical location, household registration, population, troops, military and political settings, and the distance from the Western Regions Frontier Mansion, etc., which are the core materials most related to military and political needs, indicating the concerns of the Han Dynasty; Archaeological data clearly show the racial and ethnic characteristics of the inhabitants in this land, agriculture, animal husbandry, handicrafts, water conservancy irrigation and water and pipe water in oases deep in the desert, horticulture, especially grape planting and winemaking, and the coexistence of witchcraft and Buddhism in the spiritual life of the people; Chinese was the earliest written tool they introduced and used. After the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Balu script was used again; The Han Dynasty's policy of affinity and bribery was implemented here very successfully; The princes and nobles wore silk brocade, many of which were not recorded in the literature; The exquisite prince's "five-star out of the East to benefit China" Jin Protector not only revealed the practice of the Han Dynasty government astrology in important military and political fields, but also suggested the close military and political ties between the small oasis countries in the Western Regions and the Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty vigorously promoted Han culture education, using the "Cangjie Chapter" as the first part of literary education; On the simple code of entertainment and gifts between members of the royal family is a subtle Han script; The royal family received VIPs from the Silk Road such as Dawan and Kang Ju envoys, and the banquet banquet was arranged in Chinese. The silk trade has a method of selling on credit among the people and regularly coming back to receive payment. The Balu document shows that after the loss of Guishuang, the defeated nobles led soldiers into Jingjie, and had a good position in the political and economic life of Jingjie Kingdom. Even the marriage disputes between young men and women are concretely expressed in the Balu documents.

Compared with archaeological data, the latter more vividly and concretely expresses the political, economic and social production situation of the Elite Kingdom, the people's joys and sorrows, the pursuit of a better life, and the realistic efforts and struggles. Although it is only a land of projectiles, the actual situation of economic and cultural exchanges between the Central Plains and western Central Asia is also revealed in the ruined site: the cotton cloth of Guishuang, the Greek gods, the "Langyi" from the east and the very rich silk brocade and embroidery of the Han and Jin dynasties, which have never been found in documents and other archaeological sites, are still visible in copper mirrors and finely processed lacquer, presented in the same site. On the ancient Silk Road during the Han and Jin Dynasties, there were scenes of economic and cultural exchanges, and the contradiction between people and the environment on the desert oasis, which was concretely manifested in front of people two thousand years later. The value of archaeological data excavated by science for historical research cannot be overstated.

Here is just a reference to the exquisite site of Niya, and similar archaeological achievements are endless: Peacock River Bronze Age archaeology, revealing the race, material life, and conceptual form of the inhabitants in those years; So far, on satellite remote sensing images, the water conservancy irrigation canal system of Yixuntuntian in the Han Dynasty is still clearly visible; The ancient Loulan kingdom organized the implementation of ploughing techniques in order to develop agricultural production... These measures have effectively promoted agricultural production in the Western Regions since the Han Dynasty and provided strong logistical support for Silk Road transportation; Turpan archaeology clearly outlines the historical changes, dynastic succession, Silk Road transportation, material and spiritual civilization development in the basin from the Bronze Age to the Uighur Gaochang period; Archaeological data such as Hami Tianshan North Road and Wubao reveal the relationship between the Bronze Age civilization and the Ganqing area and surrounding areas; Altay's very limited archaeology suggests traces of its close connection with the ancient nomads of the Eurasian steppe; Hundreds of Buddhist grottoes and ancient temples show the once splendid Buddhist civilization in the Western Regions, and its spiritual connection with India, Afghanistan, and the Central Plains; Compared with the ancient communication routes between the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, there is another ancient road deep in the Tianshan Valley, showing the irreplaceable contribution of ancient nomads in the exchanges between the Western Regions and Central Asia and Iran... Similar archaeological achievements are difficult to enumerate, and they are all new chapters that can add color to the history of ancient Xinjiang.

Let's take the study of ethnic history that everyone is concerned about as an example. Similarly, archaeological data contain a large number of living materials that have never been found in literature and need to be further organized, analyzed and studied.

The specific geographical location determines that Xinjiang is also an ideal stage for studying the history of human civilization and ethnic development.

