Master Archaeologist

Chapter 125 Only the ancestors of Yin, there are books and codes

Wenfeng Pagoda cemetery, inside pit M33.

Chen Han, Zhuang Yunpeng, and Zhang Jianbo were squatting in the pit, cleaning up the funerary objects in the tomb.

It's still an old partner, with a familiar formula and a familiar taste.

From the Lajia ruins to the Han Dynasty tombs in Fenghuang Mountain to here, Chen Han and their partners have already excavated seven or eight exploration sites, and they have cooperated with each other tacitly.

No need to speak, just a look, a movement, you know what the other party wants to do, and the work is very efficient.

"Hey, I don't know which Uncle Zeng's tomb this is. Why don't people in Zeng Guo like to engrave their names on bronze wares?"

Picking up a bronze dagger, Chen Han was a little frustrated when he found that there was only an inscription on it that said "Uncle Zeng used the dagger himself".

For archaeologists and historians, everyone is full of unknowns about "Zeng Guo", a vassal state of the Western Zhou Dynasty that is rarely recorded in history books.

Whether it is the successive monarchs of the Zeng Kingdom or the ministers and nobles, what have they done and how much influence they have had on Chinese culture.

The social situation of Zeng Guo, the country's system, culture, people's livelihood, economic situation, etc.
Almost all blank.

Therefore, Chen Han is eager to find more records related to Zeng Guo from the underground, and it is best to restore this lost kingdom that has not been touched by history.

But unfortunately, the cultural relics unearthed here in the Wenfeng Pagoda cemetery.

Although there are many bronze inscriptions, most of them just write "made by XXX".

And many of the names here are just "Zengzi", "Great-grandson", "Great-Uncle", "Great-Uncle" and the like, not even a full name.

That is, Zeng Houyu's chime bell briefly explained the origin of Zeng Hou's lineage and his participation in the battle between Wu and Chu.

Bamboo tablets, bamboo slips, and wooden tablets that could record more information did not appear.

But it is understandable to think about it.

After all, this is a cemetery in the late Spring and Autumn Period.

Judging from the results of archaeological excavations, bamboo slips from the Spring and Autumn Period are very rare.

Although, according to the records in "Shangshu Toshi": "Only the ancestors of Yin, there are books and codes", and the characters "Dian" and "Book" in the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty, it can be seen that as early as the Shang Dynasty, people had used Bamboo and wooden bamboo slips, woven into a volume with rope.

But in the actual archaeological process, not to mention the Shang Dynasty, there are no bamboo slips that can be confirmed as the Western Zhou Dynasty.

Occasionally discovered bamboo slips inferred to be from the late Spring and Autumn Period have also been questioned.

The Chunqiu bamboo slips that can be found are only a few fragments of bamboo slips, and the text is vague and obscure, so it is difficult to confirm whether it is the bamboo slips of the Spring and Autumn Period or the early Warring States Period.

Relatively speaking, the bamboo slips found in many volumes can only be traced back to the early Warring States period.

The reason may be that from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period, the Zhou royal family and princes and nobles valued the monopoly of writing.

Writing and knowledge are usually in the hands of a very small number of nobles, and must be kept strictly confidential and passed on from generation to generation.

At that time, there was no talk of spreading knowledge and educating the people.

The bamboo slips and books in the Spring and Autumn Period were mainly in the hands of the princes, clan and nobles, and it was strictly forbidden to leak them out, and even only the patriarch and heirs could learn them.

Moreover, apart from recording the historical materials of the country, there are very few other books, and there are basically no private writings.

Perhaps only the nobles of the past dynasties summed it up and wrote the "Book of Family Heirloom", which was passed down from generation to generation in the noble families.

That is, the family traditions of each family.

It is impossible for this kind of family tradition to be buried in the tomb as a funeral object after the death of a certain nobleman.

If it is buried underground, what will future generations learn?
In fact, this can also explain from a certain aspect why no other writing carriers were unearthed in the Shang Dynasty except for oracle bone inscriptions.

Because the bamboo slips that recorded knowledge, as the most important item at that time, could not be buried with them, and must be left in the family for generations.

As for the earlier Xia Dynasty, why there is no unearthed text in the handed down history books seems to be answered.

The earlier the writing (knowledge) is, the more important it is that requires monopoly and secrecy.

There may have been a text carrier similar to the bamboo slips at that time, but they will definitely be well protected and will not be brought underground.

