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In 1999, a bronze ringing unearthed from the Shang Dynasty family tomb in Liujiazhuang, Anyang, Henan Province shocked everyone, and this ancient bronze cookware actually contained a human head! Could it be that in ancient times, people were cooked? After research, experts not only revealed the bloody side of the Shang Dynasty, but also brought out the tragedy of the life of a noble girl.
Although the name of this bronze is obscure, everyone is familiar with its use. Bronze 甗 (yǎn) is a kind of kitchen utensils in ancient times, which was very popular during the Shang and Zhou dynasties, it is divided into two parts, the upper part is used to hold food, called 甑 (zèng), and the bottom of the retort has a perforated 箅 (bì) and the lower part of the 鬲 (gé). When used, water was boiled in the grate, and the steam entered the retort above through the grate hole to steam the food, which was equivalent to today's steamer. And the human head was found in such a cookware, such a heavy scene, no wonder people have nightmares.
Why is the human head in the cooker? Is it just a coincidence? In this regard, archaeological experts stood up: it must not be a coincidence!
It turned out that more than 10 years ago, there was a "human head" unearthed in the northwest gang sacrificial pit of the Yinxu Wang's Mausoleum site in Xiaotun Village, near the Liujiazhuang Shang Tomb, however, the bronze rings were seriously deformed at that time, and in order to ensure the state of the unearthed cultural relics, the human head inside was not taken out for study.
At the time, it was believed that the head was probably from a human sacrifice, and that the slaves' heads were cut off and rolled into the bronze sacrificial rings that were placed aside, after all, the sacrificial objects were found stacked on top of each other, which is also very likely.
But with the unearthing of another "bronze head ring" in 1999, this coincidence is self-defeating.
Since the bronze is in such a good state of preservation, scientists decided to conduct research to uncover the mysteries behind it.
First of all, it is necessary to verify whether the head rolled off "accidentally".
Archaeologists removed the human head from the bronze ring, and upon inspection, they found the problem. The head and neck of the man had jagged marks from the slashing of the axe, indicating that the head had indeed been cut off, but the skull was very distinctly grayish-black, very different from the grayish-yellow color that is normally preserved. After laboratory testing, it turned out that the calcium in the head was seriously lost, and it was cooked. This proves that the theory of "accidental rolling" is obviously not valid.
Secondly, it is necessary to deduce the identity of the head.
In the Shang Dynasty, slaves were used most for sacrifices or burials, so was the person who was boiled a slave? Forensic experts analyzed the gender and identity of the skull, which had a small, low, smooth and detailed skull, an underdeveloped brow arch, a thinner upper orbital border, a steep forehead, and an underdeveloped mastoid and external occipital carina, so experts judged the skull to be female.
The teeth of this skull are well developed and have a relatively low degree of wear. You must know that the living conditions of ancient people were low, and the life expectancy of ordinary people was relatively short, and because the diet structure was dominated by grains, the teeth were worn out more seriously, not to mention the miserable slaves who could not eat well and were not full. Therefore, the good development of teeth and the health of the oral cavity prove that this is a young girl with a good life, and it is likely that she is a nobleman who often eats meat.
Again, it is to speculate on the reason why this noble girl became a sacrifice.
Two elements in the human body have made a great contribution to this problem. The first is strontium isotopes.
In nature, the rare element strontium exists in the form of four isotopes: 84Sr, 86Sr, 87Sr, and 88Sr, and the content of these four strontium isotopes varies slightly in each region. Plants absorb strontium from soil and groundwater, and this element is retained in the body when humans or herbivores eat these plants. In humans, once the enamel on the tooth surface is formed, the mineral content in it is fixed. Therefore, the verification of the strontium isotope can deduce the geographical origin of this person.
After taking a tooth from the girl's skull for testing, the examiner found that the girl was not a native of Anyang, and after verifying the oxygen isotopes in the tooth again, it was inferred that the girl was probably from the coastal area.
It turns out that oxygen in nature exists in the form of three isotopes: 16O, 17O, and 18O, and the 18O/16O ratio is related to the distance from the ocean, and the farther away from the ocean, the lower the 18O/16O ratio. And the oxygen isotope content in the body of this young girl is realistic, this is a girl who lives on the coast.
With these two clues, scientists have returned to the examination of the literature. After looking through a large number of bronze inscriptions and tortoiseshell inscriptions, it was found that the Liujiazhuang cemetery was a tomb in the late Shang Dynasty, at this time, the Shang kings were Di Yi or Di Xin (Shang Wang), and they conducted two conquests of the people (Yi Fang, Corpse Fang) in the southeast during their reign. And this girl is likely to be a prisoner of war in this war. Because of his aristocratic status, he was chosen and became a sacrifice of merchants......
In this way, the tragic life of this young girl in bronze was finally known to people after nearly 3,000 years. The use of people to sacrifice unveiled the very bloody side behind the splendid culture of the Shang Dynasty.
In fact, the sacrifice of living people was not uncommon in ancient societies. For example, in the archaeological sites of Yangshao culture and Longshan culture, people have found human skulls with cutting marks, which may be the beginning of human sacrifice.
The use of "human animals" to sacrifice to gods is a top-down cultural identity of the Shang Dynasty. Just like the record in the "Book of Rites": "Yin people respect gods, lead the people to serve gods, first ghosts and then rituals"......
During the Chengyu period, in order to let rain and dew rain from heaven, Chengyu once prayed to heaven by self-immolation as a "sacrifice". And the above-mentioned girl in the flower season was cooked in bronze with great difficulty, which was also an act of the Shang Dynasty to please the heavens and sacrifice to the gods.
In addition, there are many texts in "The Survival of Oracle Bones" that record the burning of female prisoners of war to pray for rain...... Moreover, what is surprising is that not only the Shang Dynasty was like this, but the Zhou Dynasty, which implemented "rites" to govern the country, was also a dynasty that advocated human sacrifice and human martyrdom.
The rulers of the Western Zhou Dynasty held many ceremonies to kill and sacrifice prisoners in Luoyi. The Xiaoyu Ding of the Western Zhou Dynasty recorded that King Kang of Zhou killed and sacrificed human animals in the temple, and the human sacrifices came from prisoners of war obtained from the ghost side......
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, human sacrifice and human martyrdom were severely criticized by the hundreds of schools of thought. But human sacrifice and martyrdom are still well written. It was not until many emperors of the Han Dynasty explicitly forbade human sacrifice from the top down that this custom was gradually abandoned.
Due to the strict hierarchical system of ancient society, people have such a contemptuous attitude towards low-level personnel, and even "do not treat them as people", not only in China, but also in India at the same time, there was also the phenomenon of dedicating human bodies, human blood or human heads to goddesses such as Shi Mu and Difficult Mother. And this phenomenon is not uncommon in Sumer, Babylon, and even written in the scriptures as a classic deed, and the Mayans, Incas also have such a habit, and even in 1486, when the pyramid of Tenochtitlanta was completed, the bloody event of sacrificing the sun god with the hearts of more than 20,000 captives occurred......
After thousands of years of precipitation, the bloody atmosphere in history seems to have been diluted, especially now the popular time travel dramas and ancient puppet mythological dramas have put on layers of romantic and magnificent veils in ancient life, but in fact, in the era of low productivity, are ordinary people really facing erotic encounters and adventures? It is really worth all of us to maintain a sober understanding and quiet thinking.
What do you think of the girl's head in the bronze?
The picture comes from the Internet.