Kaoguxuebao 2006－3

 

Contents

 

Liu Qingzhu,

A Study of the Changes in Social Form Reflected from Archaeological 

Discoveries in the Layout and Form of Ancient Chinese Capital-sites ------(281)

Gao Zhixi,

A Study of Bronze Zheng Bells of the Western and Eastern Zhou Period----(313)

Cai Meibiao,

Yuan Imperial Decree Stele in the Xinglong Temple in Pinggu: A Translation

and Study of Its Inscription ---------------------------------------------------------(333) 

Anyang Archaeological Team, IA, CASS,

Excavation of 2000—2001 on the Bronze Foundry-site of the Yin Period

in the Southeast of Xiaomintun, Anyang -----------------------------------------(351)

Chen Quanjia,

A Study of the Faunal Remains from the Xishan Site in Zhengzhou ---------(385)

 

 

 

A STUDY OF THE CHANGES IN SOCIAL FORM REFLECTED

FROM ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES IN THE LAYOUT

AND FORM OF ANCIENT CHINESE CAPITAL-SITES

 

by

Liu Qingzhu

 

Through nearly 70 years of remitting efforts in the archaeological exploration and excavation of ancient Chinese capital-sites, archaeologists have achieved abundant academic accomplishments and obtained rather broad and profound knowledge of the layout and form of these capitals. Archaeological excavation and study indicate that the emergence of the ancient capital was contemporaneous with the formation of the kingdom. The capital of the kingdom period was developed from the “city” of the “chiefdom” period; and the latter, from the prehistoric settlement. In general, the “chiefdom” period “city” was a single city with the nature of the “palace-city” in later times. The kingdom period capital was generally a “double city” consisting of an outer city (i.e. “larger city”) and a palace-city (i.e. “smaller city”). The latter was the political stage of the dynasty, while the former, a place for organs and their staffs serving the royal house. The capital in the imperial age was usually a “triple city” comprising an outer city, an inner one (or “imperial city) and a palace-city. The last was the political stage of the imperial house, and the middle was the location of the centralized state governmental organs, as well as the temple to the emperor’s ancestors, those to the god of the land and the god of grain, and imperial religious temples. The evolution from the “single city” to the “double city” and then to the “triple city” reflected the historical development and change in social form. But as the political development of social form did not synchronize with that of material culture (or archaeological culture), generally speaking, the latter showed clear backwardness in comparison with the former.

The palaces and ancestral temples in ancient capitals represented the “geographical political group” and the “consanguineous political group” respectively. Their changes in layout, form, location and distribution generally reflected the rise and fall of the strength of “geographical politics” and “consanguineous politics,” and showed respective features of different social forms.            

 

 

 

A STUDY OF BRONZE ZHENG BELLS OF

THE WESTERN AND EASTERN ZHOU PERIOD

by

Gao Zhixi

 

The bronze zheng bell was a rather common musical instrument from the late Western Zhou to the Eastern Zhou period. It has been discovered to be widely distributed in the valleys of the Yellow, Yangtze, Huaihe and Pearl rivers. Their examples recorded have reached 90 pieces in total, including those collected by museums and institutions of cultural relics in various places. These objects can be divided into three classes with 13 types and 37 subtypes. The earliest known so far are unearthed from the Guo State cemetery at Shangcunling in Shaanxian County, Henan, and a late Western Zhou period tomb of the Jin Marquise graveyard at Qucun in Tianma, Shanxi.

The present paper makes a comprehensive discussion about the dates of the available bronze zheng, especially those previously attributed to too wide chronological spaces or by now remaining disputed in date. For example, the zheng   unearthed from Haiyang of Shandong is redated from the Warring States period to the late Spring-and-Autumn period. That from Yaerzhou in Wuxue City of Hubei, which has been much debated chronologically, is dated to the turn from the early to the middle stage of the Spring-and-Autumn period or to the earlier middle stage of this period. That from Dajiangkou in Xupu County of Hunan is redated to the middle Warring State period to replace the previous too wide dating to the “Warring State period.” For the one from Tomb M37 at Zidanku in Changsha, the author points out   that its attribution to the “turn from the Spring-and-Autumn period to the Warring States period” is a mistake and, actually, it should be dated to the turn from the middle to the late stage of the Warring States period.

Another subject dealt with in the paper is the evolutionary order of the zheng. For example, the author believes that the body form of the zheng was changed from a short, wide double-tile shape to a thin, long cylinder.

