It is a legendary mythical beast, and it has become a Chinese totem that has been handed down to this day, which is the dragon of Erlitou. The dragon is 70 centimeters long, the eyes and nose are inlaid with white jade, and the rest of the parts are made of more than 2,000 pieces of turquoise, each piece of turquoise is mostly less than 1 millimeter thick, and the length is only a few millimeters. Originally, it was supposed to be glued to wood, leather and other materials, but in order to facilitate the sticking, each insert was made into a wedge, and the shape of the insert was almost always repeated. Although it has lasted for more than 3,000 years, the color is still green and fresh.
In addition, the bronze civilization of the same period also has a long history. In the Eurasian steppe, bronze was originally only used to make small utensils such as **, tools, and ornaments, and most of them were forged. After metallurgy was introduced to the Central Plains, the copper container production industry with composite casting technology as the core was rapidly developed. The combination of new resource technology and its own ritual culture system created a unique bronze civilization.
The earliest known bronze Yue in China has been found at the Erlitou site, and the person who holds the axe is the leader with military command. Tongjue is a kind of wine vessel, and it is also the earliest bronze vessel that appeared in China.
Bronze is an alloy, which needs to be smelted by mixing copper and tin and other ores in a certain proportion. Copper ore can be obtained in Zhongtiao Mountain, but the main ** of tin ore may be the southern foothills of the Daxing'an Mountains, or Jiangxi, Hunan and other areas south of the Yangtze River, which means that if you want to smelt bronze on a large scale, you must have the ability to mine and transport ore over long distances. Coupled with the complex shape of the bronze jue and the high-precision casting technology involved, all this can only be achieved with a stronger ability to mobilize society and control resources than in any previous era.
The aristocrats of Erlitou not only monopolized the production of bronze ritual vessels, but also monopolized the right to use bronze ritual vessels. Bronze, the material material created by humans, is also transformed into a political resource associated with social order and hierarchy.
Craftsmen give them the shape of daily utensils, food vessels, wine vessels, musical instruments, ** once associated with bronze, these original practical functions of the utensils, but also become a kind of symbols beyond the daily life, with the function of ritual vessels, sacrificial vessels, but also linked to power, identity.
When the strong metal forged by fire is molded into a solemn and dignified ritual vessel, the gentle and lustrous jade is made into a killing and conquest, which is also a wonderful duality in the concept of etiquette. Eating utensils are no longer daily, they have become bronze heavy weapons, and they have been used to eliminate murderous aura and turn into jade.
The concept of etiquette in this earliest dynasty has not faded since the millennium, and those ritual vessels that have been entrusted with special meanings, such as jue, yue, zhang and other instruments, have been used for more than a thousand years, and have become important symbols of ancient Chinese social and political culture.