Master Archaeologist

Chapter 362 Liangzhu Seminar

"The use of jade and the formation of related etiquette are one of the important contributions of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River to Chinese civilization!"

"The jade ceremonial system evolved from jade ware used as decoration. In the middle and late Lingjiatan culture, complex jade ware usage and ritual systems were still being perfected."

“There is a set of complicated funeral etiquette during the burial process of the tomb owner. For example, rows of stone adzes and chisels are laid on the bottom of the coffin in high-level tombs, stone axes are stacked under and on the body, and groups of jade huang are worn on the chest. Outside the coffin were buried pottery, and many other utensils were buried in pairs."

"However, Lingjiatan does not have a clear and standardized system in general, and the compatibility relationship between them is not very stable, and it is in a state of innovation and development."

"Since the early days of the Liangzhu Culture, high-level burials have been dominated by burial jade objects, especially the types and quantities of high-level jade ritual objects such as cong, bi, and axe, which have formed a complete set of rituals centered on the use of jade objects! "

"Jade cong, bi, huang, axe, various head ornaments and handle ornaments, and the creation of "gods and beast faces" are all important parts of etiquette."

"The jade ax has also become the scepter of noble men, and the jade huang has become a symbol of women."

"In addition to jade, the combination of pottery in the funerary objects is also more standardized."

"The whole set of etiquette with jade as the core has become an important means of social governance in Liangzhu society!"

Inside the Yuhang Liangzhu Archaeological Base.

A seminar on Liangzhu culture is underway.

An expert from the Zhejiang Institute of Archeology, who is responsible for long-term research on the Liangzhu culture, is giving lectures on the rostrum to the participating archaeologists who came from other places to help.

Colleagues from the Institute of Archeology, Academy of Social Sciences, such as Chen Han and Kong Jianwen, also sat down and listened carefully.

Although it is said that everyone is doing archaeology.

However, none of them had personally participated in the excavation of the Liangzhu site, and their understanding of the Liangzhu site depended on their usual attention to the news from the Zhejiang Institute.

That is purely out of love.

The current Chinese archaeology is getting bigger and bigger, and it is also getting more and more subdivided.

It is normal for a person who studies the Yin Ruins to not understand the archaeological details of the Liangzhu side.

Similarly, it is normal for a person who studies Liangzhu to not know much about the excavation of the Yin Ruins.

Of course, as a professional archaeologist, even a rough understanding is much more professional than most ordinary people.

The rough understanding of Chen Han and the others before was indeed sufficient, but now they are going to personally participate in the Liangzhu archaeological excavation work.

Then some make-up lessons will have to be done.

The content of the make-up class is also very simple, which is the latest research results on Liangzhu.

When the time comes, you will not know whether the things you dug out are great discoveries or the results of already discovered things.

"More importantly, since Lingjiatan culture created the era of jade innovation, jade wares of various shapes and styles have gradually moved from a diversified art to a standardized system."

"By the early Liangzhu culture, a complete set of systems with standardized vessel types, standardized patterns, and standardized combinations had been formed. However, the extremely complex patterns shown on jade articles showed the combination of high-end artistic skills and special artifact forms to control social operations. ceremonial or religious system.”

"It is worth noting that the image of the dragon in the Liangzhu Culture jade should be directly derived from the Songze Late Culture in the region, and shows a certain relationship with the Lingjiatan Culture and the more distant Hongshan Culture."

"However, the worship of the "dragon" in the initial stage of the Liangzhu culture may have been independent of the system of the god-man-beast-mask pattern, and the image of the dragon would soon disappear, or it may later be integrated into the image of the animal-mask of the divine emblem and become It has not been passed down for a long time in Liangzhu culture."

"Other animal images also declined and disappeared in the middle Liangzhu period, while the face of gods, men and animals became the unified symbol of Liangzhu culture."

"In comparison, it is more durable to preserve the images of dragons and birds in clay black pottery."

The experts on the stage are seriously talking about the source of Liangzhu's jade culture.

Lingjiatan Culture, one of the three prehistoric jade culture centers in China, is a Neolithic cultural site located in Lingjiatan Village, Tongzha Town, Hanshan County, AH Province.

With a total area of ​​160 million square meters, it was discovered in 1985.

What shocked the world most about the Lingjiatan culture was the discovery of important relics such as tombs, altars, moats, large-scale braised soil clods, and more than 3000 pieces of cultural relics such as jade, stone, and pottery were unearthed here.

Lingjiatan Culture is famous for its jade culture reflected in a large number of exquisitely crafted jade wares with rich cultural connotations. Together with Hongshan Culture and Liangzhu Culture, it is also known as the "Three Great Prehistoric Jade Culture Centers in China"!
According to experts, the Lingjiatan culture located in the AH area has influenced the Liangzhu culture located in the Zhejiang area.

After all, the two places are not far apart.

In addition, the time difference between the two cultures is not too big.

However, Lingjiatan culture did not deeply affect Liangzhu culture, at least there is no strong Yulong culture worship in Lingjiatan culture in Liangzhu.

Liangzhu people's jade production style is obviously based on their own unique system of god-man-beast-mask patterns.

However, the situation would be different if jade wares such as jade dragons bearing the symbol of "dragon culture" could be found in Liangzhu.

That's why experts place special emphasis on these.

I just hope that the archaeologists will not miss the "dragon", a key totem that has influenced Chinese civilization for thousands of years, in the next excavation work.

"As a result of social complexity, social stratification became more serious, and the social changes brought about by this were uneven throughout the entire lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the Liangzhu Culture eventually became the earliest ancient country in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and even the whole country to enter a civilized society. "

"Royal power and military power have originated in the early Liangzhu culture, and may have appeared and gradually become standardized at least in the middle period."

"The Liangzhu settlement group with the Mojiaoshan palace or temple area as the core and the Liangzhu ancient city as the focus has formed a unified cognitive system with the god, man and animal face pattern as the core pattern and the jade cong as the important carrier."

"A regional political and religious center with a well-organized layout, clear functions, and distinct levels, especially the engraved jade wares may have been distributed from the Liangzhu settlements during the prosperous period."

"Therefore, the Liangzhu settlements are the political core of the entire Liangzhu culture."

"The construction of the super-large building complex, water conservancy system, and city wall in Mojiao Mountain far exceeds the human and material resources of a settlement group."

"There are a large number of exquisite jade articles buried in many cemeteries, and the degree of specialization in their production has reached an extremely high level!"

"We speculate that Liangzhu must have a mature handmade jade workshop!"

"This is also one of the key points of our archaeological work at the Liangzhu site!"

"Find the jade workshop in Liangzhu ancient country!"

(End of this chapter)