Master Archaeologist

Chapter 358 Special Trident Jade
"According to the group of jade objects with obvious gender-indicative features, such as cones, tridents, and axe, it is speculated that the owner of the tomb is a male."

Chen Han was lying in the M1 pit, his face was full of joy.

Tomb M1 is simply a great treasure.

In the inner coffin, which is only 2.78 meters long and only 0.7 meters wide, there are a lot of funerary objects stuffed in it!
Except for jade beads No. 63 and 64, which were unearthed near the upper part of the coffin filling, the rest of the artifacts were unearthed near the bottom of the coffin.

Funeral objects are numbered in groups of 65 pieces, 175 pieces in total!
Among them, there are 55 sets of jade wares, 165 pieces in a single piece!
包括玉琮1件、玉璧9件、玉钺1件、石钺8件、成组玉锥形器1组7件、玉冠状器1件、玉三叉形器1组2件以及玉柱形器1件、玉端饰10组12件以及大量玉管、珠等。

These burial objects were concentrated around the remains of human bones in the east of the tomb, and were discovered and numbered one after another along with the remains of human bones.

With so many burial objects, they are all heavyweight tombs that have never been seen in the tomb excavations of the Liangzhu site.

A total of 65 groups, 175 funerary objects, a full 55 groups, 165 are all jade.

The burial objects in the entire tomb are almost all jade, which fully demonstrates the status and power of the tomb owner during his lifetime.

As far as the current archaeological discoveries are concerned, there are a large number of Liangzhu culture period cemeteries distributed inside and outside Liangzhu ancient city.

From the location point of view, there are cemeteries inside the city and cemeteries outside the city.

In terms of levels, there are royal tomb-level cemeteries, high-level family cemeteries, and general civilian cemeteries.

Jade congs can only be unearthed in high-level cemeteries.

These cemeteries can be roughly divided into the following categories.

First, there are two altar tombs, Yaoshan and Huiguanshan.

They all belonged to the early Liangzhu culture. Combining the status of the altar and the burial objects, we can roughly speculate that the person who can be buried here should be the supreme ruler when the ancient city was built.

This means that they are likely to be the early builders of Liangzhu Ancient City.

Second, there is an anti-mountain place in Miyagi Tombs.

It is a cemetery similar to that of Yaoshan and Huiguanshan. It not only occupies the most central position, but also has the highest level in the entire Liangzhu culture distribution area at the same time.

If there is no accident, this should be the tomb of Liangzhu King and Liangzhu Queen in the ancient country period.The famous Jade Cong King was unearthed here.

Third, there are three cemeteries in Waiguo, Wenjiashan, Zhongjiashan and Bianjiashan.

Fourth, there are cemeteries outside the city, and some sporadic Liangzhu culture burials, but larger-scale cemeteries have not been revealed yet.

Moreover, in the late Liangzhu culture, the original layout of the ancient city no longer existed to a certain extent, and some late tombs can be seen near the palace area and on the dam.

The third Waiguo City cemetery is most likely to be a civilian cemetery, and the cemetery outside the city is the cemetery of rural civilians scattered outside Liangzhu Ancient City.

The newly discovered Jiangjiashan cemetery is located in the inner city, and it is next to the Mojiaoshan platform in the inner city, which is the palace area of ​​the ancient Liangzhu Kingdom.

Plus so many high-grade jades were found in tomb M1.

Obviously, the Jiangjiashan cemetery complements the "high-level aristocratic cemetery" in Liangzhu country's social class!
Among the funerary objects found in tomb M1.

The most special one is a jade crown.

This jade crown ware is yellow-white, with a small amount of yellow or gray-brown gossamer crystals.

The overall shape is flat and inverted trapezoidal, the top is straight, the middle part is reduced to a zigzag shape, the middle part is flat and convex, and there is an undrilled blind hole on the opposite sides of the flat convex.

