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Bronzes unearthed in Huaning

Yunnan Yuxi Museum was established in 1997 at the same time, timely launched the investigation and collection of cultural relics exhibits, during which in 1998 from the city's Huaning County to collect more than 20 bronzes. These bronzes have not been formally excavated, they were discovered and collected by the local people by chance in the construction of houses or production labor, and the Huaning County Cultural Center was collected and preserved by micro-funds during the survey of cultural relics in the early 80s of the 20th century. The appearance of bronze cultural relics in Huaning County also has its historical origin.

Huaning County is adjacent to Jiangchuan, Tonghai, Chengjiang and Jianshui County, which have a long history of humanities, and has the geomorphological characteristics of lakes and rivers, basins and valleys, and its construction evidence can be traced back to the Warring States Period. In the late Warring States period, Huaning belonged to the scope of Liangzhou; Zhuang is called the king in Yunnan to the Qin Dynasty, and Huaning is the territory of the Yunnan State; In the sixth year of the Yuan Ding Dynasty of the Western Han Dynasty (111 B.C.), "Wushan County" (Panxi Town, now Huaning County) was established, which belonged to Qiqi County; Later, it was changed to Jianning County, and then to Jianping County, and at the same time, Liangshui County (now Huaning) was set up, which belonged to Liangshui County and coexisted with Wu. These periods belong to the generation, development and dissemination of the bronze culture in the Dianchi area, and also have the integration of the bronze culture of the Central Plains. With its superior location and environment suitable for human life, Huaning entered the Bronze Age at the same time as the developed areas of central Yunnan, which is objectively inevitable.

The range of bronze relics in Huaning County is scattered, and the discovery sites are distributed in the four townships of Xincheng, Qinglong, Panxi and Tonghongdian, which are briefly described below.

1 bronze adze, which was found in the rock cracks of Jianshi Mountain behind Dalishu Village, Xincheng Township, about 5 kilometers northeast of the county in 1984 when the local people were mining stones, is speculated to be the ancestors in hunting activities, and the copper axe accidentally fell into the rock cracks. The axe body is 12 cm long, the blade is 5.3 cm wide, the blade is slightly arc, the chisel is semicircular, the mouth is decorated with two string lines, the chisel hole is 9 cm deep, the chisel wall is thick, the front is decorated with arrow-shaped yang line pattern, the back is slightly convex without decoration, the texture is hard, and the shape is symmetrical. Its shape is similar to the bronze adzes found in the bronze artifacts of the late Warring States period found around Dianchi Lake.

Bronzes unearthed in Huaning
Bronzes unearthed in Huaning

Bronze adzes and axes

On the east side of Fuxian Lake, 16 pieces of bronze ware were unearthed in the Douge of Qinglong Town, including axes, ge, spears, chisels, swords, arrowheads, etc. "Douge" is a circular hill behind Qinglong Street, for the branch vein that hangs down from the west in the middle of the old elephant mountain in the whole territory of Huaning County in the north-south direction, it was reclaimed as cultivated land in the early days, and developed into a residential area in the early 80s of the 20th century, when the local people built a house and dug the foundation ditch, bronze ware was found sporadically, mixed with coffin fragments, charcoal chips. From the unearthed artifacts and their burial depth, distribution range, belong to the ancient tomb group, its burial style is a vertical pit pit tomb, most of the unearthed artifacts have been rusted and damaged, the representative utensils have 1 bronze axe, the whole body is 13 cm long, the blade is fan-shaped, 6 cm wide, oval chisel hole, chisel hole depth 9 cm, chisel part decoration fine, from the tail end there are cteno, cirrus cloud pattern and diamond pattern, body a combination of sun pattern, are yang pattern.

Ge 4 pieces, one is arc-shaped, the remnant of the aid is 3 cm long, the front has been broken, the widest part is 3.5 cm, and the irregular blood groove of 1 cm long is engraved all over the place, which is also ornamental. It is 5 cm long and 2.5 cm wide at its widest point, and is decorated with moire and ctenophoric patterns. It is divided into three layers such as wings, which is easy to wear for stability, and the whole utensil is well-made; A Ge, aid short Hu long, aid part residual length 3.5 cm, triangular, the front has been broken, there is a ridge through the aid part until the blade, the beard is slender, there is a blade on the outside, two grooves are set on the inner side in order to stabilize the sage, the design and production is more special is the diaphragm, for the oval, the hole depth is 3 cm, its role should be to wear in it to increase stability, the other two pieces are simple in shape, basic damage, only the aid department, for the plain surface; copper spear 2 pieces, one of which has a double ear, the other piece is corroded, the residual length is 13, the length of the squire is 6 cm, The skull hole is oval and leads straight to the tip of the spear, the mouth has string lines, and the two ridges of the spear are covered with blood grooves; 1 copper chisel, semi-circular chisel, 10 cm long, slightly arced, single-sided blade, the mouth is cast with double-string pattern and willow leaf pattern, and the ridge also has willow leaf pattern; 2 arrowheads, the front has been broken, closed to the front residual length of 3.5 cm, the leaf is hollow, the widest part is 3 cm, and the collar is two cones. The other one is finished.