And similar to the "stone slabs" in the West, China can only find the Chencang Stone Drum from about the Spring and Autumn Period at the earliest.

This can only be said to be the different development directions of Eastern and Western cultures.

China is different from Europe. During the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, it was not popular to engrave characters on stones, but to use bamboo or wooden boards to record events!

It was not until the early Warring States period, when the various schools of thought began to rise, and after the first large-scale dissemination of "knowledge" began, that some "scholars" would use the classics of the philosophers to be buried with them.

It was only during the Qin and Han Dynasties that a large number of bamboo slips recording pre-Qin classics were able to be preserved.

Only then will it be discovered by modern archaeologists.

If you want to find bamboo slips that record the history of Zeng Guo's own country, you may have to look for it in the tombs of Zeng Guo's Warring States Period, and you can hope to find one or two.

It's just the tombs of Zeng Guo and the Warring States Period, and not many have been found so far.

Zeng Hou Yi counts as one, but there is no bamboo slip unearthed from Zeng Hou Yi's tomb, otherwise the mystery of "Zeng Sui" would have been solved long ago.

In addition to Zenghou Yi, the Leigudun mound of Zenghouyi's tomb was unearthed, and there are four other Zenghou-level tombs that have been surveyed but not excavated at Wangjiabao and Caijiabao next to Leigudun.

And the era should be after Zeng Houyi.

It's a pity that the country does not allow active excavation and can only protect it.

"Hey, we do archaeology, isn't that what it is?"

"The few inscriptions unearthed from the tombs of the nobles of the Zeng Kingdom are like leaves."

"The history of Zeng Guo is a complete forest."

"We are trying to restore a whole forest with a few leaves every day."

Zhuang Yunpeng shrugged his shoulders and said confidently: "Although this is difficult, only challenging things can inspire people's fighting spirit, isn't it?"

Yo, Chen Han raised his eyebrows, a little surprised.

My brother Xianyu, how could he say such a philosophical sentence?

It's really impressive!

He nodded repeatedly and echoed, "Brother is right!"

Zhuang Yunpeng smiled, and finally found a little feeling of being a senior in front of Chen Han, cool!

Just when he was about to continue to say a few "philosophical" words, and wanted to teach his mentors and disciples more.

Chen Han waved in surprise.

"Senior brother, come and have a look!"

"There seems to be traces of wax flow on this copper plate!"

"Huh?" Zhuang Yunpeng was stunned for a moment, and said in doubt: "Wax flows as wax flows. This copper plate is cast by the lost wax method."

But Chen Han ignored him, and carefully extracted the copper plate from the soil, and lightly brushed off the clods attached to the copper plate, with a dignified expression.

"Brother, have you forgotten?"

"The lost-wax casting method has never been really proven. It is a craft of the Eastern and Western Zhou Dynasties!"

　Cuneiform should basically be authentic and invented by the Sumerians.

　　It is indeed a conspiracy theory to think that "cuneiform" is fake.

　　We must have our own cultural self-confidence, and there is no need to belittle others.

　　In the Mesopotamia region of the Middle East, there were indeed traces of large-scale civilized activities and city-states before 4000 BC.

　　There is no need to deny the once brilliant Sumerian civilization.

　　The Sumerian civilization disappeared on the earth before BC, but our Chinese civilization has always existed, which is enough to be proud of.

　　There are also those who think that the pyramids are fake, this conspiracy theory is even more outrageous, it really cannot stand scrutiny.
　　To systematically fabricate an ancient Egyptian dynasty that lasted thousands of years for Egypt, the workload is not much lower than that of the US-Soviet space hegemony
　　And it doesn't even make sense.
　　More importantly, even if Europeans and Americans unite to make such a fake, it is impossible to hide it from the whole world.

　　Pyramids have been standing in Egypt for thousands of years, and not one or two, but hundreds of them
　　Since the 16th century, countless people from all over the world have visited the pyramids in Egypt. How can this thing be faked out of thin air? I am really puzzled.

　　Could it be that the Europeans and Americans 400 years ago were more productive than modern people, and they were very united. They built so many pyramids at once without telling the Russians, Asians, or Africans?

　　Is this reasonable? Where is the meaning? What is the picture? Is it worth it?
　　Why is there such a rumor.

　　It's really outrageous. Open the door to outrageous.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)