Original title: Cultural relics color reproduce the grand scenery of the Silk Road
Eastern Roman gilt silver platter
Ostrich-shaped gold ornament
Spiral circle foot triptych faience cup
Winged animal-shaped lifting beam
Bird-patterned cartouche faience pot
Sabbath lead coin front and back
Openwork sheathed bronze short sword
Bronze halberd in the shape of a human head
Dragonfly eye glazed beads
Jade humanoid shovel
Bar bird-shaped jar
Eagle head headgear
Sancai phoenix head pot
Four sheep head bronze scepter head
Xin Xin
The Silk Road stretched from east to west throughout Gansu, which was not only the gateway of ancient China to the West, but also the main route and one of the most active regions of East-West exchange. It is bordered by Guanzhong in the east, the Western Regions in the west, Bashu in the south, and the desert in the north, which is not only an important hole for people's trade exchanges and cultural integration, but also the meeting place of nomadic culture and Western Regions culture, and also a hub connecting ancient Eastern and Western world civilizations, so Gansu is also known as the "golden section" of the Silk Road.
Thanks to the warmth and nourishment of the Silk Road, ancient Gansu became the frontier of the mainland's opening up and exchanges with the outside world, an important link to communicate with Eurasian civilizations, and made outstanding contributions in the historical process of mankind, and also left countless brilliant historical and cultural treasures. In the course of history, the spread of the west to the east, the multi-directional and multi-channel contact and exchange between Chinese and Western cultures has gradually deepened, and many unearthed cultural relics have become precious relics and important witnesses reflecting the cultural exchanges between China and the West. This issue takes you to discover the rich and varied cultural heritage of the Silk Roads.
Long before the opening of the Silk Road, the ancestors of Gansu began exchanges and exchanges between the East and the West. In the Neolithic period, the early Chinese culture represented by painted pottery was based in the Shaanxi-Gansu region, expanding and penetrating to the Hexi corridor, Xinjiang and even Central Asia, and Western culture also flowed in reverse along this channel, becoming the primary channel for cultural exchanges between China and the West at that time, this road is known as the "Painted Pottery Road", which is the main channel of early Chinese and Western cultural exchanges, and has a far-reaching impact on the formation and development of Chinese and Western civilization. Archaeological research has found that from the production of painted pottery from the Dadiwan culture to the heyday of the Majiayao culture, due to the indirect influence of the Central and West Asian culture spread by nomads, the pottery in the Majiayao culture, such as the spiral circle foot triptych cup and striped bird-shaped jar of the Majiayao culture, have similarities with the painted pottery of Eastern and Western Europe at the same time. Although the faience patterns and shapes of the Xindian culture are influenced by the Shang and Zhou culture, the sun and moon patterns and animal husbandry patterns on the artifacts are similar to those in Central Asia and the Pamirs.
In 1976, a four-sheep bronze scepter head of the Siba culture was unearthed at the site of Huozhuogou in Yumen, Gansu. The head of the scepter resembles an olive, running up and down, with circular holes, and the body is symmetrically decorated with four round carved sheep's heads, the horns are curved inward, and the head is slightly down. The design of the four sheep is exquisite and delicate, and the ingenuity shows the superb skills of the craftsmen at that time. Coincidentally, 4 eagle head headdresses were also unearthed in Shuping Commune of Yongdeng County. The overall shape is that of an eagle, with a round eye, a short and thick beak, a broad, curved beak, a head carved with cloud-like ears and scaly feathers, and symmetrical square nail holes on both sides of the neck. These four eagle headgear are designed to be simple and bright, and the shape is vivid and realistic, perfectly showing the untamed temperament of the eagle.
The scepter is a symbol of status, status and majesty of ancient nobles, tribal leaders or clan chiefs, and in ancient West and Central Asia, there were customs of authority figures holding the scepter. The special instrument of the scepter head has not been found in large quantities in the mainland, and has only been unearthed in Gansu, Shaanxi, Xinjiang and other places. According to current research, older scepter heads are concentrated in ancient Egypt, the Near East, Anatolia, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea area, dating back to 5500 years ago or earlier. The earliest scepter head found in the mainland is the faience scepter scepter head in Ningjiazhuang, Xihe County, Gansu, and the white jade scepter head unearthed in Dadi Bay, Qin'an, dating back 5500-5000 years. The excavation of the scepter head reveals the historical facts of cultural exchanges between Gansu and Central Asia.