Two bronze swords, no grid, the front has been corroded, the sword stem is 9 cm long, elliptical, the stem head is slightly larger, the blade is thinner, and the ridge has a ridge straight to the front; There is also a jujube core-shaped copper buckle ornament and several pieces of armor fragments, buckles, etc., all of which are fragmented and fragmented, decorated with cloud patterns, dotted line patterns, wheel patterns, and flag patterns; The rest have bubble nails, horse restraint utensils and ornaments. These bronzes were funerary objects, and because the coffins were rotten and mixed with the soil, they were seriously corroded and damaged. Its type and shape ornamentation are similar to those from the late Spring and Autumn period to the middle of the Warring States period in the Dianchi area, and it is a bronze cultural relic in the Dianchi area represented by Shizhai Mountain in Jinning.

Bronzes unearthed in Huaning

Bronze Ge

1 bronze adze, which was found in 1985 in the remote and extremely poor alpine mountainous area "Tonghongdian" village on the east side of the steep slope by rain erosion and natural exposure on the surface, the adze body is 17 cm long, rectangular, semicircular straight chisel, the chisel hole is 11 cm deep, the mouth edge is slightly concave, the two wings are sharper, the two ends of the blade are slightly folded outward, and the width is 5 cm. One side is smooth and unstriped, and the tail is semicircular on the other, and the body is decorated with three convex chord patterns. There are ridges on both sides, forming a zigzag pattern, and the ribs lead to both ends of the blade, so that the ridge forms a plane. The color is golden, the shape and ornamentation are simple, the edges and corners are distinct, and the rust is slight. The shape and ornamentation of the copper adze are similar to the bronze artifacts unearthed at the end of the Warring States period in Liangwang Mountain and Shizhai Mountain in Jinning.

One piece of copper axe was found in 1984 on the edge of the cultivated land next to Moshatang Village in the southern corner of the hot Panxi Basin. Through the length of 17, the edge of the mouth of the chisel is 4, the depth of the chisel hole is 10 cm, the chisel wall is thick, the body is 3 wide, the thickness is 2.5, the blade is 5.5 cm wide, the slight arc, the tail is cast on all four sides of the two prismatic lines, there are nail holes on all sides to prepare for fixing the axe handle, the texture is hard, and the rough appearance of the smelting and casting is maintained, it is blue-black, and there is no pattern throughout the voxel. Its shape is similar to that of the bronze axe in the late bronze artifacts in the Dianchi area, so it should be the late type of the Dianchi culture. There is another bronze hoe, found in the barren mountains and rocks on the west side of Dayuancang Village, Panxi Town, broad-leaved, 27.5 cm long, 22 cm wide at the widest point, triangular chisel, the chisel hole is 15 cm deep, and there is an irregular nail hole in the middle of the chisel ridge.

Bronzes unearthed in Huaning

Bronze axes and hoes

At present, the bronze artifacts found in Huaning County are mainly weapons and production utensils, and their remains have certain particularities, and the environment is very different, such as the densely populated area of the low-heat river valley with fertile fields and abundant waters, the steep slopes of the alpine mountains that are still remote and sparsely populated, the barren land with bald peaks and rocks, and the burial goods of the tombs in the dam area, and the characteristics of their utensils are also obviously different. The discovery of these bronze artifacts shows that there were frequent war activities and production, living and nomadic activities in Huaning at that time, and basically entered a relatively developed economic form.

These bronzes of different eras in different places, the types of artifacts and ornaments have the common characteristics of the bronze culture in the Dianchi area, and have a close relationship with the bronze culture in the Dianchi area, indicating that the Huaning region accepted the advanced Dianchi culture earlier, and the people living in Huaning at that time belonged to the dominant ethnic group in the Dianchi area, and the users of the bronzes found should be the indigenous people who have been living in Huaning.

The bronzes found in Huaning County provide important material evidence for the study of the generation, spread and development of Yunnan culture in the Bronze Age, and for further research on the ethnic history, cultural evolution, social development and economic form of Huaning and its surroundings.

This article is excerpted by Sun Li and Li Qian from the "Bronze Unearthed in Huaning" in the "Shizhai Mountain Cultural Archaeological Excavation Report Collection" (upper and lower volumes) compiled by the Yunnan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. The content has been slightly abridged and adjusted.

Bronzes unearthed in Huaning

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