整件器物高4.1、上端宽7.4、下端宽6.2、榫宽5.4、厚0.35厘米。

The reason why it is called "Jade Coronet" is because it looks very much like a crown that the ancients used to tie their hair!

And a similar size too!
And on this jade crown, the lower corners on both sides are chamfered, flat tenons, and there are two small counter-drilled holes.

These two pairs of drilled holes seem to be just right for fixing.

Perhaps, 5000 years ago, the owner of the M1 tomb was buried wearing a jade crown!

In addition, there is also a "suit" composed of jade tridents and jade tubes, which is also very special.

Because similar utensils were unearthed in Liangzhu before.

And is also considered a type of "crown"!
In 1987, at an archaeological site in Yaoshan, Xiaxiwan Village, Anxi Township, Yuhang County, experts verified that this cemetery was a sacrificial place in the middle and late Liangzhu civilization in the new era.

That is the famous Liangzhu Yaoshan ruins.

There are three layers of altars inside and outside Yaoshan, including more than 20 tombs are concentrated in the southern half of the altar.These burials are further divided into male burials in the south and female burials in the north.

As I said before, the tombs on the Yaoshan side are speculated to be a group of nobles in the early days of Liangzhu Ancient City, and they are the founders of Liangzhu Ancient City.

In the male burial area, special burial objects such as jade axe, trident-shaped jade, and cone-shaped jade were found that were not found in the female burial area.

In the tomb numbered M10, a total of 559 pieces of jade were unearthed. It is the largest tomb among them, and it should be the burial area of ​​senior priests at that time.

Yes, Liangzhu is also a country with a strong theocratic culture.

This is normal. In the ignorant era 5000 years ago, any tribe or country must have worshiped gods and ancestors, and had a systematic theological culture.

And the jade trident is from the tomb of this senior priest.

Trident-shaped jade, white with reddish-brown spots, shaped like the character "mountain", with a circular arc at the bottom, three vertical forks that are evenly cut out on the upper part, and a small hole through the middle fork that can be worn.

It is generally speculated that the trident-shaped jade was used in conjunction with the jade tube or jade cone unearthed at the same time.

The front of the trident-shaped jade vessel is carved with animal faces, and the outlines of the eyes, nose, and mouth are embossed, and details such as eyes, nostrils, and fangs are engraved with dark lines.

Each of the three prongs is engraved with feather patterns, symbolizing the crown of God.When unearthed, the tridents were all placed on the head of the deceased, which seems to be a kind of crown decoration.

And only the trident-shaped jade and cone-shaped jade were unearthed in male tombs.

It can be judged that the trident-shaped jade should be the exclusive identity mark of high-ranking noble men at that time.

In other words, in the Liangzhu ancient country, high-ranking male nobles were required to wear this unique "jade crown".

This is a special crown that symbolizes power similar to the crown of later generations!

In fact, the bottom line of the word "王" in ancient Chinese characters is often deformed into an arc shape in bronze inscriptions.

The same is true for the character "Huang", the various glyphs on the bronze inscriptions, the three, four, and multiple vertical lines on the top of the character.

And the original meaning of "Huang" is the meaning of crown.

The upper vertical line in the bronze inscription is actually a crown ornament inlaid with colorful feathers, and the lower part is the crown frame.

Ancient documents have recorded that in ancient times, the leader of the Yu clan held a grand ceremony wearing a crown of colorful feathers.

Later, this kind of crown made of exquisite jade components and colorful feathers was called "Huang", which means magnificent.

Coincidentally, if the jade tubes or jade cones unearthed with the three-pronged jade ware were inserted into the three-pronged jade ware, they would just happen to be vertical crowns!
Therefore, this trident-shaped jade vessel may be a special ritual vessel that can only be used by the ruling class of the ancient Liangzhu Kingdom, or even "kings" or "high priests"!
The man buried in Jiangjiashan Tomb M1 may be a "king" in the ancient Liangzhu Kingdom at a certain period, or a high priest in charge of sacrifices!

Identity, unusual!
(End of this chapter)