In 1972, a bronze short sword with a hollow sheath was unearthed from the Western Zhou tomb in Baicaopo, Lingtai County. The body of the short sword is willow-leaf-shaped, the stem is straight, and the spine is decorated with ribbed and diagonal triangular patterns. The scabbard is composed of a loop-wrapped openwork snake pattern, the snake body is decorated with fine lines, a triangular snake head, the snake's eyes are convex, and a pair of round carvings on both sides of the sheath are standing rhinoceros. The openwork decoration on the scabbard closely resembles that on the ringed harness excavated in the West Asian site, influenced by the artistic style of the Asian interior. A bronze halberd in the shape of a human head and a jade humanoid shovel were also unearthed in the tomb complex. Human head-shaped bronze halberd, human head with thick eyebrows and giant eyes, hair and tendrils, high-eared giant nose, cheeks with " " shape ornamentation. The neck has an oval chain, a bull's head on the base, and a bull's head pattern on the inside. Jade human-shaped shovel, jade round carving, long face, broad nose, deep eye sockets, large ears, thick lips protruding forward, hands drooping and holding the belly, "8" shaped hollowing between the legs, braided tiger head snake body coiled in a pile of buns. Looking at the faces of the characters on the human head halberd and the image of the jade people, it is obviously not the appearance of the Chinese people, they have the facial characteristics of the Europa people, and it is likely to be the appearance of the northern nomads belonging to the Altaic language family.
In the 90s of the 20th century, a batch of gold ornaments were unearthed in the Qin Cemetery of Dabaozi Mountain, Li County, Longnan City, which are diverse, rich in quantity and finely worked. But at that time, the area was not rich in gold, so there are many opinions about the origin of gold. Later, some scholars speculated that the Qin people had communication and trade with the countries of the Western Regions and even West Asia in the 8th or 9th century BC, and this gold most likely came from the Altai region. The excavation of these gold ornaments further confirms the exchanges between Gansu and West Asia. A large number of gold ornaments from the Warring States period have also been unearthed in the Majiayuan tombs in Zhangjiachuan, some of which have patterns very similar to the Scythian culture and the Bazelek culture, which indicates that as early as the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, the influence of this foreign cultural factor has been produced.
Dozens of dragonfly eye glass beads have been unearthed at the Warring States Tomb Site of Pingliang Miaozhuang, which are blue and translucent in shape, with a circle of blue dots and white circles composed of "fish eye patterns", colorful and gorgeous. Dragonfly eyes are lead-barium glass decorative beads made by fire and inlay during the Warring States period, and the beads are superimposed with circles that resemble dragonfly compound eyes. Dragonfly eye glazed beads first appeared in the eighteenth dynasty of ancient Egypt, roughly in the same era as the middle and early Shang dynasties.
In addition, a winged beast-shaped lifting beam from the Warring States period was also unearthed in Jingming Township, Jingchuan County, Pingliang City. The body of this bronze beast is a four-legged winged beast, the head of the beast is slightly high, the tail is wide and flat like a bird's tail, the four legs are short and thick, the toes and claws are forward, the rounded body of the beast is the belly of the beast, and the sides of the abdomen are painted with flying dragons as wings. The back of the neck and the short tail of the beast are connected by a strip lifting beam, the head and tail of the lifting beam are cast into the shape of a dragon's head and a dragon's foot respectively, and the center of the lid is decorated with a bird-body theropod button. The overall design of the winged beast lifting beam is exquisite, and the shape and ornamentation integrate the characteristics of a variety of animals. The image of the winged beast used in this artifact is generally believed to be based on the mythical beast Griffin in West Asian mythology. There is a view in academia that the image of Griffin appeared in the Two Rivers Valley as early as around the third millennium BC and spread widely around the world. It can be seen from the dragon pattern, bird pattern and other ornaments on the body that this image of the winged beast has an artistic image with Chinese characteristics after it has been transmitted to China.
The reason why dragonfly eye glass beads and winged beast-shaped beams are found in Pingliang is inseparable from their important geographical location. Located at the hub of the eastern section of the Silk Road, Pingliang is an important town of the Silk Road, a commercial and trade wharf and a military fortress, where various ethnic groups, religions, ideas and cultures have exchanged and collided in history, learning from each other.
