A New Probe Into The Prototype And Meaning Of The Surface Patterns Of God,Man And Beast On Liangzhu Jade Wares

The Liangzhu culture is one of the famous for its jade articles.The gods and beasts Ornamentation on the jade are especially closely related to the spiritual life of the Liangzhu ancestors,and directly related to the belief of the Liangzhu ancestors.Since its publication,there have been many related researches.However,the exploration of the prototype and meaning of its ornamentation has not yet reached a consensus.In our view,the study of the beasts of Liangzhu jade artifacts may become a breakthrough in uncovering the beliefs of Liangzhu ancestors.At the same time,it may give a view of new clues for exploring the Chinese dragon beliefs since ancient times.This paper attempts to introduce relevant paleontological and religious data for new exploration.Through the analysis of the configuration of the gods and beasts,the composition of the gods under the gods should have its special meaning.The upper gods may be related to the ancestor worship;the animal face below has a self-contained system in the development of its culture.A clear evolutionary vein,and found that the animal face pattern is highly likely to come from the "dragon head pattern" that appeared in the period from late Songze culture to the early Liangzhu culture.In the period similar to Liangzhu culture,the Liaohe and Yellow River basins in China all have related dragon-shaped jade unearthed,indicating that China has the existence of dragon faith in a large geographical area,the dragon head jade of Liangzhu culture and these periods.The dragon-shaped jade in the interior has great similarities,which may mean that the Liangzhu culture also has a dragon belief.At the same time,related archaeolosical and literature materials also show that there have been biological dragons in China that existed against legendary dragons.Scholars believe that the prototype of the biological dragon is a crocodile,and it is likely to be the Chinese alligator known as the living fossil.The biological prototype reflected by the animal face on the Liangzhu jade should be closely related to the biological environment at that time,and it is likely to be taken from an animal that was prevalent at that time and had a greater tlireat to the local residents.Through the cleanup of the geographical,climatic and biological backgrounds of the Yangtze River Delta in the Liangzhu era,we found that not only in the Liangzhu culture area,but also in many areas of the country,there are crocodiles that correspond to the characteristics of the biological dragon.Comparative analysis of various prototypes of the human face of the gods found that the habits and appearance of the crocodile are more in line with the object described by the animal face,and the definition of the evolution of the original religion by religious science points to the prototype of the animal face.The natural worship originated from the crocodile,pointing the prototype ot the god figure to the ancestor worship.In summary,we believe that the prototype of the main beast pattern of Liangzhu jade artifacts is a crocodile.So far,the origin of the dragon can be traced back to the dragon in the west slope of Fuyang.Henan.It has been popular since prehistoric times.There should be some connection between the dragon belief and the Liangzhu culture that exist in the land of China,which is also discussed in this paper.