Kaoguxuebao 2017-4

Contents

Zhang Changping and Sun Zhuo,
On the Settlement Pattern of Panlongcheng Site ………………………………………………………………………………(439)
Dai Lijuan,
On the Small-sized Bronze Weapons Unearthed in Chengdu Plain ……………………………………………………………………………(461)
Du Feng and Zhang Xiancheng,
The Taiyi Jiugong Shipan of the Western Han Dynasty and the Relevant Issues in the “Taiyi Ri You” Paragraph of the “Jiugong Bafeng” Chapter in Lingshu …………………………………………………………………………(479)
Chen Zhaoyun,
Archaeological Observation on the Porcelain-making Techniques of the Song Dynasty …………………………………………………………………………(495)
Inner Mongolian Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Institute, Zhejiang University,
The Shuiquan Site at Linxi County in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia …………………………………………………………………………(515)
Xinjiang Archaeological Team, Institute of Archaeology, CASS et al.,
The Excavation of the Jirzankal Cemetery in the Year 2014 ……………………………………………………………………………(545)

The Panlongcheng Site is the largest central settlement formed by the culture of the Central Plains in the valleys of the Yangtze and Han Rivers when it was expanding southward during the Xia and Shang Dynasties. Through the resorting of the excavation data obtained in the past years and referring to the recent archaeological fieldwork, this paper points out that the pattern of the Panlongcheng settlement had three phases of development. Phase I is the forming stage of the Panlongcheng settlement as a city, the core zone of which was located at the Wangjiazui Locality and nearby area in the south of the site. Phase II is the flourishing stage of the Panlongcheng Site as a city, enclosure walls and palaces were built in the settlement center, and large-scale elite cemetery formed at Lijiazui Locality. Phase III is the declining stage of the Panlongcheng Site as a city. The enclosure walls in the settlement center were abandoned, and the core zone of the city was transferred to the south slope of Yangjiawan Locality. During these three phases, the changes of the social activities of the high-ranking classes also had influences to the entire settlement pattern, especially the palaces and elite cemeteries showed corresponding changes with the remains of the common people. Likewise, the distributions of the residential remains and burials of different phases in the Panlongcheng Site also had associating relationships. The large-sized elite burials with bronzes as grave goods were found close to the palace foundations, and the small burials were generally found nearby the residential zones of the common people. In view of the geographical environment, the change of the settlement pattern showed the tendencies of moving northward and to higher terrain, the backgrounds of which are still waiting for further studies. This paper also makes a comparative study on the similarities and differences among Panlongcheng Site and other city sites of the early Shang Dynasty, and found some regular common features on the layout designs and city construction techniques from them, which reflected the common cultural background of these cities during their forming processes. On the other hand, the Palongcheng Site also has some special features on the settlement pattern and location, hinting its important role in the expanding progress of the culture of the Central Plains to the Yangtze River Valley. Using the Panlongcheng Site as the representative, we can detect the development journey of the early cities, and understand the controlling mode of the central dynasty to the frontier areas and the situation of the social organizations in the early Shang Dynasty.


Among the bronze weapons unearthed in Chengdu Plain, there are some special ones in sizes smaller than their practical counterparts of the same types. Based on the comprehensive observations to their forms and examinations on their unearthing contexts, this paper classified these small-sized bronze weapons into three categories. The small-sized bronze weapons of Category I were made faithfully to the originals, but their sizes were only about a half of the latter; small-sized bronze weapons of this category were only found in the religious and sacrificial contexts. The small-sized bronze weapons of Category II were made similar to that of Category I but unearthed in burials, and their locations in burials were also the same as that of the practical weapons. Those of Category III have extremely small sizes, and were made just roughly imitating the contour of the originals, which were unearthed from burials usually together with other small-sized grave goods as sets. Then, this paper analyzed the dates and natures of these three categories through the examinations on the types of the contexts of the remains where they were unearthed and other artifacts coexisting with them. This paper pointed out that the small-sized weapons of Category I popularized in the 11th to the 9th centuries BC, which were the ceremonial implements used the same as their originals. The small-sized bronze weapons of Category II popularized in the 8th to the 6th centuries BC, which were made as grave goods. The samples of the small-sized bronze weapons of Category III have been found in the burials from the 11th to the 6th centuries BC, and their types and shapes were sharply diversified, and usually unearthed together with other small-sized artifacts, so they are estimated to be another type of funeral objects. By analyzing the sizes of the burials yielding these small-sized bronze weapons, their burial customs and the assemblages of grave goods, this paper revealed that the occupants of these burials might have high social positions or special statuses, and pointed out that weapons carried significant meanings in their societies. Furthermore, referring to the relevant discoveries, this paper pointed out that the downsizing trend of the weapons and other artifacts in these contexts reflected that using models to replace practical utensils in religious and sacrificial activities and burials was popular idea and behavior of the people at that time and one of the characteristics of the regional culture in Chengdu Plain and neighboring areas, which might be as far as Hanzhong and Baoji to the north.