Concerning the ethnic affiliation of the zheng, the author points out that there are the Central Plain, Wu, Yue, Chu and Ba styles. A few paragraphs focus on argument over the problem that the “Ran zheng,” i.e. southern territory zheng, is not a Wu instrument but belongs to the Chu ware of the late Spring-and-Autumn period, and the one from Wongjiang in Pingjiang County of Human should be attributed to the Chu rather than the “Yue people.” 

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 YUAN IMPERIAL DECREE STELE IN THE XINGLONG TEMPLE

IN PINGGU: A TRANSLATION AND STUDY OF ITS INSCRIPTION

 by

Cai Meibiao

 

There remains a stele with a Yuan Imperial decree in the Xinglong Temple-site within Pinggu District, Beijing. Its front side bears an imperial decree in Mongolian Phagspa script, and the back side, the same document Chinese-translated from the Phagspa version and officials’ names. The stele has drawn attention from various circles in recent years, but errors have often slipped in its explanation due to misunderstanding. The present paper, based on the author’s on-the-spot investigation, transcribes the Mongolian text from Phagsha script into Latin letters with Chinese translations written aside character by character, and makes a collation and supplement of the Chinese text. It argues that the Xinglong Temple already existed in the Liao-Jin period and was rebuilt on the funds donated by the family of Tie Ge, the official zhongshu pingzhang zhengshi中书平章政事, in the late reign of the Yuan emperor Shizu. After his succeeding to the throne, the Yuan emperor Chengzong issued the decree under discussion to prohibit people from harassing the temple, and sent Da Shi Man, the official pingzhang junguo zhongshi and envoy from the organ Xuanzhengyuan 平章军国重事、宣政院使, to announce this order to the public. The stele was erected in the third year of Dade reign. In the chapter “Annotation” of the paper, the author studies the reason of building the Xinglong and other temples, the relationship between announcing the decree to the public and convoying this document to the destination, and the correspondence of terms in the Mongolian text with their counterparts in the Chinese version; meanwhile, he amends some mistakes in previous translation and understanding. 

 

 

 

EXCAVATION OF 2000—2001 ON THE BRONZE FOUNDRY-SITE

OF THE YIN PERIOD AT THE LOCUS SOUTHEAST

OF XIAOMINTUN, ANYANG

Anyang Archaeological Team, IA, CASS

 

In the spring of 2000 and that of 2001, in concert with the capital construction of the Anyang Steel Corporation, the Anyang Archaeological Team, IA, CASS, carried out two seasons of excavation at the Locus Southeast of Xiaomintun Village, and discovered an extensive area of Yin period bronze foundry remains. The revealed bronze-casting vestiges include ash-pits (cellars), house-foundations and plots of land with green rust. The unearthed bronze-casting implements are so great in number and so rich in variety that they have no comparable counterpart among the previously recorded foundry-sites. They fall into four classes: copper smelting, bronze casting, decorating and miscellaneous implements. The first class is represented by the smelting furnace only, which comprise two types made of straw-mixed clay and sandy clay respectively, both belonging to the internal-combustion style. The second class embraces the pottery model, mould and core. The third include grinding stones for retouching bronze products and implements for retouching pottery models, moulds and cores, such as pottery pats, small bronze knives and carving needles and bone awls. The fourth is formed of pottery pipes, “helmet”-shaped pottery objects,  burnt-clay lumps and charcoal, which are also commonly-seen remains on the ruins. In date the foundry-site belongs mainly to the fourth phase of the Yinxu culture. It is a ruined bronze-casting workshop of the Yin period, large in scale and high in grade, and producing chiefly ritual objects. Reaching an area of more than 10,000 sq m, it is another large-sized bronze-casting foundry-site of the Yin period revealed after the same type of discovery recorded at the Locus North of Miaopu at the railway in Anyang.

 

     

 

A STUDY OF THE FAUNAL REMAINS

FROM THE XISHAN SITE IN ZHENZHOU

by

  Chen Quanjia

 

The Zhengzhou Xishan site, where the Training Class for Heads of Archaeological Teams (1993—1996) under the State Bureau of Cultural Relics carried out large-scale excavation for four successive years, has yielded three phases of Neolithic remains and a few Western Zhou cultural traces from the excavated area of about 7,000 sq m. The present paper studies quantities of animal bones unearthed from 692 units of vestiges. By analyzing their species and burying contexts and the traces on them, the author researches into the ecological environments of the site in different periods, the proportion of fishing, hunting and stock-raising economy in the whole subsistence, the developmental level of animal husbandry, the living customs reflected from sacrificial animal victims, the making crafts of bone, antler and shell artifacts and other aspects of man’s behavior, which provides invaluable information for the all-rounded and deep-going study of the Xishan site.