Riding the wind of rebirth

Chapter 1505 Culture and Civilization

The next day I saw He Shiqing off, and after a romantic meeting at the airport, Zhou Zhi finally got his car back.

There are quite a lot of things to move, and they are very important, including the six-hand scrolls that were bought from overseas and awaiting restoration, as well as the Chen Xu Zhu Shi Shi collected by Su Huaxuan in his elder generation, which Zhou Zhi once suspected were fakes, but went to the capital to identify all of them as authentic. A masterpiece.

Among these ten paintings, Chen Chun's "Autumn Birds in Willow Pond", "Hibiscus Algae and Duck", Zhu Da's "Eagle Perching", "Double Ducks in Lotus Pond", and Xu Wei's "Ink Lotus" are all on paper. When Rong Baozhai showed off his restoration skills, he had already used other people's materials to do his own work and repaired everything.

But for the remaining silks, Xu Wei's "Biao Stone Picture", Shi Tao's "Peach Garden", "Hanging Sails to Help the Sun", "Nu Shi Picture", Zhu Da's "Penglai Landscape", Zhou Zhi feels that his craftsmanship is still a little bit better. It's rough, and some materials aren't ready yet, so it hasn't been repaired yet.

These five large paintings plus six hand scrolls are enough to keep you busy for this semester.

After dragging all the things to the Hongqi Village studio and putting them away, Zhou Zhi ran to report to Mr. Gu on the results of his trip to Japan and South Korea and the trip to the Three Gorges.

Mr. Gu was quite appreciative of Zhou Zhi for doing all these great things. He felt that Zhou Zhi had lost weight in the past two months and didn't even bother to ask him to strengthen his knowledge. He just smiled and said: "Literature and History" Regardless, the rescue work in the Three Gorges Cultural Belt is of course very important. If these great discoveries are not found in time, there may not be another chance in the future. "

"So our luck is good, and we have gained a lot of time." Zhou Zhi said: "This time we also found dozens of symbols used by the country of Ba. I also copied them and kept them for Grandpa Shi. play."

"Similar symbols have been found once in the Yi area of ​​Xichang. They were carved on oracle bones, but they are very different from the oracle bones of Yin Ruins in the Central Plains. At that time, Guo Moruo interpreted them as Jiuli characters, and the three meanings were 'Thunder and Thunder'." Mr. Gu Said: "There is a book on the second floor of my study that talks about this kind of text-like symbols. You can read it and expand your knowledge in this area."

"This time I went to the Three Gorges, I had a doubt and wanted to ask Grandpa Shi for advice." Zhou Zhi said.

"Oh? Tell me."

"It is the difference between culture and civilization in archeology." Zhou Zhi said: "The definition currently recognized by everyone is based on the views proposed by Western British scholar Gordon Childe as the mainstream."

"That is culture, which is relative to nature. When humans began to know how to use tools, culture was formed. Therefore, they are often divided by the form of tools, such as Paleolithic culture and Neolithic culture."

"Civilization requires three elements, which are metal, writing, and the emergence of cities and countries."

"Well, what's the problem with that?"

"The question lies in why metals, writing, cities and countries are needed."

"First of all, let's talk about metal. The emergence of metal is just a symbol of production efficiency reaching a certain level. After society developed to the use of metal tools, social productivity has been greatly improved. Some large-scale projects can be carried out, and some ritual vessels used for sacrifices can be carried out. Processing, and these methods require strict division of labor and organization, triggering the birth of the management class and the ruling class, forming royal power and class.”

"Therefore, the emergence and use of metal tools is a major sign of civilization, but this is only a symptom, not the essence." "For example, many obsidian civilizations in South America did not use metal, but they still established huge city-states, various Magnificent temples and sacrificial halls have strict division of labor and organization, as well as royal and theocratic classes. There is no doubt that they are a kind of civilization, and such a civilization does not have the attribute of metal. "

"Let's talk about writing. The West believes that the emergence of writing represents the recording and dissemination of knowledge, and can define universally knowable and verifiable rules, that is, law and order. These two attributes of writing determine an orderly, fixed The possibility of knowledge inheritance and iterative society makes it possible to effectively manage a large settlement of more than 5,000 people, so it is possible to birth a country on this basis.”

"But is writing necessarily the basis for effective management and knowledge inheritance? At least in the urban period, I can't see it." Zhou Zhi thought: "Similarly, using the Obsidian Civilization in South America as an example, they did not have writing."

"Another example is the Yong and Ba countries, which are the key targets of the Three Gorges archeology this time. They also have no writing."

"Historically, many countries were established first, and then writing appeared later, such as Tubo and Xixia."

"Until before liberation, many ethnic minorities in our country did not have written language, but the chieftains still managed the vast territory, fully had the urban form, had a large population, and the management was tight and efficient. It cannot be said that they were not civilized."

"The same is true for the inheritance of knowledge. For example, the Miao people turn their history into patterns and embroider it on their clothing. Although they have no words, they still have their own way of recording history."

"Then there are ancient songs. Many ethnic groups have their own long and unique songs. These songs are knowledge passed down orally."

"In other words, the spread of knowledge does not necessarily require the existence of words. In fact, it is enough to have language. It is just that the traces of language are in historical relics and can only be expressed through the words left behind."

"In fact, in addition to writing, there is also another kind of evidence of knowledge transmission and inheritance in historical relics, that is, the tomb format system, the shape, decoration, processing method of the utensils, the shape and style of the tools. A cultural site often spans thousands of , or even thousands of years, I think as long as the above-mentioned obvious inheritance relationship can be seen, it is enough to show that the formation and inheritance of the knowledge system already has the attributes of civilization. "

“The last point is the emergence of cities and states.”

"This concept is also very abstract. Now the West will be able to accommodate more than 5,000 people, have processing areas and trade areas, and have large-scale projects such as city walls and drainage systems. Large-scale human settlement sites are called cities."

"If there are religious sites, sacrificial sites, and palaces in such sites, and the excavated remains or artifacts can prove the existence of royal and divine authority, then it can almost be defined as a country."

"But this definition is really biased. According to this definition, nomadic people who live in no fixed places do not have civilization? It is obviously wrong."

Gu Lao did not express any inclination and asked Zhou Zhi: "If these three articles are overturned, how do you think civilization should be defined?"

(End of this chapter)