China News Service, Beijing, March 27 (Reporter Sun Zifa) "Among the cultural relics unearthed in Sanxingdui archaeological discoveries, many of them are from the Central Plains region of the Xia and Shang dynasties."
Researcher Wang Wei, member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and chairman of the Chinese Society of Archaeology, said in an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Agency that this means that the ancestors of Sanxingdui have accepted the strong influence of the Xia and Shang dynasties. It also clearly shows that the ancient Shu civilization represented by Sanxingdui and The Xia and Shang dynasties of the Central Plains had very close relations.
Empirical again that Chinese civilization is formed by a pluralistic unity
Wang Wei pointed out that the newly unearthed ceremonial utensils and bronze statues, bronze leves, and copper bells that evolved from jade cong, jade bi, jade ge and yazhang unearthed in Sanxingdui are all in the style of the Central Plains.
The relics of these styles were basically formed at the Erlitou site in the late Xia Dynasty, and a considerable part of it was inherited by the Shang Dynasty.
The newly unearthed relics of the Central Plains style at the Sanxingdui site clearly show that the ancient Shu civilization has a very close relationship with the Central Plains Xia-Shang Dynasty. The ancient Shu civilization has received the strong influence of the Xia-Shang Dynasty, and these influenced artifacts, Including bronze ceremonial utensils and large-scale ceremonial utensils, etc., it shows that the ritual system created by the Xia and Shang dynasties in the Central Plains of China had a strong influence on the surrounding civilizations.
"The jade cong unearthed here is very close to the central area of the Shang Dynasty." Wang Wei explained that the use of jade bi and jade cong originated in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, but it is unlikely that the jade bi and jade cong in Sanxingdui had disappeared more than 4,300 years ago. The legacy of the Liangzhu culture in China, “should be that the Central Plains dynasty absorbed some elements of the Liangzhu culture, then formed a part of its own culture, and then spread to Sanxingdui”.
As the chief expert of the Chinese Civilization Discovery Project, Wang Wei believes that the new archaeological discoveries in Sanxingdui once again demonstrate that Chinese civilization is formed by a pluralistic unity. In the early "starry sky" of Chinese civilization, Sanxingdui and ancient Shu civilization are the shining stars One.
Exaggerated shapes of unearthed artifacts are all artistic expressions
Regarding the exaggerated modeling artifacts such as the "bronze longitudinal eye mask" unearthed at the Sanxingdui site that caused netizens to speculate on alien civilizations and alien civilizations, Wang Wei made it clear that there is no such possibility.
He said that these exaggerated appearances were only because the ancients regarded it as a "god", not the true appearance of the ancestors of Sanxingdui.
Among them, the unearthed small bronze figures are basically small square faces, and are also typical of Sichuan people. Their noses, eyes, and ears are all artistic exaggerations.
As for the comparison of the gold mask of Sanxingdui site with Egypt or even ancient Greece, Wang Wei believes that the gold mask of Sanxingdui is actually a system of copper masks, "just for reasons such as the pursuit of more dignity, and then put a layer of gold on the surface of the copper mask." This method is a characteristic of Sanxingdui.
He said that Sanxingdui has similarities in the use of gold and the surface of the outside world, but at present, apart from the elements of gold and masks, there is no direct connection.
Talking about the Sanxingdui bronze sacred tree and the sacred bird, Wang Wei said that this echoes the myth of the golden crow and Houyi shooting the sun in ancient Chinese mythology. "The sacred tree and the sacred bird are probably the embodiment of this myth."
He believes that it was originally believed that this mythology appeared during the Warring States Period, but now it appears that it appeared at least during the Ancient Shu Period.
This also shows that China's mythological system is not all born in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, "it should be a collection of myths and legends from many places."
Wang Wei emphasized that the civilizations of various regions in China have their own characteristics. The reason why people think that the shapes of cultural relics unearthed in Sanxingdui are "strange and weird" and very mysterious. It is because they don't understand them, and they have a lot of fantasies.
In fact, these cultural relics are based on the foundation of life at that time, and then exaggerated artistic techniques are used to give them the color of religion and belief.
