Kaoguxuebao 2013-3

Contents
Wang Hui,
The Date of the Origination of the Chinese Characters Seen from the Comparison of the Oracle Bone and Bronze Inscriptions and the Archaeological Materials -- Also on the Word-forming Pottery Marks of Liangzhu Culture and the Date of the Chinese Characters …………………………………………………………(283)
Jing Zhongwei,
Zhuice, Dingchibiao and Dixian: The Comparative Study on the Horse-controlling Devices in China and the West During the 2nd Millennium to the 3rd Century BC …………………………………………………………………………………(297)
Wang Yuanlin,
The Origin and Evolution of the Zodiac Animal Figures in the Tomb Murals In East Asia ………………………………………………………………………………(325)
Jilin Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology,
The Excavation Report of the Xin'an Site in Fusong County, Jilin ………………(347)
Xiangyang Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology,
The Excavation Report of the Three-Kingdoms Tomb at Caiyue, Fancheng District in Xiangyang, Hubei …………………………………………………………………(391)

THE DATE OF THE ORIGINATION OF THE CHINESE CHARACTERS SEEN FROM THE COMPARISON OF THE ORACLE BONE AND BRONZE INSCRIPTIONS AND THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MATERIALS -- ALSO ON THE WORD-FORMING POTTERY MARKS OF LIANGZHU CULTURE AND THE DATE OF THE CHINESE CHARACTERS
by
Wang Hui
By comparing the structures of the characters in the oracle bone and bronze inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty and the materials found in the archaeological remains, we understand that the oracle bone and bronze inscriptions have preserved many forms and structures mirroring the shapes of concrete objects which had emerged far earlier than the Xia and Shang Dynasties. The form of the character you酉 and the compound marks with it as a radical roughly emerged in the late phase of Yangshao Culture; the form of the character bing丙 and the compound marks with it as a radical emerged at the time of the Banpo Type of Yangshao Culture; the form of the character li鬲 in the early oracle bone inscription emerged at the time of the Miaodigou Phase II Culture through the Longshan Culture; the marks resembling the characters gong宫, lü吕, yong  (雍) and so on emerged at the time of Shaanxi Longshan Culture. Moreover, during the time of Liangzhu Culture, many assemblages of character-like marks resembling words or phases even sentences emerged, which showed that the Chinese characters have formally formed at that time. The large amounts of the forms of characters such as you酉, fu畐, and bing丙 actually mirrored the shape of the pottery bottles with wide shoulder, contracted waist and pointed bottom, which emerged around 5500-5000 BP, while the assembled character-like marks or signs resembling words even sentences also emerged in Liangzhu Culture around 5300-4300 BP; these two events cross-confirmed that the Chinese characters would have formally originated the earliest around 5500-5300 BP.

ZHUICE, DINGCHIBIAO AND DIXIAN: THE COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE HORSE-CONTROLLING DEVICES IN CHINA AND THE WEST DURING THE 2ND MILLENNIUM TO THE 3RD CENTURY BC
by
Jing Zhongwei
This paper observed three kinds of horse-controlling devices in special shapes emerged in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties and made comparative study on them with their counterparts found in the Eurasia Steppes and Near East. The study shows that the zhuice錣策 (spiked whip) was used to stimulate the horse to advance quickly, the dingchibiao钉齿镳 (nailed cheekpiece) was used to guide the horse to the expected direction and the dixian镝衔 (prickled mouthpiece) was used to control the speed of the horse and to stop it at will. The zhuice in the late Shang Dynasty of China and the New Kingdom of Egypt were similar in shape, function and other aspects, but the former had a barb protruding diagonally which could be used to stab forward and to beat sideway, and could be used by both the chariot drivers and the cavalrymen, implying that horseback riding has appeared in the Central Plains in the late Shang Dynasty. The mouthpiece with nails on the two sides was actually the combination of the cheekpiece and the mouthpiece; it could effectively control the speed of the horse, but the nails could not freely move, and therefore could not play its intended role on controlling the direction of the advancing of the horse. To overcome this, at about the same time, the nails on the mouthpiece was separated, and the U-shaped cheekpiece with nails was designed; or the nails were moved to the inner sides of the common cheekpiece to strengthen the direction control of the horse. The nailed cheekpiece emerged in China hundreds of years later than in the Eurasia Steppes and the Near East, and the nailed cheekpieces made of bone and horn have not been seen in China, while the nailed mouthpiece in the late Shang Dynasty of China was also not seen in the Eurasia Steppes and the Near East. In the early Western Zhou Dynasty, nails were added to the common jointed mouthpieces and the dixian was made; in later times, the joints became more and more and each joint became smaller and smaller, and the large and sparse nails on these joints also changed into fine and dense prickles, which was the chain-shaped dixian. At latest in the mid Warring-States Period, the bar-shaped mouthpiece with spurs was derived from the dixian. The double-jointed dixian in the early Western Zhou Dynasty not only emerged earlier than in the Eurasia Steppes and the Near East but also sharply differed from its counterparts in the latter areas in shape. However, the dixian in the Near East and the west of the Eurasia Steppes were rather similar in both the shape and the dates of appearance, so they might have had diffusion relationship. The three kinds of horse-controlling devices found in China and the West are different in shape but their functions are similar.

THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF THE ZODIAC ANIMAL FIGURES IN THE TOMB MURALS IN EAST ASIA
by
Wang Yuanlin
The twelve zodiac animals was the art motif in the tombs from the Han and Tang through the Song and Liao Dynasties, which was showed by the forms of the designs on the epitaphs, coffins, mirrors, figurines, murals, and so on, and their changes during the long period were complex. The evolutions of the zodiac animal figures in the compositions of the tomb murals found in China, Korean Peninsula and Japan and that of the zodiac animal figures themselves showed clear diffusion routes and mutual influences of the zodiac animal art in the East Asia. According to the observation, in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the zodiac animal figures in the actual shapes emerged; in the Sui Dynasty, the figures with human bodies and the heads of the zodiac animals emerged; in the late Tang Dynasty through the Five-Dynasties Period, the human figures wearing zodiac animal-shaped headgear or holding zodiac animals began to be popular. The archaeologically discovered figures of the monsters with human bodies and beast heads in the Han through the Six Dynasties Periods, especially the figures with human bodies and heads of chicken and ox found on the stone reliefs and impressed bricks, would be the origins of the figures with human bodies and the heads of the zodiac animals. The discoveries of the figurines and figures in the tomb murals with human bodies and the heads of the zodiac animals in the Sui and Tang Dynasties provided clear precedents for the origins of the zodiac animal cultures of the Unified Silla in Korea Peninsula and Nara Period in Japan. The heavenly general-shaped zodiac animal figures with weapons in hands found in the murals of Kitora Kofun in Nara, Japan reflected the regional characteristics of the zodiac animal figures in the East Asia. The human figures wearing zodiac animal-shaped headgear in civil official style which emerged in the late Tang Dynasty to the Five-Dynasties Period not only influenced the designs of the epitaphs and tomb murals of the Liao Dynasty but also influenced the funeral customs of the Goryeo Period in Korean Peninsula, which were shown in the figurines as well as the designs of epitaphs, sarcophagi and tomb murals.

THE EXCAVATION REPORT OF THE XIN'AN SITE IN FUSONG COUNTY, JILIN
by
Jilin Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
In 2009, Jilin Provincial Institute of Cultural Relic and Archaeology excavated the Xin'an Site at Xin'an Town in Fusong County, Jilin Province. The site remains can be divided into three phases. The Phase I remained many ash pits and ash ditches, the artifacts unearthed from which were mainly the hand-made plain sandy pottery wares with square rim, wide flared mouth. The main types were zeng-steamers, jars, basin, pot, etc. The age of the Phase I was around the Eastern Han Dynasty. The Phase II remained a large building foundation in addition to ash pits and ash ditches. There are some rows of house remains on the building foundation. The building parts such as flat tiles, semi-cylindrical tiles, tile-ends with lotus pattern and chiwei (“owl-tail”, the roof ridge-end ornaments) unearthed showed that there would have been a high-ranking large building. Wheel-made grey fine potteries were relatively common in this phase, the main types of which were basins with cross bridge, large-mouthed jugs, plates, vessel lids with raised lines, and the date of this phase was the mid Bohai Kingdom. The Phase III remained house foundations, ash pits, hoards and kilns. The unearthed potteries of this phase were generally bigger than before, and the main types were jugs, urns and jars. The date of this phase was from the end of the Bohai Kingdom to the early Jin Dynasty.
The excavation is a large-scale archaeological work in the upper reaches of the Second Songhua River in recent years. Unearthed artifacts had obvious chronological changes. The Phase II of this site, which was the remains of the Bohai Kingdom, has been regarded as a city site in the past, but we didn't find the evidence to prove that it was a city site although we have found large building foundations. The nature of Xin'an Site remains to be discussed. The excavation provided new materials for the research on the properties of Xin'an Site and the hierarchical system of the architectures of the Bohai Kingdom.

THE EXCAVATION REPORT OF THE THREE-KINGDOMS TOMB AT CAIYUE, FANCHENG DISTRICT IN XIANGYANG, HUBEI
by
Xiangyang Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
This tomb was a brick multi-chamber tomb built in vertical earthen shaft pit and consisting of the ramp passageway, the pit and the brick chambers. The brickwork of the tomb was composed of the sealing wall, the stone door, the tunnel, the antechamber, the corridor and the rear chamber. Over 200 pieces of grave goods were unearthed from this tomb, including potteries, porcelains, bronzes, iron implements, gold and silver wares, lead and tin wares, lacquered wares, jades, stone implements, crystal and agate objects, bone implements, glass wares, amber objects, etc. The structure of the tomb and the characteristics of the grave goods showed that the date of this tomb was the early Three-Kingdoms Period and the tomb occupants were a couple of general whose rank was lower than liehou (adjunct marquis) and the two tomb occupants were entombed separately. This Three-Kingdoms tomb at Caiyue was a new large-sized brick-chamber tomb found in Hubei; it had huge scale, unique structure and diversified and well-preserved grave goods, which all provided new data for the research on the burials of the Three-Kingdoms Period and enriched the connotation of the material culture of the Three-Kingdoms Period.