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LUMINOSITY, SPIRIT, AND THE ROLE OF CLAPPER-BELLS IN THE FORMATION OF A CHINESE METALLURGICAL TRADITION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2024

Sarah Allan
Affiliation:
Sarah Allan 艾蘭, Dartmouth College; email: sarah.allan@dartmouth.edu; Ding Han 韓鼎, Henan University; handinghd@126.com.
Ding Han
Affiliation:
Sarah Allan 艾蘭, Dartmouth College; email: sarah.allan@dartmouth.edu; Ding Han 韓鼎, Henan University; handinghd@126.com.

Abstract

This article explores the manner in which the Eurasian metallurgical tradition was transformed into an indigenous tradition on the Chinese Central Plains. It argues that the association of luminosity with the divine has a cognitive foundation, which accounts for the use translucent stones and shiny metals, including copper, bronze, silver, and gold as mediums for religious artifacts throughout the world. In China, this association was the primary impetus for the development of an indigenous metallurgy based on a piece-mold and coring technology. Although the technology ultimately concentrated on the production of ritual vessels, it was first developed at Yanshi Erlitou 偃師二里頭 for the production of clapper-bells (ling 鈴), which had similar round hollow bodies.

We further explore the history of clapper-bells, arguing that they were a development of a Central Plains tradition dating back to the Yangshao 仰韶 period (5000–3000 b.c.e.). We argue that their religious significance at Erlitou lay in the previously unheard sound produced when the two luminous substances, jade and bronze, struck against one another. Thus, religious interlocutors at Erlitou used them to contact the ancestral spirits. Later, in the Yinxu 殷墟 period of the Shang Dynasty (ca. 1300–1050 b.c.e.), bronze clapper-bells were worn by dogs buried in tombs. We propose that their role there was a development of the earlier one; that is, they were used to contact the occupant's ancestral spirits as he was guided by the dog in the underworld.

摘要

摘要

本文探討了歐亞冶金傳統轉變為中國本土傳統的方式。文章認為“閃亮”與神聖性的關聯有其認知基礎,世界各地都使用透亮的石頭和有光澤的金屬(包括紅銅、青銅、銀和金)來製作宗教器物。在中國,這種關聯是促進以塊範法和懸芯技術為基礎的中國本土冶金術發展的主要動力。儘管該技術最終集中於生產以容器為代表的青銅禮器,但它最早在偃師二里頭出現時卻用於製作銅鈴。銅鈴與容器相似,都有著圓形的空腔。

我們進一步探討了早期鈴的歷史,認為它們有著中原本土的淵源,最早可以追溯到仰韶時期(西元前 5000–3000 年)的陶鈴。我們認為銅鈴在二里頭文化中的宗教意義源于玉石和青銅這兩種“閃亮”的物質,以及相互撞擊時產生的從未出現過的新聲響。二里頭的巫(宗教人員)用銅鈴溝通祖先的靈魂。後來,商代殷墟時期(約西元前 1300–1050 年),墓葬中的狗常見佩戴銅鈴的情況。我們認為這是銅鈴早期功能的發展與延續,即墓主人于死後世界中在狗的引導下通過銅鈴溝通祖先。

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society for the Study of Early China

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