Oceania unearthed square tripod
In September 1989, Chengjia Village, Oceania Town, Xingan County, Jiangxi Province, near the east bank of the Ganjiang River, under a sand dune commonly known as "three and a half umbrellas", in the range of about 8.22 meters long, 3.60 meters wide and an area of about 30 square meters, 1,374 pieces of bronze, ceramics, jade and other cultural relics of the Shang Dynasty were unearthed, including 475 pieces of bronze, ritual vessels, musical instruments, tools, weapons, living utensils and more than 30 kinds of utensils in six categories.
At the excavation site full of yellow sand, the bronze heavy objects are arranged in a regular and neat manner: the large ceremonial instruments such as the tripod, the mustache, the reed, and the cymbal are arranged in a straight line in the east-west direction; the medium-sized tripod, the mustache, the pot, the plate, the double-faced god head, and the living and production tools such as the ploughshare and the shovel are placed in the southeast corner; the southwest side and the southern corner are placed the weapons such as the ring, the axe, the ge, and the spear; and the small ritual utensils and tools such as shovels, awls, and knives are stacked on the second platform on the west side in two stacks. In the central core area, exquisite jade ornaments, delicate bronzes, and small jade charms are concentrated, and the peculiar shapes and ornaments with chisel and black and translucent Zhinego and Qunego are also placed here. The pottery is concentrated on the second floor of the platform on the east side. Large bronze weapons were consciously damaged, bronze broadswords, ge, spears and other weapons and jade ges were all broken into three pieces, and most of the small bronze weapons and tools were intact. All kinds of utensils are layered on top of each other, and most of the bronzes are tightly wrapped with fabrics when they are unearthed, and most of these wrapping fabrics are silk plain silk.
By all indications, more than 3,000 years ago, there was a grand funeral here. In a relic unit, such a large number of bronzes were unearthed at one time, and there are many varieties, exquisite craftsmanship, peculiar shapes, mysterious and gorgeous ornamentation, only in the southern region, and the whole country is also rare, it is one of the most important discoveries of bronzes in the Shang Dynasty, and it caused a worldwide sensation for a while. Therefore, experts are known as the "Southern Bronze Kingdom".
The bronze tripod unearthed in the Xingan Zhongyan Reservoir
One
The Xinkan Oceania bronzes belong to large Shang Dynasty tombs, which may have the nature of royal tombs. There are as many as 52 pieces of bronze ritual heavy vessels representing a prominent position, and the specific age of these bronzes spans a large period in the morning and evening, the early ones have the characteristics of the bronzes of the Erligang period in Zhengzhou, and the late period is about equivalent to the early and middle period of Yinxu in Anyang, with an interval of hundreds of years, but most of the artifacts have the characteristics of the early and middle Yinxu periods. Peking University conducted C-14 dating of the soot of the bronzes unearthed from the tomb, and the absolute age is 3360±160 years ago.
Historically, Jiangxi unearthed many batches of Shang Dynasty bronzes, bronze ritual vessels, weapons are mostly unearthed in the middle reaches of the Ganjiang River Qingjiang Basin Zhangshu City (formerly Qingjiang County), Xingan County, is the most developed area of Jiangxi prehistoric civilization, the famous Fanchengdui ruins, the ruins of the Acropolis, the ruins of Shinian Mountain are all important rulers of Jiangxi prehistoric culture. In 1973, a bronze coffin was unearthed in Zhengyuan Mountain, Wucheng, Zhangshu, open mouth, mid-waist micro-bundle, slightly bulging abdomen, flat bottom, hollow angular feet slightly outward, two fungus-type columns were erected along the mouth, decorated with circular swirl patterns, a flat shape was attached to the neck and abdomen, and the body was decorated with circle patterns, cloud thunder patterns and eye patterns. This is the earliest bronze ware that has been found in Jiangxi, and the shape is basically the same as that of similar vessels in the Central Plains, but the ornamentation has local characteristics. According to the analysis of the accompanying pottery, the age should be the second phase of Wucheng, which is equivalent to the early period of Yinxu. In 1976, two Zhinege and one willow leaf-shaped spear were found at the site of Wucheng, and three Shang Dynasty bronze weapons.