The “Jiugong Bafeng (Nine Palaces and Eight Winds)” paragraph in Lingshu (Spiritual Pivot) part of Huangdi Neijing (Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon) and the Feng (Wind) chapter of Huangdi Neijing Taisu (Grand Basis of Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon) was used to predict and estimate the causes of diseases and to prevent diseases through the abnormalities of the weathers with the winds from eight directions as the omens, based on the divinatory of the Taiyi (“Supreme Unity”, which is the Pole Star) traveling in the Nine Palaces. The Taiyi's travel in the Nine Palaces has large cycle and small cycle; the cycle mentioned in the section of “Taiyi chang yi dongzhi zhi ri (the Pole Star usually starts on the day of the winter solstice)” in the “Jiugong Bafeng” paragraph in Lingshu is the large cycle, and the characters on the outer zone of the bottom plate (“earth plate”) of the Taiyi Jiugong (Supreme Unity in Nine Palaces) shipan (cosmic board) unearthed from the tomb of the Marquis of Ruyin of the Western Han Dynasty can cross-refer with it, and the form of this cosmic board also had internal consistency with the diagram of the “Nine Palaces” at the beginning of the “Jiugong Bafeng” paragraph. The cycle mentioned in the section of “Taiyi ri you (the Pole Star travels daily)” in the “Jiugong Bafeng” paragraph in Lingshu is the small cycle; referring to the various versions of this section and relevant historic literatures, this section can be collated into “(the Pole Star travels daily,) along with the Palace the (given) number belongs to, arrives in one Palace on each day, until the ninth day, and returns to the Palace to which the (number) ‘one’ belongs. [The Pole Star] cycles like this endlessly; at the end of one cycle, it starts again.” The text in the popular version at present saying “the Pole Star travels daily, and on the day of winter solstice, it stations in the Palace of Xiezhe (hibernation startling)” might have been the annotation of the main text “cong qi gong (along with the Palace)” and occasionally confused as the main text. The divining rules of the Taiyi Jiugong shipan corresponded to that described in the section of “Taiyi ri you” in the “Jiugong Bafeng” paragraph in Lingshu: on the day of winter solstice, the number “one” on the heaven plate of the former was rotated to point to the “Palace of Xiezhe” on the earth plate, which is the “along with the Palace the (given) number belongs to” mentioned in the latter, showing that the traveling of the Taiyi starts on the day of winter solstice from the “Kan (one of the Eight Trigrams referring to water) One, the Palace of Xiezhe”. Then, the number “two” on the heaven plate of the Taiyi Jiugong shipan was turned to point to “the Palace of Xuanwei” on the earth plate, which shows that the Taiyi travels into the “Kun (one of the Eight Trigrams referring to earth) Two, the Palace of Xuanwei”, and so on and so forth; on the ninth day, the Taiyi travels into the “Li (one of the Eight Trigrams referring to fire) Nine, the Palace of Shangtian”, and finally, on the tenth day, the Taiyi turns back to “the Palace of Xiezhe”. In the large cycle, the Taiyi travels through eight Palaces, only the Central Palace, which is “earth”, is missed, because the position of Taiyi (the Pole Star) is on the north, which is that of “water” overcome by earth in the “Five Elements” theory. The small cycle is that the Taiyi travels in the Nine Palaces for five rounds during the solar terms, in total 45 days; the cosmic board defines the 46th day as the “waste” day, during which the Taiyi stops without traveling. This arrangement is to balance the spatial and temporal systems and to maintain the rule of “the intervals between the eight solar terms (the beginnings of the four seasons, the two equinoxes and two solstices) should be equal”, and also to effectively modify and calibrate the 366-day cycle for the Taiyi to travel all of the Palaces described in the “Taiyi chang yi dongzhi zhi ri” section in the “Jiugong Bafeng” paragraph of Lingshu part of Huangdi Neijing. The content related to the divination method of the Taiyi Jiugong might be formed in 173 BC, and its origin would be much earlier.


The Song Dynasty was a flourishing period of the development of the porcelain-making industry in ancient China, the historic fact of which owes to the modification of the kiln structures and the improvement of the porcelain-making techniques during the Song Dynasty. The archaeological discoveries reveal that the mantou kiln (dome-shaped kiln) in the north and the dragon kiln in the south, because of the deepening of the fireboxes, the increasing of the width of the stacking floors and the backward moving of the flues, could effectively raise and control the temperature in them, and largely increase the production yield. The using of coal as fuel and the innovation and enriching of kiln furniture reflected the progresses of the firing and kiln-loading techniques and the increasing of the capacity utilization of the kilns and the production of the porcelain wares. In the kiln sites, the orderly arrangement of the furnaces specially used for making glaze ashes, the large grinding grooves for processing slips, the independent workshops for paste processing and biscuit making all reflected that the entire workflow at that time, from raw material acquiring to product finishing, had clear labor division and cooperation, and workflow systematization has been formed among all of the production divisions. The diversifications of glazes and decoration methods reflected the maturation of the kiln lineages in the Song Dynasty. The existence of different kiln sites in different regions belonging to the same kiln lineage hints that there would be the circulation of the potters. The louzeyuan (paupers' cemetery) remains nearby the Guantai Kiln Site in Hebei showed that employment relationship has emerged in the porcelain-making industry of the Song Dynasty, which imparted commercial nature to this trade. The stone tablets and other artifacts relevant to porcelain-making industry of the Song Dynasty found in different areas proved that in addition to the kiln god worship, technological exchanges and friendship-promoting activities also existed in the potters as business colleagues.


