China News Agency, Xining, December 30th, title: How can the painted pottery basin of "arms and singing" witness prehistoric exchanges?
——Interview with Hou Guangliang, Professor of the School of Geographical Sciences, Qinghai Normal University
China News Agency reporter Pan Yujie
One of the "treasures of the town hall" of the Qinghai Provincial Museum, the painted pottery basin with dancing patterns was unearthed at the Zongri site in Tongde County, Hainan Prefecture, and belongs to the Majiayao culture type.
The Majiayao culture is representative of the Neolithic period in Northwest China, dating back about 5,300 to 4,000 years, distributed in the upper reaches of the Yellow River in eastern Gansu and Qinghai today.
What kind of civilizational information does the painted pottery pot with dancing patterns convey in "Tage with Arms"?
How to witness the communication of prehistoric humans?
Hou Guangliang, a professor of the School of Geographical Sciences of Qinghai Normal University and a member of the Professional Committee of Human Evolution and Environmental Archaeology of the Chinese Quaternary Science Research Association, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency "Dongxiwen" to answer the above questions.
China News Agency reporter: What kind of scene does the painted pottery basin with dancing patterns depict?
Hou Guangliang:
First of all, we should explain that painted pottery basins with dancing patterns of the Majiayao type were unearthed from the Zongri site in Tongde County, Hainan Prefecture, Qinghai Province, and the Shangsunjiazhai tomb in Datong County, Qinghai Province.
These two pieces have the same effect, they seem to be sister basins, and they belong to the same period. The one unearthed in Shangsunjiazhai is the earliest physical evidence of dance known in China, and it is now in the National Museum of China.
The painted pottery basin with dancing patterns in the Zongri Ruins collected by the Qinghai Provincial Museum has two groups of humanoid dance patterns of 11 people and 13 people painted on the inner wall along the mouth. Separated by arcs, slashes and dots, the feet of the portraits are drawn with parallel string patterns, like rivers flowing, and the basin is like a small pond reflecting the people "singing with arms linked" by the pool, forming a visual beauty combining movement and stillness.
The whole piece of painted pottery presents a very life-like scene: one day more than 5,000 years ago, in the valley of the upper reaches of the Yellow River, the ancestors under the sky spread their arms, warmly called for their companions, and collectively sang and danced, probably to celebrate the harvest , Enjoying leisure, or performing a primitive religious activity of praying to God or offering sacrifices to ancestors.
One of the "treasures of the town hall" of the Qinghai Provincial Museum, the Majiayao type painted pottery basin with dancing patterns unearthed from the Zongri site.
Photo courtesy of Qinghai Provincial Museum
Reporter from China News Agency: What characteristics of Majiayao painted pottery can be seen from the dance pattern painted pottery basin? Why is painted pottery an "encyclopedia" of prehistoric society?
Hou Guangliang:
Painted pottery pots with dancing patterns have smooth lines and meticulous and abstract patterns. The "high-value" pottery often has a combination of various patterns and follows strict geometric division. The result of its artistic expression.
During the Majiayao period, humans accumulated a lot of practical experience, and both aesthetics and techniques tended to mature.
When painting, there is pre-planning in mind, and the composition follows the principles of equal division, positioning, point-to-surface, primary and secondary, and various geometric figures are superimposed, first outlined and then filled, emphasizing black color, and paying attention to symmetry. Created a model of primitive art and the earliest form of "Chinese painting".
Qinghai Provincial Museum Collection Majiayao type string pattern net pattern painted pottery pot.
Photo courtesy of Qinghai Provincial Museum
Today, through observation, comparison and analysis of painted pottery, we can interpret multiple information such as the social form, ideology, and natural climate conditions at that time.
Majiayao painted pottery is rich in patterns, including swirl patterns, water ripples, broken line patterns, fish and bird patterns, etc., but humanoid patterns are rare.