In 1975, two pieces of flat-footed round tripods unearthed in Hengtang, Zhangshu City, with standing tigers and standing birds on the standing ears, are similar to the bronzes unearthed from the merchant tombs in Xingan Oceania. This kind of decorated bronze ware was only unearthed in the Jiangxi region, and it is very local. In 1976 and 1977, a batch of bronzes were unearthed in the tombs of the Zhongyan Reservoir in Oceania, Xingan County, including copper tripods, Lian 1, and Jue, Ning, etc., the era is close to the middle of the Shang Dynasty, and the bronze tripod has a typical Shang culture style.
The bronze tripod unearthed in the Xingan Zhongyan Reservoir
The Oceania bronzes and the Zhongyan Reservoir bronzes are about 3 kilometers apart, which should be closely related to the nearby Xingan Niutoucheng site, and similarly, the Zhengyuanshan bronzes and Hengtang bronzes are distributed around the Wucheng site in Zhangshu City, which is obviously related to the Wucheng site.
The ruins of Wucheng are located in Zhangshu City, Qingjiang Basin, in the middle reaches of the Ganjiang River, on the west side of the Ganjiang River, in a continuous hilly area. Since its discovery in 1973, ten archaeological excavations have been conducted. The Wucheng site is the first bronze cultural site with a clear age found in the south of the Yangtze River, which is claimed to have broken the theory that Shang culture is only the Yangtze River, and opened a new chapter in Chinese archaeology's understanding of Shang Dynasty civilization.
The ruins of Niutoucheng are located in Xingan County, Qingjiang Basin, in the middle reaches of the Ganjiang River, on the east side of the Ganjiang River, separated by a river from the Wucheng Ruins, with a straight-line distance of 28 kilometers. The site was discovered in the 70s of the 20th century and was named because of its flat shape resembling a bull's head.
The ruins of Niutoucheng and Wucheng are 28 kilometers apart, and they are both the largest and highest-grade Shang Dynasty ruins in the Qingjiang Basin. The huge city site, the towering city walls, the clear functional zoning, and the excavation of large building foundations and high-grade bronzes show the basic pattern of the core sites in the region, both of which were the capitals of the Shang Dynasty, and together with the Shang tombs of Oceania, they formed the main framework of the "Southern Bronze Kingdom".
Two
From the analysis of the modeling characteristics and decorative styles of the bronzes unearthed from the Shang tombs, Wucheng ruins and Niutoucheng ruins in the Qingjiang Basin as the core, the bronzes in Jiangxi reached a very high height once they appeared around the middle of the Shang Dynasty. This phenomenon is inseparable from the large-scale mining of copper and tin mines in the region.
Mining, smelting, and casting are the three links in the production of ancient bronzes. Mining in the mine, smelting on site, can save costs. But where exactly is it minted? Generally speaking, after being mined in a mine and cast into a copper ingot, it is transported to the place of use. The Shang Dynasty used more bronzes to cast in the Central Plains, but what about the local bronzes in Jiangxi?
More than 300 pieces of cast pottery fan stone fan were found at the above-mentioned Wucheng site, indicating that Wucheng has a certain scale of bronze casting, but the pottery fan casting large bronze and bronze ritual vessels has not been found, so the casting site still needs to be explored. Over the years, archaeologists have carried out a series of investigations and excavations in Jiujiang, De'an and other areas in northern Jiangxi Province, focusing on the copper ore resources of bronze mining and smelting activities with Ruichang Tongling Copper Mine as the core. The Ruichang Tongling Copper Mine on the south bank of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and the northernmost part of Jiangxi Province is one of the earliest and most important copper mining and smelting sites found in China so far. The archaeological relics have more than 100 open pits, mines, roadways, mineral processing sites, and sheds.
Since the first excavation in 1988, new breakthroughs have been made. In the early exposure of 1,800 square meters, 103 shafts, 19 flat lanes, 3 smelting areas in the Shang and Zhou dynasties were cleared, and other relics include sheds, mineral processing sites, open-pit mining pits, groove pits, material processing plants, and fences. The slag smelting area in the site is about 170,000 square meters, and the total slag refining area is estimated to be about 100,000 tons. In recent years, relics such as smelting furnaces, ash pits, and living quarters have been found from the Shang Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period, and the pottery age can be as early as the early Shang Dynasty. It can be seen that the scale and time of Ruichang Tongling Copper Mine are large. A large number of stone models for making bronzes were found at the Wucheng site, which is a proof of the local production of bronzes in Jiangxi.