In 1990, Inner Mongolian Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology conducted archaeological survey along the Jining-Tongliao Railway, found the Shuiquan Site and conducted excavation to it. In total 27 excavation units were arranged and areas of 1357.45 sq m were uncovered, from which 19 house foundations, 17 ash pits, three hearths and three shallow pits were recovered and hundreds of artifacts made of pottery, stone, bone and shell were unearthed; their dates belonged to the Neolithic Age and the Xianbei Period, the features and artifacts of the Neolithic Age belonged to Zhaobaogou Culture and Hongshan Culture, respectively, and another type of remains represented by the house foundation F18. The stratigraphy revealed by the excavation was rather simple; most of the house foundations were found beneath the topsoil and intruding the primary soil. In the northwest of the excavated area, some strata of the Hongshan Culture were seen. The features belonging to Zhaobaogou Culture recovered in the excavation included 17 house foundations and two ash pits. The house foundations were arranged into four rows, and a central square was found in the middle of the settlement. All of the houses were semi-subterranean structures in 凸-shaped plan and directly intruding into the primary soil; one of them was a double-room house and the other 16 were single-room. The artifacts unearthed from them were pottery wares and implements made of stone, bone, shell, etc. The pottery wares were mainly made of sand-tempered pottery plus some of sandy pottery burned in low temperature and loose texture with a few of them burned in high temperature and strong texture. All of the pottery wares were brown in color, and most of them were decorated with patterns, including zigzag pattern, geometric pattern, continuing ring pattern, etc., and a few of them were plain. Most of the pottery wares were cylindrical jars, and the jars with oval mouth and round bottom, jars with oval mouth and oval bottom, xiekouqi (vessel with oblique mouth), bowls, cups, lids, etc. took small proportion. Most of the stone implements were polished, and microliths made by pressure flaking technique took a large quantity; the stone axes with side flange, capsized boat-shaped stone quern and flat stone spades had unique characteristics, which belonged to the Shuiquan Type of Zhaobaogou Culture. The features belonging to Hongshan Culture recovered in the excavation included one house foundation and eight ash pits. The house was a semi-subterranean structure in rectangular plan. The pottery wares unearthed from these features were mainly sand-tempered pottery, and fine clay pottery took small proportion. Most pottery wares were plain, and decorated ones took small proportion. The main types of the decors were zigzag pattern, attached embossing designs, attached long-lobed brim design, woven pattern, color-painted designs, etc. The types of the pottery wares included cylindrical jars, large-mouthed jars, high-necked jars, cups, lids, bowls, basins, jars with contracted mouth, etc. The quantities of polished and pecked stone implements were almost the same, the types of which were crescent-shaped stone knives, stone axes, stone arrowheads, etc. The F18 was a semi-subterranean structure in rectangular plan, on the living floor of which, cylindrical jars, knife made of shell and pottery spindle whorl were found; all of the artifacts were the product of the Neolithic Age, and this feature is estimated to be the remain of that time. The features of the Xianbei Period excavated in this site were four cellars, which were round bag-shaped with flat bottom, from which a few brown sandy potsherds with combed pattern were unearthed.


This paper is the report of the second term of excavation to the 29 burials in the Jirzankal Cemetery in the year 2014. Referring to the radiocarbon dating data and archaeological discovery status, it is estimated that the date of this cemetery is 2400-2600 BP, and this cemetery generally showed the feature of Scythian Culture. The unearthed artifacts not only reflected that the Pamir region was one of the important passages of the cultural communication between China and the West, but also showed that the culture here had broad and profound similarities and historic and cultural kinships with the cultures in greater Pamir area, Tianshan Mountains, Altay Mountains, the southern and northern margins of the Tarim Basin, Kunlun Mountains and other Central Asian regions. However, what more important is that the artifacts such as pottery wares with uniform round bottoms, the fire altars containing pebbles of various numbers, barsom twigs, dzi beads, ossilegium secondary burials, kushti girdles, eagle bones, iron knives in different containers, special hair sieves, konghou-harp and so on and the remains of strips covering large areas of the cemetery inlaid with black and white stone blocks jointly and systematically constructed a new-discovered cultural pattern from internal to external of the graves, which had cultural connotations similar to that of the cultural context of the early stage of Zoroastrianism. In addition, the setting locations in burials and displaying forms in features of the above-mentioned artifacts and remains also showed that their functions have exceeded the practical utensils and the usual scope of the Scythian burial culture and might play the roles of ritual instruments and ceremonial formulae. Seen from the available archaeological excavation data, the Jirzankal Cemetery is the earliest remains of the Zoroastrian culture known to date. This new archaeological discovery not only provided strong support for the “Central Asia Hypothesis” of the origin of Zoroastrianism, but also broadened our views for the in-depth researches on the early stage of the creeds and religious theoretical system of Zoroastrianism.