The nation is the existence of history, and it will also move forward and develop in history and show a new personality. The existing archaeological relics in Xinjiang show that human activities in this area were no longer than 30,000 years ago. As for human remains, no data has been found older than 4,000 years ago. In this regard, archaeology, physical anthropology, and molecular biology analysis can be unified with each other: the early inhabitants of Xinjiang were both white and yellow, and a mixture of the two. There are different branches of the Caucasian people in Northern Europe, around the Mediterranean, and in the Iranian-Afghan plateau; Among the yellow people, they also have many branch characteristics such as the Mongolian Plateau, the Yellow River Basin, and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The land of Xinjiang is still the frontier of Indo-European and Mongol ethnic contact and activity blending, and it is very natural that the ancient inhabitants have different ethnic patterns.

Ethnicity is more complex than race. Roughly combing, only found in ancient documents, there are Sai, Qiang, Wusun, Yue, Xiongnu, Han, Loulan, Wujie, Shache, Shule, Khotan, Guizi, Yanqi, Cheshi, Xianbei, Rouran, Gaoche, Tiele, Yada, Tuyuhun, Sogdiana, Turkic, Tubo, Uighur, Mongolia, etc., all of which are ancient ethnic entities with self-national identity and found in documentary records. In short, because of the specific geographical location, the ancient peoples who lived and operated in ancient Xinjiang and made contributions to the development and construction of Xinjiang are quite complicated. This is a valuable material for studying the history of ethnic development that is unique in Xinjiang and rare in other regions.

There are many ethnic groups, different languages, different economic lives, different religious beliefs, and contradictions and conflicts between them, which are naturally not less; However, being in the same geographical space, coexistence, communication, integration and progress with each other is naturally the trend of history. From ancient times to today, in the development of national history, the historical and cultural nutrition that can be absorbed from archaeological data remains is very rich.

In the mountain front of the Tashkurgan River Valley on the Pamir Plateau, the Xiangbao cemetery was found and excavated in the mid-1000 BC, and 40 ancient mounds were excavated, and stone piles or stone enclosures were seen on the surface, and the lower tombs were either oval or circular, and burial and cremation were common. Of the 20 tombs in which martyrs were martyred, 14 were buried and 5 were cremated. Burial pottery, beads, copper ornaments, sheep bones, iron remnants, earrings, copper scythes, horn-shaped ornaments, etc., are slightly similar. In the same cemetery, the people buried are both the Qiang people who are widely spread in the Kunlun Mountains and the Cypriots in the Pamir Plateau. Preliminary observation shows that in the oasis of the river valley where the Eastern Pamir Plateau is very limited and can accommodate people, historical and geographical factors have made different ethnic groups of Qiang and Cyprus coexist in the same narrow space. Although their ethnic origins are different, their traditional culture is also different. Burial customs, which are considered very sacred, are also very different, but they recognize and accept each other and coexist in a social group. Daily necessities, accessories, and tools are similar to each other, indicating that in real life, a kind of convergence that cannot be ignored is actually walking on a path of integration.

Loulan stands between the Western Regions and the Central Plains. Its political center, Loulan Ancient City (LA), became the residence of the Han Dynasty's long history of the Western Regions during the Eastern Han Dynasty. The platform and the tomb of Lone Tai Han in the eastern suburbs of Loulan Ancient City were in the early Eastern Han Dynasty. British scholar Stein, excavated here in 1914, numbered LC. In 1980, Chinese scholars cleaned up here again. In the platform Yadan, 14 Han tombs were found, in a rectangular vertical tomb numbered MB1, 8 people were buried, divided into three layers: two people on the upper level, men and women were buried together; There are three people in the middle and lower classes, two men and one woman, two women and one man. Along with the martyrdom items, in addition to the indigenous characteristics of pottery, wood, bows and arrows, iron knives, you can also see Han five-baht money, Han-style comb grates, and many lacquerware, mostly wearing Chinese-style silk and splendid embroidery. Strong Han-style relics and traditional Loulan style cultural relics coexist in one tomb. The owner of the tomb, the excavators, took 4 human bones from the three-story tomb, and after measurement and analysis by physical anthropologists, concluded that there were both females and Indo-European Mediterranean type males. The same resident family, members with different ethnic identities, blended with each other and moved forward, showing the social life of the Loulan people in the Han Dynasty.

