Master Archaeologist

Chapter 320

"It's another respect!"

Zhuang Yunpeng lay on the floating wooden board and exclaimed.

However, the No. 16 sacrificial pit of [-] square meters is full of bronze wares.

This allows everyone to see surprises everywhere when they are cleaning and excavating these bronzes.

After picking up a human-shaped statue with a bronze mask stacked on the top of the sacrificial pit, a mouthpiece shaped like a typical gu-shaped statue of the Shang Dynasty was exposed below it.

Goblet Zun is also a kind of wine vessel and a form of Zun.

In the Shang Dynasty, most of the time it was used to hold wine.

Civilization under the influence of wine culture is like this.

However, it is quite unusual to find Gu-shaped statues with Shang style in Sanxingdui.

If the Dakouzun can also be said to be the inevitable development form of the utensil "Zun", then the Gu-shaped Zun must have been influenced by Shang culture before it appeared.

Zhuang Yunpeng called out to Chen Han in surprise, hoping that he would help clean up the goblet statue together.

Respect this thing, it is very big and heavy.

A statue weighs about [-] to [-] catties.

Some people may think that it was very laborious for the nobles of the Shang Dynasty to make such heavy bronzes and use them.
People who have this idea obviously have a small structure.

The happiness of nobles in the bronze civilization is beyond the imagination of modern people.

That was a time when slavery still existed!
In that era, how could the nobles use these bronzes by themselves?

Although these bronzes were all made for use by nobles.

But it was actually the slaves who moved the bronzes.

The goblet-shaped statue filled with fine wine would be moved in front of the nobles by the slaves, and then these slaves would use tools such as copper spoons to scoop the fine wine inside into the small bronze wine containers of the nobles.

Such as jue, ear cups and other utensils.

After that, these nobles will pick up the jue to drink.

After drinking, the slaves will continue to top up.

From the beginning to the end of the entire banquet, these large wine containers were not allowed to be used by the nobles themselves.

They just need to drink.

That's why these bronze vessels are cast so heavy. There are even bronze wine vessels unearthed at the Yin Ruins that are [-] to [-] centimeters high and weigh several tens of catties.

It takes two or three slaves to work together to move it.

The larger the bronzes, the more evidence of how powerful their owners were.

After all, bronze has been an equivalent currency until the Qing Dynasty. Whoever owns the most bronze will be the richest.

During the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, this thing was worth more than gold, not only symbolizing financial power, but also symbolizing power.

All the benefits of the "Li Gui", as a minister under the command of King Wu of Zhou, he still needs to be rewarded with bronze by King Wu of Zhou to be able to cast this Gui.

It can be seen that even high-ranking nobles could not enjoy too much bronze at that time.

The social structure of the Sanxingdui civilization has not yet been studied by scholars.

What kind of nobles and commoners in Sanxingdui are like, and whether there is slavery, are still in doubt.

But one thing is certain, Sanxingdui is a civilization centered on sacrifices, that is to say, in Sanxingdui civilization, "priests" have the greatest authority and represent gods.

This is a bit like the Mayan civilization in America.

It is also very similar to the early Shang culture.

However, merchants have a combination of royal power and divine power. The "emperor" of merchants is the ruler of the world, sharing rights with ancestors and gods.

It is still unknown whether the Sanxingdui civilization has a class similar to "emperor" and "king", or is it simply a civilization with only theocracy.

However, from the sacrificial pile, a large number of utensils symbolizing theocracy, as well as those bronze statues wearing masks and suspected of being "priests" were unearthed.

It can be determined that the theocracy of this civilization is absolutely very important, and even has a high probability of overriding the royal power.

Otherwise, there would not be a large number of bronze portraits of "priests" in the bronze ware for sacrifices, but no portraits similar to high-ranking nobles were found.

However, apart from the priests, some statues that seemed to be civilians or slaves were found, usually with some bronze objects on top of their heads.

In line with the usefulness of slaves in that era.

Use it as a humanoid tool for nobles!
After Zhuang Yunpeng discovered Gu Xingzun, Chen Han rushed over soon after hearing the news.

In fact, there are a lot of bronze wares in the sacrificial pit, and everyone is busy extracting cultural relics, so there is no time to care about Zhuang Yunpeng.

However, the utensils like Gu Xingzun have more characteristics, which attracted Chen Han's attention.

But when he controlled the floating wooden board and leaned over to Zhuang Yunpeng, what he saw was not just a goblet-shaped statue, but a statue of a top statue!

Under this gu-shaped statue, there is still a bronze head attached!
This shows that this is not just a statue, but a combined bronze ware!
It is a Sanxingdui man, a "portrait photo" cast by imitating the appearance of people at that time when they used bronze statues!
"Junior Brother Chen, this artifact is extraordinary!"

"It's huge!"

"I feel that under this bronze man, there may be another artifact connected together!"

Zhuang Yunpeng said excitedly.

Unexpectedly, a goblet-shaped statue turned out to be an exquisite combiner!
Chen Han hurriedly helped, removing some bronze masks, portraits, animals, flower and bird painting statues and other utensils covering the bronze vessel.

An exquisite combiner, about 1.5 meters in length, composed of three objects, appeared in front of the two of them.

This is a strange bronze figure.

It has a human head and a snake body, in an upside-down posture, with its hands supporting its body on a covered round goblet, and a goblet-shaped statue on its head.

In terms of details, the portrait seems to be wearing a mask, with round eyes, long horns on the forehead, and locks of hair.

Very typical Sanxingdui style.

Mask, round eyes, long horns on forehead.

"Zongmu" is the biggest feature of Sanxingdui portraits.

Regardless of whether it is wearing a mask or not, as long as it is a bronze portrait, it must be the image of Zongmu.

What does the so-called "longitudinal eye" mean?
Before the bronze statue in the Sanxingdui site was discovered, the academic circles generally believed that the so-called "longitudinal eyes" were vertical eyes.

After all, "vertical" means vertical.

The eye in the middle of Erlang God is called Zongmu.

However, the Sanxingdui civilization was discovered, and it was associated with the "Huayang Guozhi": "Zhou lost its discipline, Shu first became king, and Shuhou Cancong, whose eyes were vertical, began to be king."

"There was Cancong, the Marquis of Shu, whose eyes were vertical. He was called king at the beginning. He died as a sarcophagus and sarcophagus, and the people of the country followed him. Therefore, the sarcophagus and sarcophagus are used as the sarcophagus grave."

The earliest classic with the word "Zongmu" is "Chu Songs·Da Zhao" in the Warring States Period: "The pig's head is vertical and its eyes are raised."

After that, it was "Huayang Guozhi" in the Jin Dynasty.

Obviously, the "Zongmu" recorded in "Huayang Guozhi" is a relatively early statement about this "face".

And the person with long vertical eyes mentioned in "Huayang Guozhi" is Cancong, Marquis of Shu.

The Sanxingdui civilization is located in the land of Shu, and it is the ancestor of the Shuhou in the Zhou Dynasty.

Apparently, the "longitudinal eyes" refers to the characteristic eyeballs protruding outwards in the Sanxingdui mask!

And this large bronze portrait combiner also has the characteristics of "longitudinal eyes", with a human head and a snake body!
"Let's call this artifact the bronze statue of a snake body!" Chen Han said thoughtfully.

(End of this chapter)