Cover News Reporter Liu Kexin
On December 21, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage held a working meeting on the important progress of the major project of "Archaeological China", introducing the excavation and research of a number of sites, including the site of the lower station in Baoji, Shaanxi. According to the meeting, the site of Xiazhan continued to be used from 672 BC to the late Western Han Dynasty, up to 600 years before and after, and is the most complete physical material for the study of the ritual system from the pre-Qin to the Western Han Dynasty.
After the work meeting, the reporter interviewed You Fuxiang, the person in charge of the excavation of the Xizhan site and a research librarian of the National Museum of China, who introduced the excavation and research results of the site in more detail.
The word "dense" Taowen provides the basis for the text
The chronological framework of the sacrificial relics from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Han Dynasty was preliminarily established
The total area of the site is about 230,000 square meters, and more than 1,400 sacrificial pits of various types have been found through exploration. In 2020 and 2022, with the approval of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Shaanxi Provincial Bureau of Cultural Heritage organized a joint archaeological team to conduct two archaeological excavations at the site, cleaning up various relics such as sacrificial pits, house sites, and ash pits, and unearthing a large number of sacrificial sacrifices for horses, cattle, and sheep, jade, iron, bronze chariots and horses, as well as bricks, tiles, tiles and other relics.
Jade unearthed at the site of the lower station (according to the interviewee)
You Fuxiang introduced that the sacrifice is the sacrificial tradition of Qin, which began when the Qin Dynasty was established by Xianggong. Yongwu began with Qin Wen Gong set up the Yan Qi to worship the White Emperor, and then the Xuan Gong set up the secret Qi to worship the Qing Emperor, and the Ling Gong set up the Wuyang Upper and Lower Qi to worship the Yellow Emperor and the Yan Emperor; At the beginning, Yongwuqi was used as a local feudal sacrifice of Qin, and with the unification of Qin, Yongwuqi was upgraded to a ceremony to sacrifice to the heavens of the unified empire.
In the early period of the Western Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty inherited the sacrificial tradition of Qin, and the Yongwu Dynasty was still the highest festival in the country, until the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Ganquan Taiqi was set up, and Taiyi was the most respected person of the Emperor of Heaven. The Five Emperors became the Zuo of Taiyi, and the personality declined, and the Yongwu Dynasty gradually evolved into a sacrificial ritual under the sacrifice of heaven and earth, until it was abolished at the end of the Han Dynasty. Although the form of Yongwu was abolished, its sacrificial content and rituals were absorbed by the Ganquan Taiqi and the later southern suburbs of the Temple of Heaven sacrifice, which continued to influence future generations for 2,000 years.
The golden bird unearthed at the site of the lower station (according to the interviewee)
The academic community has long paid attention to the study of the rituals, but it is difficult to deepen it due to the lack of archaeological materials. Since 2015, with the support of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, a joint archaeological team has been formed by the National Museum of China, the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology and other units to carry out research on the archaeological project of the Qin and Han dynasties. At present, four of them have been confirmed in the five camps of Qin and Han Yong, namely Fengxiang Yongshan Blood Pool, Chencang Wushan, Xiazhan and Fengxiang Caiyang Mountain. In particular, the sacrificial remains of the lower station site are the most abundant and the most intact.
Since 2020, with the support of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, three active archaeological excavations have been carried out at the Xiazhan site, revealing an area of 2,400 square meters and 99 sacrificial pits of various types, including animal sacrifices, chariot and horse pits, and model chariot and horse pits. There is a rich overlapping and breaking relationship between the various types of sacrificial pits. According to the stratigraphic relationship between the sacrificial pits, the long-shaped animal sacrificial pit is the earliest among the sacrificial pits that have been cleaned up so far, and it should belong to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period.