With the opening of the Silk Road, Pingliang has become a traffic hub and an important commercial port at the eastern end of the northern route of the Silk Road, with unique regional advantages. In Lingtai County, more than 130 kilometers from Pingliang, 274 foreign language lead cakes were unearthed at one time, these lead cakes were 5.5 cm in diameter, 0.6 cm thick and weighed 110 grams to 118 grams. The obverse has a relief shaped like a cockroach, the head has antennae, and the back is cast with foreign letters, and there are two square stamps inside. These foreign-language lead cakes are well preserved and unearthed in such a large quantity at one time, which is rare in the country. For the interpretation of the inscriptions on the lead cake, there are many academic statements, among which the famous archaeologist Mr. Xia Nai has the most objective and evidence-based interpretation, he believes that these foreign words should be the Greek meaning of "great king", "king of kings" and "great". This shows that the currency of foreign language lead cake as a means of payment for foreign trade is not only the product of cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, but also a physical witness of the economic exchanges between the Western Han Dynasty and the countries of the Western Regions. Through these foreign scripts, we further witness the important role of ancient Gansu in the economic prosperity of the Silk Road.
In the 80s of the 20th century, a cultural relic with distinctive exotic characteristics, an Eastern Roman gilt silver plate, was unearthed in Beitan, Jingyuan County, Baiyin City. The silver plate is round in shape and gilt. The inner wall of the plate is full of embossed patterns and arranged in 3 circles. The outer circle is decorated with grape curly vines, and more than 30 small animals such as birds inhabit it. The outer edge of the middle circle is decorated with a small beaded pattern, and there are 12 heads in the inner circumference, separated by birds and other animals, and the 12 heads may be the 12 gods of Mount Olympus in Greek mythology (Apollo the sun god, Artemis the moon god, Zeus the celestial emperor, the virgin god Athena, the sea god Poseidon, the queen of heaven Hera, the fire god Hephaestus, the ceress Demeter, the god of war Ares, the beauty god Aphrodite, the messenger god Hermes, the spring god Parseverne). In the center is a high-relief male with curly hair, wearing a long scarf, holding a staff of Tursos in his right hand, with a pinecone-like ornament at the head, Dionysus, the god of wine in Greek mythology, also known as Barkas in Roman times, who is said to have pioneered the use of grapes to make wine. Dionysus sits leaning on a leopard, with a protruding nose, a mouth open on the side, a garland under his neck, and round spots all over his body. There is a line of inscriptions inscribed with imaginary dots in the bottom of the plate, which are dated later than the age of the vessel. Professor Lin Meicun of Peking University believes that the inscription is Daxia script, which means "worth 490 stads" or "worth 490 gold coins"; Mr. Marshack, an expert on Central Asian history, interprets it as "SYK", presumably as the abbreviation of the owner of the artifact. Silver plates originated in the Roman Empire in the 2nd-3rd centuries AD, exported to the Bactria region in the 3rd-4th centuries and inscribed, and introduced to Gansu, China around the 4th-5th centuries. The artifact was located on the east bank of the Yellow River in central Gansu, and was the northern gateway of the Silk Road into the Hexi Corridor. From the Two Han Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, business travel here is frequent, and the discovery of silver plates bears witness to the bustle and prosperity of the Silk Road thousands of years ago.
In 1972, a three-colored phoenix head pot was unearthed from a Tang Dynasty tomb in Yangjia Village, Gangu County. The pot is a phoenix head with a straight mouth, phoenix eyes round, pecking at the beads, and a heroic posture. Ampulla oval, high lapped. The crown extends to the abdomen as a stalk, and the center of the two sides of the abdomen is sculpted with raised four-petaled flowers, and the weeping lotus petals are also sculpted on the circle seat, and the veins of the feathers and petals under the forehead of the head are delicately depicted. All parts of the body are staggered with bright ochre red, yellow and blue glaze colors, which are full of light.
The phoenix jug is a variation of the foreign Hu bottle style and was very popular in the early Tang Dynasty. The shape of the Sancai phoenix head pot absorbs the style of the bird-covered pot in Persian Sassanid gold and silverware, and the Sancai glaze craft and the image of the phoenix bird are the characteristics of Tang culture. This pot skillfully integrates foreign culture with traditional Chinese culture, which is an innovation in Tang Sancai's styling and a microcosm of the frequent commerce and trade of the Silk Road.
Although the camel bells carrying caravans on the Silk Road have passed away, they have left behind countless brilliant historical relics and cultural relics, which bear witness to the prosperity of ancient Gansu on the Silk Road.
(Author's affiliation: Gansu Provincial Museum)