Some artifacts were unearthed at the Buckwheat Ridge site
The archaeological investigation and excavation of mining and metallurgical remains in the Boyang River Basin of northern Jiangxi Province, which began in 2014, provided new materials for exploring the origin of Jiangxi bronzes. Jiujiang County buckwheat ridge site, north of the Yangtze River dozens of kilometers, from Ruichang Tongling copper mine and De'an tin mine twenty or thirty kilometers, found a large number of relics such as house sites, wells, ash pits, etc., unearthed Shang Dynasty relics have pottery, bronze and so on. Pottery has Ding, Ning, Mustache, 斝, Gui, Jue, Yao, Pan, Xu, Dakouzun, Dakou Jar, False Belly Bean, Folding Shoulder Jar, Helmet Jar, Crucible, etc., the era can be the earliest to the first four phases of Erligang, the main age is between the second phase of the lower layer of Erligang and the first phase of the upper layer of Erligang, that is, between the early and late stages of the Shang and the middle business. The main cultural appearance is close to the site of Panlongcheng in Huangpi, Hubei. A large amount of copper slag was found, and some ruins and relics were also related to smelting.
The cultural connotation of the Buckwheat Ridge site is mainly based on the Central Plains culture, which integrates local cultural factors, and is the most direct and earliest evidence that the Xia and Shang culture of the Central Plains passed through the Jiangxi region in order to obtain bronze resources. The site brings the occurrence of Jiangxi bronze culture earlier to the early Shang period or even earlier. The expansion of Shang culture from northern Jiangxi to the hinterland of central Jiangxi with the background of the development and utilization of copper ore resources is in line with the spatiotemporal evolution trend of the continuous development and growth of the southern bronze kingdom.
Three
As mentioned above, the Southern Bronze Kingdom, which has abundant bronze smelting resources and exquisite bronze making technology, has unearthed the Bronze Age as early as the middle of the Shang Dynasty, and its bronze smelting activities and production techniques can be as early as the early Shang Dynasty or earlier.
The cultural appearance of the bronzes of the Southern Bronze Kingdom has both the cultural style of the Central Plains Shang Dynasty and the strong local characteristics, which can be roughly divided into three categories.
In the first category, the shape and ornamentation of the utensils are very close to the bronzes of the Shang Dynasty in the Central Plains, such as the copper tripod unearthed from the tomb of the Xingan Zhongyan Reservoir, etc., which has typical Shang cultural characteristics, belongs to the middle Shang period, and should be an example of the earliest entry of merchants into the hinterland of Jiangxi. According to statistics, there are 30% of the containers, such as the square block, the round shoulder, the three-legged beam block, the ring, the pot, the bird's ear shaped flat-footed tripod, the column-footed round tripod, the four sheep and the urn, the Zhan, etc., as well as many bronze weapons, living utensils, jade cong, jade jade, jade huang, jade Ge, etc., in the category of utensils, modeling, decorative patterns have typical Yin Shang cultural characteristics.
In the second category, the overall shape is close to the Central Plains, with local changes or changes in ornamentation, showing local styles, and some are the same as the ornamentation on local pottery, such as the beaded pattern of the Xingan Oceania bronzes, which are called "fusion" bronzes, and are the most numerous. There are many such bronze ritual vessels, including column-footed round tripods, square tripods, tiger-shaped flat-foot tripods, oug-shaped tripods, mustache-shaped tripods, rings, fish-shaped flat-foot tripods, crotch round shoulders, false belly beans, etc., as well as the head knife, the square inner Yue, the jade handle-shaped vessel, the jade feather person, etc.
The third category has distinctive local characteristics, such as decorative patterns and swallowtail patterns, which are very different from the bronzes of the Central Plains; the bronze statues of the two-tailed tiger and the double-faced gods and men and the bronze bell of the merchant tombs in Oceania are very distinctive. Ancient musical instruments are equal to the ritual instruments of "passing through the country, setting the community, and ordering the people", and there are no joys on major occasions such as sacrifices, funerals, expeditions, and banquets. The bronze plutonium unearthed from the merchant tomb in Oceania is exquisitely ornamented, the volume is huge, the sound is thick and loud, and it is known as the "king of plutonium". It has been unearthed in the western part of Jiangxi and the eastern part of Hunan, and is the most typical single percussion instrument in the region. The bronze mask, also known as the bronze "double-faced god statue", has a wide mouth and protruding eyes and big ears, revealing a mysterious and strange atmosphere. The two-tailed tiger weighs 6.2 kilograms, with its mouth open, its fangs exposed, its eyes are hideous, and its four-legged lies in ambush as if it wants to indulge; The tiger bird coexists peacefully and is very distinctive, and this is the largest known tiger-shaped artifact of the Shang Dynasty.
