Study On The Bronze Ritual Vessels Unearthed In Zhouyuan

Since the ancient times, Zhouyuan is the important place of cultural legacy in Zhou Dynasty. There are both records about Zhouyuan unearthed bronzes in the literature of Song and Han Dynasty. From Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, more than 100 bronzes were unearthed in Zhouyuan, but because of the turbulence in the country and the aggression from big power, the majority exiled abroad and became the appreciative collection of National Museum in different countries. After the foundation of new China, with the development of Zhouyuan archeology, the academic value of bronzes appeared, the research of bronzes had got a real scientific basis and become the important data to discuss the culture of Zhou.The large number, high-grade, intensive concentration of Zhou Yuan bronzes are all the most in Western Zhou. Over the years, Zhouyuan bronzes are the topic that scholars have been keen to explore, and also the focus of each debate, we have made a lot of gratifying achievements. Our researches are often stressed on one aspect in the past, there is no the articles undertook comprehensive studies on Zhouyuan bronzes. From the establishment of the range of ruins to the collections of the information of bronzes, after the discussion of the type, dating, staging, decoration, combination, and the other aspects, we fill vacancies for the in-depth and comprehensive study of Zhouyuan bronzes.Generalized Zhouyuan, the total length is more than 70 kilometers, the width is about 20 kilometers, the total area is several hundred square kilometers. In such a large scope, the sites of unearthed bronzes scatter around, and there is no direct correlation among them. But the most intensive land where the bronzes were unearthed is the narrow range of Zhouyuan. Today, the land about 20 square kilometers in the boundary between Qishan county and Fufeng county is the core area where the bronzes were unearthed, and also the scope we researched. Since Zhou Yuan archaeological work was carried out, the unearthed bronze ritual vessels are 429 only in the scope of the core area. There are 161 of them coming from tombs and 198 in cellars, the rest was found accidentally when the masses worked. In addition, we find 106 masterpieces exactly unearthed in Zhouyuan from the literatures, so that the scattered Zhouyuan bronzes can be together again. Based on these more comprehensive basic materials, the research is divided into three aspects.Firstly, we construct the type relationship of artifacts according to the differences in the various shapes, and establish space system for the time frame of Zhouyuan bronzes. In order to strengthen and advance the research work of dating, Zhouyuan bronzes can be classified into different categories of properties according to the style characteristics reflected from the shape, decorations and inscriptions. We propos and clear the boundary among the bronzes of Shang, Yin legacy and Zhou, as well as the existing differences. We infer the era of artifacts by property category, so Zhouyuan bronzes have position on the time. Through the above analysis, Zhouyuan bronzes can be divided into four stages according to the characteristics of the development of various types. Combined with the results of the type analysis and dating studies, we build the development and evolution lineages of Zhouyuan bronzes, provide a practical reference value for the development sequence of the Western Zhou bronzes.Secondly, the bronze ornamentation is focused less in archaeological research, also a relatively weak link in bronze study. The special study of ornamentation is a throughout of a class of ornamentation development mostly from large scale in the past, often ignored the differences among classes, and the considered inadequate among shapes will also affect the accuracy of the dating. While Zhouyuan ornamentation has strong regional characteristics, and more than 80% has ornamentations. Discussing on classification of the layout of ornamentation, by sorting ornamentation analysis, we think the ornamentation of Zhouyuan bronzes is a strong evidence of the change from animal to geometric ornamentation. And this change bases on the changes in spiritual level such as thinking and aesthetic concepts, also gradually forms with the changes of ruling class and social system. Therefore, we believe that the evolution of decoration and ritual system has interactional and parallel relationship, and is also another form of the expression on the change of device using system in Western Zhou.Finally, we combine the information of the families and burial waist pits of bronzes to make sure of the family nature of the tomb unit through a discussion of groups consist in Zhouyuan, and discuss the structure and evolution of device using system from the combination and changing regulation of burial ritual bronze vessels. On these issues, we not only summarize the results of previous studies, but also propose many new views. There are a certain promotion on the investigation of the nature of tombs and etiquette in Zhouyuan.