There are still many mysteries related to the sacrificial activities and beliefs
According to Wang Wei, the six new pits No. 3 to No. 8 excavated in Sanxingdui archaeology this time, and No. 1 and No. 2 excavated 35 years ago, judging from the relics unearthed at this stage, the appearance is basically the same. There is no obvious difference in the type, shape, and age of the pits, and the distance between these pits is very close, which should be about the same time. “At the current carbon 14 survey, No. 4 pit is equivalent to the late Shang Dynasty. We believe that these pits are all in the same period. It belongs to the late Shang Dynasty."
Why did the ancestors of Sanxingdui in the late Shang Dynasty hold such a large-scale sacrificial activity?
Wang Wei believes that this is related to their beliefs at the time. Sacrifice to the gods, hoping to be blessed by the gods, avoid disasters, and hope to protect the ancient Shu Kingdom of Sanxingdui from man-made, foreign, and natural infringements. Sacrificial activities are in The Central Plains region during the Xia-Shang Dynasty was also a very important event.
There is a record in ancient Chinese literature that "the great event of the country is in worship and war."
Therefore, one of the important features of the Sanxingdui site is that its primitive religion is very strong. Its bronze sacred trees, large standing people, large bronze masks and altars and many other relics are closely related to the beliefs and worship of the time.
Wang Wei pointed out that in the newly discovered archaeological excavations in Sanxingdui, there are still many problems that need to be solved: the first is the chronology. For example, the dating of Pit No. 4 is between 1200 BC and 1020 BC. The dates of other pits need to be accurately determined. Dating, determine if it is the same period.
Secondly, what is the relationship between these sacrificial pits? It has been found that pits No. 2 and No. 3 are two-by-two and have the same direction. Pit No. 7 and No. 8 are also connected and have the same direction.
"What do these show? Is it worthy of further study that there were two-by-one sacrificial features at the time."
Third, why are so many ivory unearthed at the Sanxingdui site?
This shows that ivory is of special significance to the ancient Shu civilization of Sanxingdui. Both the Sanxingdui site and the Jinsha site on the Chengdu Plain have this characteristic.
"But what exactly is this meaning remains to be studied."
In addition, archaeological excavations at the Sanxingdui site have shown that its civilization was once quite high, but why does it seem to have suddenly disappeared?
"This is the biggest mystery." Wang Wei said that no traces of large-scale floods have been found at the Sanxingdui site, and it is speculated that it was not caused by the floods.
He believes that after a period of prosperity in Sanxingdui, the political center shifted to Jinsha in Chengdu.
The latest archaeological dating found that there is a close chronology between the two.
Innovative technology service archaeological excavation research review
This new archaeological discovery in Sanxingdui, in addition to unearthed a large number of exquisite cultural relics, many innovative technologies and efficient application, serving the field excavation and research work of archaeological sites, also left a great deal to Wang Wei, who is the head of the archaeological excavation expert advisory group of the Sanxingdui sacrifice area deep impression.
He concluded that the Sanxingdui archaeology has achieved multi-disciplinary integration and multi-team collaborative work, and synchronized archaeological excavation and cultural relic protection. It has the characteristics of archaeological excavation and protection concept innovation, technological innovation, and organizational management innovation.
In terms of conceptual innovation, for the first time, the experimental archaeology pre-archaeological site, emergency protection and preventive protection of unearthed cultural relics are organically combined, and archaeological and cultural relics protection information is displayed and disseminated in a timely manner.
In terms of technological innovation, one is the integration of archaeological excavation, environmental regulation and monitoring, information recording, cultural relics transportation, emergency protection and other equipment; the second is the first application of hyperspectral technology to the identification of cultural relics unearthed at an archaeological site; the third is the first time Apply 3D printing technology to the extraction and protection of cultural relics at archaeological sites.
Wang Wei said that the fine excavation concept of Sanxingdui's archaeological excavation, the use of a variety of modern scientific and technological methods, and the construction of a new model of preventive protection of the archaeological excavation site can serve as a typical representative of Chinese archaeology in the new era, as well as for future archaeological excavations. And research to set a new benchmark.
He also particularly emphasized that the current excavation and research work on the new archaeological discoveries at Sanxingdui site is just the beginning. In the follow-up, the newly discovered sacrificial pits and the unearthed artifacts will be further studied in a multi-disciplinary comparison. I believe it will continue to enrich and refresh people’s views on Sanxingdui. The cognition of the representative ancient Shu civilization provides more archaeological evidence for the study of the development process of the pluralistic integration of Chinese civilization.
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