In addition to the jade people, jade cong, and jade huang sacrificial jade combinations and a large number of gold, jade, copper chariot and horse weapons, copper crossbow machines, arrows and other weapons, the relics unearthed at the site of the lower station also include other jade, coins, iron farm tools, and building components such as moire tiles, text tiles, bricks and tiles, as well as a large number of animal sacrifices. Among them, the pottery shards engraved with the word "dense" provide textual evidence for the nature of the site. You Fuxiang told reporters that combined with the results of carbon 14 dating, the chronological framework of the sacrificial relics from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Han Dynasty has been preliminarily established.
Jade chariots and horses unearthed at the site of the lower station (according to the interviewee)
Jade people unearthed at the site of the lower station (according to the interviewee)
Animals are strictly selected to sacrifice individuals
It is the ruler of the relics of the Qin and Han sacrifices
You Fuxiang introduced that the sacrificial pits currently found at the site are mainly divided into 3 categories and 11 small ones, which are elongated pits, rectangular pits and cavern-shaped pits. The rectangular pit is divided into a carriage and horse pit and an animal sacrifice pit, a chariot and a horse are placed in the chariot and horse pit, and the cape is driven, and the animal sacrifice pit is divided into three kinds of horses, cattle and sheep, and four juvenile individuals are buried in each of them; a model chariot and horse are placed in the cavern-shaped pit. These three animal sacrifices are completely consistent with the use of foal, calf, and lamb sacrifices in the literature. In order to show reverence for the heavens, all juvenile individuals are selected for the selection of sacrificed individuals, and there are also strict selections in terms of gender and coat color. ”
The animal bones and utensils unearthed in the sacrificial pit confirm the records in the "Historical Records and Feng Zen Book": four horses, a horse of Muyu Longluan, a horse of Muyu car, four yellow calves, and a number of coins.
Judging by the posture of the animals excavated from the sacrifice, archaeologists speculate that these animal sacrifices should have been buried after they were killed. In the sacrificial pits where the animals are buried, the long pits all face north, and the rectangular sacrificial pits all head east. At present, there is no particularly clear understanding of the meaning of the orientation, archaeologists judge that the north direction of the site of the lower station is the capital of Qin, Yongcheng, and the object of its sacrifice is the Qingdi, from the direction of the Oriental Emperor, the orientation may be related to this.
Mi Yi experienced the Spring and Autumn Period, the Warring States Period, the Qin Dynasty and the Western Han Dynasty, and was constantly developing and changing at various stages. Theoretically, all types of sacrificial pits from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Western Han Dynasty can be excavated through the lower station. These sacrificial pits had different manifestations in different eras.
You Fuxiang introduced that in the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, the dense dungeon was mainly sacrificed to the prison, that is, the long cow pit, and the large carriage and horse pit and rectangular horse pit began to appear in the late period. During the Warring States Period, the carriage and horse pits continued to exist, the shape became smaller, and rectangular cattle pits and sheep pits began to appear in the sacrificial pits. During the Qin to Western Han dynasties, the traditions of the Warring States period were continued, and sacrificial pits and sacrificial objects developed in a more institutionalized direction, such as the fixed combination of jade people, jade cong, and jade huang. This change reflects the change pattern of China from the pre-Qin to the Qin and Han dynasties, from the division of feuds to the great unification, from pluralism to unity. You Fuxiang explained.
Rectangular sacrificial pit (horse pit) (Source: Wenbo Shaanxi)
Such a rich sacrificial pit remains also made Mi Qi a ruler for the sacrificial relics of the Qin and Han dynasties. In the future, the sacrificial relics of the same period in China can be compared with the ruins of the lower station, and the discovery of the ruins of the lower station can be used as a yardstick to judge the age and nature of other sacrificial remains. ”
"The major events of the country, in the worship and Rong, sacrifice is an important part of the life of the people, and the sacrificial culture is an important part of Chinese culture. You Fuxiang said that through sacrificial activities, the Chinese people inherit the mandate of heaven, recall the ancestors, inherit filial piety, cultivate virtue, and express gratitude for the destiny of heaven while expressing their gratitude and expressing their ambition to promote goodness. This sacrificial cultural phenomenon has a special function for the transformation of the world's customs and the education of individual life, and it is still of practical significance. ”
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