When did the China people's bad habit of "death is like life" first appear?
According to the detection of carbon 14 in archaeological excavations, it can be concluded that the earliest existing figurines in China should have appeared in Shang Dynasty or earlier. Now, a number of slave figurines buried with people have been found in the royal tombs of Shang Dynasty in Yin Ruins (about BC 1600-BC 1046), which is the earliest tomb precedent confirmed by archaeology in China. These two terracotta figures are 15- 16cm high, and their pottery is gray pottery. Their faces were painted with vermilion and their hands were locked on their chests or behind their backs. Seven terracotta figures were unearthed in this tomb. Except for these terracotta figures, China archaeologists have not seen any other excavation records of Shang Dynasty terracotta figures.
Slave figurines unearthed from the royal tomb of Yin Ruins
Of course, the so-called collection is among the people, and there are some precious cultural relics among the folk collectors, and so are pottery. As a researcher in the field of cultural relics, I have come into contact with many folk collectors many times in recent years, and I have also seen some similar collections collected by them. Their pottery quality, workmanship and style are very close to the above, which can be inferred as pottery figurines of the same period, and even some pottery figurines are much earlier than the Yin and Shang Dynasties. Unfortunately, folk collections are folk collections after all. These precious collections, which have no traces of forgery from any angle, are precious as cultural relics, but their sources are mostly wrong. They are either from the so-called "first-line shovel" cultural relics vendors or "picked up" in the ruins, which will lead to the loss of their most important information-the official unearthed records of cultural relics. In this way, their specific academic value is greatly reduced, and it is difficult to get academic recognition. However, it can be seen that the pottery figurines in Yin Ruins are not isolated cases, nor are they necessarily the earliest pottery figurines.
Portrait of Grey Ren Tao in Shang Dynasty (Private Collection)
So, were there any figurines before the Shang Dynasty? In which era did the earliest figurines appear?
There is a general understanding in academic circles: that is, pottery figurines are the products of slave society. As far as its material is concerned, most of the figurines are figures or animal images made of wood, stone, pottery, copper and other materials, and the owner of the tomb replaces them with private property such as live slaves and live livestock that were originally used for human sacrifice. This saved the labor force, increased the population and accumulated wealth for the slave owners. As far as this funeral reform measure is concerned, the reform of martyrdom system undoubtedly promoted the development of slave society. However, this method of using clay figurines as sacrificial objects has been passed down by later generations, which is more and more outrageous. By the Han Dynasty, this burial system had become a bad habit that hindered social development, which made a lot of wealth taken underground by the deceased.
At the archaeological excavation site, there are a large number of funerary objects around the tomb owner.
Later generations, especially in the Qin and Han dynasties, the bad habit of "things die like things live" largely originated from the sacrifice of pottery figurines in primitive slave society. According to this view, we can draw a conclusion that in recent decades, a large number of humanoid idols in primitive society (Neolithic age) unearthed in archaeological excavations around the country should be counted as dolls. To a large extent, they are used to replace the living, but the archaeological community has not yet reached a conclusion.
Yangshao Cultural Tombs in Xishuipo, Puyang, Henan Province
The system of replacing human sacrifice with figurines should have originated in the Neolithic Age. In modern archaeological excavations, Yangshao culture (5000-3000 BC), Dawenkou culture (4300-2500 BC) and Longshan culture (2350-2350 BC 1950 BC). From Yangshao to Yin Shang, this system lasted for more than 3000 years. In such a long historical period, it is unscientific to draw the conclusion that no human figure is buried. Moreover, during this period, the ancestors living on the land of China had mastered superb pottery-making skills. They have been able to master the craft of drawing blanks skillfully, draw exquisite patterns on pottery, and even produce Longshan culture-eggshell pottery, colorful Majiayao-painted pottery that shocked the world.
Majiayao culture painted pottery pointed bottle
Therefore, the author believes that the possibility of replacing living or living livestock with pottery figurines should have existed as early as the primitive slave society. And from a certain point of view, the author even thinks that the inventors of pottery figurines are likely to come from the bottom workers of slave society, not tribal leaders of slave society or slave owners and nobles. Imagine that what happened is something like this. When his master was dying, a skilled slave made of pottery knew the custom related to slave martyrdom, but he wanted to live, so he burned the clay figurine according to his own appearance and held it in front of the dying slave owner. He hoped to replace his martyrdom with this clay figurine, and the dying slave owner knew that there were not many slaves. After much consideration, he adopted the slave's advice. Later, his move was imitated by some small slave owners, because it could continue to accumulate wealth. Later, people with civilized thoughts increasingly felt that human sacrifice was extremely inhuman, so human sacrifice was gradually criticized by people. However, in history, this cruel and terrible human sacrifice has occasionally revived, but this kind of human sacrifice is often due to the process of political competition and interest competition. For example, the sacrifice of the Qing emperor Nurhachi princess royal Abahai was mixed with too much political competition and interest competition.
Dawenkou culture pottery jar
There is no doubt that human martyrdom, from the day it was born, is a privilege that only a few people can enjoy. These people have absolute power and great wealth, and can deprive others of their lives and enjoy a grand funeral. Mencius said: "There are good things in the world, and there will be bad things in the afterlife." . The privilege of a few people will inevitably attract the envy and imitation of ordinary people. But they don't have such rights and financial resources, so they can only seek substitutes to meet their psychological needs. Therefore, they will use vegetation, mud or other materials to make dolls to represent the living. This is not essentially different from the psychological needs of buying fake luxury goods and package A today.
1985 pottery figurines unearthed from Xu site in Qishuyan
In fact, many pottery or stone carvings have been unearthed in the tombs of various cultural types in the Neolithic Age. For example, two pottery figurines of Yangshao culture in Shaanxi History Museum (about 5000-3000 BC), a stone statue of Daxi culture in Chongqing Three Gorges Museum (4400-3300 BC), a pregnant woman in late Hongshan Culture in National Museum (4000-3000 BC), and pottery figurines unearthed in Qishuyan West about 6000 years ago. In addition, similar pottery figures can often be seen in some folk collections.
Pottery Portrait of Songze Culture
Majiayao Culture Horse Factory Face
These graphics are basically complete and should have independent uses and meanings. We have every reason to believe that, like the slave figurines unearthed in Yin Ruins, these pottery figurines used for burial are also substitutes for human sacrifices and belong to the category of pottery figurines. The "initiator" did not begin in the Shang Dynasty, but in the late Neolithic age at least six or seven thousand years ago.