The available data show that the Erlitou cultural factors from the Central Plains have appeared in Jiangxi Guangfengshe Shantou, Xinyu Zhushan, Gao'an Xiachen, Jiujiang Buckwheat Ridge, Jing'an Laohudun and other sites, especially the Buckwheat Ridge site, showing a strong Central Plains cultural style. Under the impact of the Xia and Shang bronze culture in the Central Plains, from the early Shang to the late Shang period, the bronzes of the Southern Bronze Kingdom experienced a process of rise, evolution and gradual development and growth.
In the early Shang period, Shang culture entered northern Jiangxi, bringing the bronze civilization to Jiangxi, and then gradually radiating. The foreign Shang culture innovated itself in a way that integrated into the local culture, resulting in a new local bronze culture. In the early days of Ruichang Tongling Copper Mine, Wucheng Ruins, Niucheng Ruins, etc., the typical bronzes and pottery of the Central Plains Shang culture accounted for only a small part, and non-Shang artifacts dominated. In the late Shang period, the influence of Shang culture gradually declined, and the local culture grew stronger, and the fusion and local characteristic bronzes accounted for the majority, indicating that the emergence and development of Jiangxi bronze culture was strongly influenced by the Central Plains culture, but it has always existed as an independent region with its own development trajectory.
Oceania excavated standing deer
Four
In the Shangshan Tomb of Xingan Oceania, there is a huge single tiger image, on the most ceremonial characteristics of the tripod ears and feet, there are 56 tiger images on the handle of the bronze weapon, on the head of the staff and on the jade ornaments. Some of them are realistic, concrete, and vivid; some of them are freehand, and the portrayal is vivid, and they can be described as the tiger and the tiger! The bronze tripod decorated in the form of a large number of crouching tigers is unique to Jiangxi, and the rich image of the tiger is also rare in the whole country, showing the unique tiger worship in the locality.
According to the literature, there was a tiger fang in ancient times, and the earliest clan was to worship the tiger, which was formed in the period of the Yellow Emperor. The Shang Dynasty developed into the Tiger Fang, and it can be seen in the oracle bone inscriptions. In the late Shang period, it moved south to Jianghan. Yin Zhinan, Hufang country, west of Pengli, east of Dongting, followed by three seedlings and Hufang. Therefore, in the late Shang period, it may reach the area of Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake. The analysis of tiger elements such as the shape and pattern of the tiger is used in large quantities on the bronzes, which is consistent with the geographical location of the tiger side recorded in the literature. The Southern Bronze Kingdom may be the Tiger Country or the Tiger Country. The tomb most likely belonged to the Supreme Leader of the Tiger Fang or the Tomb of the Tiger King.
The abundant copper and tin resources along the Yangtze River attracted the direct intervention of the Central Plains forces, and the local bronze culture of Jiangxi was profoundly influenced by the Central Plains bronze culture, developed rapidly and soon reached its peak and maturity. However, Jiangxi's bronze culture is not a simple copy or attachment of the Central Plains bronze culture, and it shows strong regional characteristics once it originates. This objective situation reflects the fact that the ancient Jiangxi bronze culture was influenced and promoted by the highly developed bronze culture of the Central Plains, but while absorbing the essence of the Central Plains bronze culture, it is more about learning from and integrating the Central Plains bronze culture, developing in parallel with the Central Plains bronze culture, and finally gradually forming its own style and becoming the center of the southern bronze civilization of the Shang Dynasty, which is the characteristics and context of the development of Jiangxi bronzes, and the bronzes of the Southern Bronze Kingdom are its materialized forms.
This article was published in Heritage World, Issue 10, 2023
Original title: "The Historical Contribution of the Southern Bronze Kingdom in the Chinese Pluralistic and Integrated Civilization System", references omitted
Authors and affiliations: Xu Changqing, Jiangxi Provincial Museum, and Wang Yile, Jiangxi Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology