The discovery of oracle bone inscriptions was purely accidental. In 1899, when the Imperial Academy of the Qing Dynasty was offering wine sacrifices, epigrapher Wang Yirong discovered an unknown ancient writing on a traditional Chinese medicine called "dragon bone". After research, it was learned that some of these "dragon bones" were tortoise shells.
, some were ox shoulder blades. Later, people called the characters engraved on oracle bones oracle bone inscriptions. Since Wang Yirong was the first to discover oracle bone inscriptions, he is also known as the "father of oracle bone inscriptions."
After the discovery of the oracle bones, it caused a sensation in the academic world. However, in order to monopolize financial resources, antique dealers kept the origin of the oracle bones secret, and later falsely claimed that they came from Tangyin, Weihui and other places in Henan. It was not until 1908 that scholar Luo Zhenyu first visited the
Oracle bones were unearthed in the Xiaotun Village area of Anyang, Henan Province. So he sent his relatives to Anyang to purchase them, and went to Anyang himself to conduct on-site inspections. He collected nearly 20,000 oracle bones in total, and selected more than 2,000 pieces in 1913.
It was compiled and published as "The Book of Yin Ruins" (previous edition), and later "The Essence of the Book of Yin Ruins" (continuation), which laid the foundation for future research on oracle bone inscriptions.
In fact, the area around Xiaotun Village in Anyang, where the oracle bone inscriptions were discovered, was the capital of the Shang Dynasty and experienced eight generations and twelve kings, lasting 273 years. Later generations called this period of history the Yin Dynasty, so this place was also called the Yin Dynasty.
Capital. After the Yin Capital was abandoned by the Western Zhou Dynasty, it gradually fell into ruins, and later generations called it the "Yin Ruins".
Over the past half century, a total of about 160,000 oracle bones with characters have been unearthed from the Yin Ruins, with more than 4,500 single characters used. It is the oldest self-contained writing system discovered in China so far, and is similar to Egypt.
The "holy script" of Mesoamerica, the "Mayan script" of Mesoamerica, and the "cuneiform script" of Sumer were almost at the same time. Because of this, when it comes to the first of underground treasures, it is almost universally recognized that it is not the oracle bones.
The second one is what everyone can see in history books - the Four-Sheep Square Tripod. Being listed in history textbooks shows how precious it is. Like oracle bones, it is also an underground burial object, and it is even more precious than the oracle bones.
In addition to the oracle bones, the Four-Yang Square Cauldron is even more legendary.
The Four-Yang Fang Zun weighs 34.5 kilograms. It has a square body, a square mouth, a large rim, and extravagant neck ornaments. The length of each side is 52.4 cm, and its side length is almost close to the height of the body of 58.3 cm. In addition, the neck is high and the four sides are high.
It is decorated with banana leaf patterns, triangular Kui patterns and animal face patterns. Each of the four corners of the statue is shaped like a sheep. Among them, the four corners of the shoulders are four sheep heads with curled horns. The sheep head and neck extend out of the vessel, and the sheep body and sheep
The legs are attached to the belly of the statue and the circle feet. The belly of the sheep is the front chest of the sheep, and the legs of the sheep are attached to the circle feet, bearing the weight of the statue. The sheep's chest and neck and back are decorated with scales, and the sides are decorated with
There is a beautiful phoenix pattern with a long crown, and a Kui pattern on the foot. The shoulder of the Fang Zun is decorated with a high-relief dragon pattern with a snake body and claws. In the middle of the four sides of the statue, where two sheep are next to each other, a pair of horned dragon heads poke out from the table.
Each right shoulder of the Fang Zun meanders in the middle of the front chamber. The whole body is decorated with fine thunder patterns. The four corners and the center lines of the four sides of the vessel are designed with long ridges where they meet the mold. Their function is to cover up the possible misalignment when the mold is combined.
Ornamentation.
After sleeping underground for more than three thousand years, the Siyang Fangzun was discovered in April 1938 by Jiang Jingshu, a villager in Longquan Village, Huangcai Town, Ningxiang County, Hunan Province. Because of its extraordinary appearance and black paint-like color, Jiang Jingshu thought it was
The "Black Gold" was dug up. As a result, a steady stream of people came to visit and caress it soon. In order to prevent the Four-Sheep Fang Zun from being damaged by the endless stream of visitors, Jiang Jingshu had to ask the local squire to come forward to maintain order. But it was impossible to prevent it, and Fang Zun was a sheep.
The tiny tip of the head was still broken off and never found again.
In May of the same year, an antique dealer named Zhang Wanli in Huangcai Town purchased the Siyang Fangzun for 400 yuan. However, when Jiang Jingshu got the 400 yuan, he actually only had 248 yuan - the local security chief had passed through the process.
The long and squire's layers of exploitation.
After Zhang Wanli bought the Siyang Fangzun, it was soon transferred to Changsha, where it was confiscated by the then government and handed over to the Hunan Provincial Bank for safekeeping. In the second half of 1938, the Hunan Provincial Bank moved west to Yuanling County in western Hunan to avoid the war.
.Soon, Siyang Fangzun was broken into more than 20 pieces by the Japanese air raid.
In 1952, fragments of the Siyang Zun were found in the warehouse of the Hunan Branch of the People's Bank of China. In May 1954, Zhang Xinru, a cultural relic restoration expert from the Hunan Cultural Administration Commission, restored the Siyang Zun. In 1959, it was collected by the Museum of Chinese History, which is now the predecessor of the National Museum.
, transferred to Beijing. At this point, the tortuous experience of Siyang Fangzun has come to an end, and this restoration case has also been included in the treasure house of information.
Zun is actually an early wine vessel. On the one hand, the Siyang Fangzun retains the original totem worship, and has the meaning of replacing sheep as a sacrifice to the gods. It also contains the expectation for the prosperity of sheep and other livestock breeding, and may also have sprouted in later generations.
Various ideas about sheep.
The status of sheep in sacrificial rituals is second only to that of cattle. A large number of sacrificial pits were found in Xiaotun, Anyang, Henan, where the capital of the Shang Dynasty was located. The most common ones were cows, sheep, and dogs. A piece of material from the period of King Wuding of the Shang Dynasty related to the Shang royal family's sacrifice to Wuding.
It is mentioned that "one hundred dogs and one hundred sheep are used for divination", and another piece of material mentions "fifteen sheep" and "fifty sheep", which shows that the amount of sheep sacrificed as a sacrifice is very large. The personality of sheep also makes it a popular choice among people.
Favorite object. In the pre-Qin period, people had two generalizations about the personality of sheep: kind and polite; soft on the outside and strong on the inside. The sheep's habit of "kneeling at the breast" was regarded as kind and polite, and was even interpreted by later generations as a model of filial piety to parents;
Soft inner strength has also been extended to many sacred qualities,
As for the third category, weapons are often excavated underground. Luo Tian brought the topic to this aspect. Xie Ming and Liu Dachuan were very excited. After all, Luo Tian had not communicated with them for a long time. Today is a rare opportunity.
, and seeing Luo Tian's appearance of not being in a hurry to leave, Xie Ming was also happy to talk to him: "In ancient times, we were in the age of cold weapons, so we were very particular about forging weapons. Especially for emperors and generals, their swords were all precious swords.
And this sword is more of a symbol of status and status. In addition, many people also like swords very much, so the swords they make are often high-quality. They regard swords and other weapons as treasures, and they are not willing to leave them after death, so
Many precious swords and famous swords followed their owners into another world to continue their glory during their lifetime. This is the case with King Goujian's Sword of Yue and Fuchai's Spear of King Wu. They both took the weapons they used during their lifetime underground."
While Luo Tian was inspecting the antiques, he was communicating with Xie Ming. If anyone else saw it, they would definitely criticize him for not paying attention to his work, but Luo Tian was very confident, and Xie Ming and Liu Dachuan were not surprised.
Although the Yueyu Goujian Sword has been buried deep in the ground for more than 2,300 years, it is still as clean as new, cold and extremely sharp. It can break more than 20 layers of paper with one stroke, so it has the title of "the best sword in the world".
Its reputation is comparable to that of "Wu Wang Fuchai Spear". Wu Wang Fuchai Spear is praised as the "double jade" among ancient Chinese weapons.
Both were unearthed in Chu tombs. Regarding this coincidence, some archaeologists and historians believe that this is due to gifts and rewards. Since Wu and Yue produced swords, they were used in the interactions between Wu and Yue with other countries.
, Goujian Sword and Fucha Spear were sent to Chu State as valuable gifts.
However, some other scholars believe that it is due to war and plunder. In history, war is an important link in the spread of ancient culture, and Wu Geyue Sword, as a cultural symbol or post-war trophy, also came with the war.
to the Chu State at that time. Some people also believe that Chu and Yue had in-laws in history. The mother of King Hui of Chu was the daughter of King Gou Jian of Yue, so Gou Jian's sword remained in Chu as a dowry. Of course, other possibilities are not ruled out, such as,
It was lost to the Chu State through the people. After all, the country's territory at that time was very small.
As for the fourth underground treasure, it is mercury. The reason is naturally related to the legendary mercury pool in the Qin Mausoleum. In ancient times, one of the important uses of mercury was to make gilt bronze wares. In addition to its medicinal uses, it is
It became one of the emperor's funerary objects. Luo Tian hurriedly brought it over on the topic of mercury because of Feitian's reasons.
The fifth buried treasure is pottery. When I participated in the excavation of Gaoling, most of the unearthed pottery was pottery. The earliest pottery data in China appeared in the early Neolithic Age. Later, in the Yangshao Culture, Majiayao Culture, and Dawen
During the excavations of cultural sites such as the Kou Culture and Longshan Culture, as well as sites from the Shang Dynasty, the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Qin and Han Dynasties, a large number of pottery has been unearthed. According to their types, they can be divided into painted pottery, black pottery, white pottery, printed pottery, painted pottery, etc.
Judging from the large number of pottery excavated in ancient tombs, they are of various types and exquisite craftsmanship, and have reached a very high level. In addition, pottery figurines are often found in tombs of the Qin and Han Dynasties. The images of these pottery figurines are lifelike and lifelike.
, most of them are made of simulated people and real horses.
Among the underground pottery, the Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses are the most typical representatives. They are composed of about 8,000 pieces of pottery figurines and horses, with different shapes and full of personality. Judging from the individual proportions, these pottery figurines basically conform to the general rules of human body structure. It can be seen that
, the craftsmen at that time had already mastered the rules of human body proportions summarized by the ancients, such as "walking seven, sitting five times, and three and a half", "three punches and one elbow", "head and feet are the same size", etc.
The firing technology of the Qin Terracotta Warriors is exquisite, accurate and scientific. In terms of firing technology, the Qin Terracotta Warriors are combined with molding, mainly plastic. Specifically, the feet and legs of the figurines are made by the pile molding method; the torso part,
The clay strips are used to shape the shape; clothes and armor are made by pasting, pinching, carving and other techniques. Among them, the head of the figurine is the most complicated to make: first, the back of the head of the figurine is molded by pasting.
Second, the ears, hair, bun and other parts are carved by pasting; third, facial features and beards are carved by carving. Of course, these are only the methods used by the Qin people when making pottery figurines.
Basic craftsmanship.
After the parts were made, the combination of the Qin terracotta warriors became the key to whether they could be formed. Craftsmen of the Qin Dynasty invented the foot pedal. The foot pedal is the basis of the Qin terracotta warrior assembly, which can play a role in reinforcement and stability;
Second, it can highlight the overall beauty of the Qin Terracotta Warriors. The second method of combining the craftsmanship is to use clay nails to fit the hands and arms and fix them together. This process must be completed when the mud is still wet. If the time is not grasped well,
, it is difficult to fit the hand and arm together.
After the clay figurines are made, they can be fired in the kiln after a series of polishing. Most of the Qin people's figurines are made of high-quality fine loess, plus a little quartz sand. The figurines fired in this way are not only fine in clay, but also
And the color is pure. Craftsmen of the Qin Dynasty painted the Qin terracotta warriors with different colors after they came out of the kiln. The coloring process was generally based on the steps of first applying raw lacquer, then applying white, and then flat painting. Although it has now been
It is not possible to see all the colors, but judging from the remaining colors on the pottery figurines that have been unearthed so far, the Qin figurines from two thousand years ago have reached a very high level in terms of color mixing technology.