The Turpan Basin during the Han and Jin dynasties was a stage for many ethnic groups to coexist and jointly build material and spiritual civilizations. Here, the earliest inhabitants, seen in the Chinese history, are Che Shi (姑師), with Caucasian ethnic characteristics; In the 2nd century BC, the Western Han Dynasty built the Tuntian base in Mutougou Shuiwei Lu in the middle of the basin; Subsequently, the Central Plains Dynasty further expanded the Tuntian business here, setting up the captain of Pengji, Gaochang Commandery, and the "Han and Wei Dynasty" from the Central Plains; During the Northern Liang Dynasty, the Xiongnu clan used this as a base to establish the Northern Liang Small Dynasty; Zhaowu Jiu, surnamed Hu, centered on Sogdiana, also settled and developed here due to commercial trade. Gaochang, which was a trade hub of the Silk Road, not only brought practical benefits to the local residents of all ethnic groups, but also became a gold attraction for the nomadic kingdoms to the north. The Rouran slaughtered the dominant Rouran, and Kan Bozhou, Zhang Mengming, and Ma Ru took the stage one after another, but it was not difficult to find Rouran, Tiele, and Western Turks wrestling with each other behind them. The Han Qi clan, whose ancestral home is in the Hexi Corridor, ruled the Turpan Basin for 140 years. It hoped to be dependent on the Central Plains dynasty, but was unable to resist the military and political influence of the Western Turks. Qi Wentai dared to use Gaochang Projectile Land to block the efforts of the Tang Dynasty to further expand the Silk Road and strengthen its rule over the Western Regions, and the fundamental point was the support of the Western Turks. This page of historical pictures shows that although there are many ethnic groups in the basin, the political situation of more than 200 years, the pursuit of common economic interests, and the external military and political contradictions they face together are the core factors of their psychological and cultural convergence, and the geographical influence in this process is far higher than that of blood. The Tang Dynasty unified Turpan and established Xizhou, and residents of different ancestral origins and lineages, without exception, became households with the same status under Tangxi Prefecture. This process of national historical development has a lot of historical experience worthy of our analysis and consideration.

In the big family of the Chinese nation, the Uighur is one of the members with a long historical and cultural tradition. It turned out that Xiongxiong, based in the Orkhon River Valley of the Mongolian Plateau, was a fierce knight who dominated the north of the desert; In the middle of the 9th century, in the face of irresistible natural and man-made disasters, he resolutely decided to go west and enter Xinjiang and its surrounding areas. Adapt to the new situation and constantly reform the old and renew: borrowing the Sogdian alphabet, the Uighur script was created; To meet the needs of ruling interests, adjust ideological and cultural policies at any time, change traditional Manichaean beliefs, and convert to Buddhism; Other different faiths, such as Nestorianism, can also be tolerated.

In the middle of the 9th century, when the Uighur subjects entered Xinjiang and established the Uighur dynasty, they faced many desert oasis kingdoms with different ethnic groups and languages in the Tarim Basin. In a geographical space with different languages and different traditional cultures, the key to seeking unity and stability, eliminating rejection and enhancing the concept of identity lies in the language link. Without verbal communication, estrangement, differences, contradictions, and even further conflicts are inevitable. The Uighur Dynasty, in this link, took very powerful measures to gradually replace the main languages spoken in the Indo-European East Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family, such as Hetiansei, Shule, Guizi, Yanqi, and the main languages spoken in the Turpan region, Chinese, etc. The language and script centered on the Uighur language and the Uighur script have become the main language and writing tools of the Western Regions. In the archaeological data, cultural relics gradually transformed from Chinese to Uighur language are often seen in Turpan. This has built a necessary and indispensable bridge for building a unified Uighur politics, ideology and culture. The lesson it teaches us is that in areas where many ethnic groups live together, with advanced subject ethnic culture as the core, building a common ideological and cultural temple in the fields of language, writing, science and technology, and culture is a powerful weapon for forming a common national psychology. Its achievements in promoting political, economic, and cultural ties and identities between different oasis regions and building a new unified Uighur national cultural psychological project cannot be overestimated, and the positive impact it has exerted is enormous.

Culture can benefit from ancient and modern times, and understand the history of ethnic development in Xinjiang, where many useful historical lessons can be learned. And archaeological and cultural materials, here, can undoubtedly provide rich and convincing information.

Author's affiliation: Institute of History and Philology, Western Regions, School of Chinese Studies, Chinese Minmin University

Notes omitted, please refer to the original text for the full version.