The painted pottery pots with dancing patterns reproduce the material life scenes of the ancestors of the Yellow River, reflecting the social relationship with labor, sharing and equality for everyone.
Its appearance is essentially the settlement, stable social relations and liberation of productive forces brought about by agriculturalization, which contributed to the prosperity of the spiritual world.
Painted pottery of Majiayao culture exhibited in Qinghai Provincial Museum.
Photo courtesy of Qinghai Provincial Museum
As for the Banshan and Machang types in the middle and late period of Majiayao, some painted pottery was painted with human figures reflecting reproductive worship; the unearthed painted pottery pots with human figures with obvious female characteristics are empirical evidence of China's experience of matrilineal clans in primitive society.
Some pottery is also painted with "God and Man Pattern", which is very similar to the Chinese character "Witch", as if tribal wizards practiced things alone.
Majiayao culture has been developed for more than two thousand years.
In the early days, the climate in the upper reaches of the Yellow River was humid, and people planted millet. Their lifestyle was simple, they had plenty of time, they had a peaceful mind, and their emotions, imagination, and creativity were fully released.
In the late period, some tomb owners accumulated a large amount of wealth, and even owned nearly a hundred pieces of painted pottery. The social division became more and more obvious. The simple and cheerful group dance on the painted pottery basin with dancing patterns evolved into a serious solo dance of "God and Man", and people's lives and thoughts tended to be complicated.
Majiayao Culture Machang Type Painted Pottery Pot with Human Head in Qinghai Provincial Museum.
Photo courtesy of Qinghai Provincial Museum
China News Agency reporter: How does Majiayao culture communicate and integrate with other regions? What role did it play in the formation of Chinese civilization?
Hou Guangliang:
Painted pottery pots with dancing patterns do not lose the bold and unconstrained nature of hunters, but also have the uniformity of farmers and planters.
More than 5,000 years ago, the Majiayao people who were engaged in farming climbed the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and continued westward to Zongri, the "hometown" of painted pottery pots with dancing patterns, where they encountered early pioneers of the plateau who lived on hunting and gathering. , exchanged pottery, millet and millet from the Yellow River with local livestock and furs, and passed on the skills of making painted pottery to Zongri people.
Communication and integration between ethnic groups began.
Majiayao culture spread westward to Zongri and Karuo in Tibet in the early days, and spread south to Yingpan Mountain in Sichuan, which had a certain influence on the Sanxingdui and Jinsha cultures. Karuo also discovered millet millet and agricultural tools stone tools and stone knives from Yangshao; In the middle and late period, it spread to the north and west, and once developed to the eastern part of Xinjiang. The unearthed painted pottery has the characteristics of the Machang period of Majiayao culture.
In addition, linguistic research shows that 5,900 years ago, the Chinese language family and the Tibeto-Burman language group under the Sino-Tibetan language family diverged, which coincided with the Yangshao and Majiayao cultural periods; About 4700 years ago.
Language differentiation in prehistoric times relied on human activities. With the development of agriculture and population growth, groups migrated along different paths, differentiated and mixed into different language groups, and then gave birth to splendid cultures.
To sum up, regardless of archaeological evidence or linguistic evidence, the Gansu-Qinghai region in the upper reaches of the Yellow River is the "incubator" of ancient Chinese civilization, and it is also a testimony to the pluralism and unity of the Chinese nation that "I am in you, and you are in me".
Painted pottery of Majiayao culture exhibited in Qinghai Provincial Museum.
Photo courtesy of Qinghai Provincial Museum
China News Agency reporter: What do you think of Majiayao painted pottery and painted pottery from other parts of the world "colliding"? What does this mean?
Hou Guangliang:
The pattern of painted pottery basins with dancing patterns has never been found in China before, but painted pottery with dancing patterns has been unearthed from the Siyark site in West Asia Iran, which is about the same time as Majiayao or a little earlier.
In addition, painted pottery unearthed from the "Kukuteni-Tripoli Culture" on the west and north shores of the Black Sea also has images of dancers. The painted pottery in this area and the Majiayao painted pottery are highly similar in pattern combination, indicating that they may be related to each other. .
The Majiayao culture spread northward to Central Asia through Xinjiang; it spread southwestward through Karuo, Tibet, and found pottery and stone knives similar to the Karuo culture in Burzahom (now Kashmir); at the same time, it may have come from the Indus Valley of South Asia. The seashells of the Lapa culture traveled northward through Kashmir to the Zongri region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which testifies to the interaction between the two ancient civilizations of the Indus River and the Yellow River.
Between 4,100 and 3,600 years ago, the East Asian pottery culture exchanged with the bronze smelting, wheat planting, and horse and sheep breeding techniques in Central and Western Asia. During this period, the Qijia culture unearthed from the Shenna site in Xining, Qinghai , with an obvious Eurasian grassland Seima-Turbino style, Xinjiang, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, and even the Central Plains were all influenced by Western bronze culture, and Chinese society began to enter the Bronze Age.
All kinds of evidence show that there is a "Painted Pottery Road", which takes the northeast of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau as a "transit station" and roughly divides it into the North and South Roads.
From Yangshao, Majiayao to Qijia, Kayo, and Xindian cultural periods, the Ganqing region in the upper reaches of the Yellow River relied on its geographical advantages to continuously "transfuse blood" to the surrounding areas like a heart, connecting the Central Plains with Central Asia, Northwest Asia, and Southeast Asia area.
Qinghai Provincial Museum collection of Qijia culture round 銎 wide leaf barb copper spear.
Photo courtesy of Qinghai Provincial Museum
China News Agency reporter: What is the difference between the "Painted Pottery Road" and the "Silk Road"? What are your inspirations for today?
Hou Guangliang:
No matter the road of painted pottery or the road of bronze, it shows that there is a road of communication.
It's just that the "Painted Pottery Road" has no fixed route, is divided into multiple sections, is small in scale, is spontaneously organized by the people, and lacks organized protection and maintenance. It is not as stable and smooth as the "Silk Road".
Prehistoric exchanges between the East and the West were guided by culture, which was spontaneous, appealing, and friendly, and was mainly manifested in the movement and integration of people. The proportion of trade may be small, the cycle is long, and the material manifestations are extensive.
Majiayao people have created painted pottery that is both beautiful and practical, which has aroused widespread resonance among people in different regions.
Today, the Tibetans living on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau still have the artistic gene of the Majiayao people in their blood. The "Guozhuang" dancing in a circle is infused with the joy and unrestrainedness of "singing with arms and dancing" painted pottery pots with dancing patterns.
From ancient times to the present, people's instinct to long for communication, love art, celebrate reunion and praise life has never changed.
Culture is the pursuit and expression of beauty, and the exploration of the relationship between man and nature. It originates from nature, long before the creation of systems and countries, and has the oldest and simplest vitality. It can connect people of different languages, races, and regions. closely linked.
Unlike the metabolism of individual life or the disappearance of populations, although a civilization will also decline, evolve, and be replaced by more advanced ones, its genes can be rooted in thought, integrated in blood, and live endlessly in the inheritance of memory.
(use up)
Respondent profile:
Hou Guangliang, professor and doctoral supervisor of the School of Geographical Sciences, Qinghai Normal University, member of the Professional Committee of Human Evolution and Environmental Archeology of the Chinese Quaternary Science Research Association.
The main research direction is global change and human adaptation, focusing on the study of the relationship between prehistoric human activities and environmental evolution on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. He has published more than 100 academic papers, including 6 authoritative journals, more than 10 SCI papers, and completed 4 books.
Currently presiding over a number of projects from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Ministry of Education, the Qinghai Provincial Science and Technology Department, and the Provincial Social Science Office, and his scientific research results have been reported by the US "SCIENCE".