The Neolithic sarcophagus burial site of Dayi Mountain was first discovered in November 1981. The specific location is on the Qingfengling ridge at the foothills of the southeastern corner of Dayi Mountain, one kilometer north of Guanyun County, Lianyungang City. In February 1985, Lianyungang Museum and Guanyun County Museum organized the first excavation; in February of the following year, Nanjing Museum organized a second excavation, exposing an area of 700 square meters and clearing 64 "sarcophagus tombs" from the Neolithic Age , More than 150 pieces of buried cultural relics. A group of clan tombs with special burial customs was discovered at the site. Its particularity has caused widespread concern in the archaeological community.
The emergence of
tombs is inseparable from people's compassion and soul concept, and is the progress of society. The difference in burial method is closely related to the social economy, ideological culture, customs, and geographical environment. This "sarcophagus burial" is inlaid with natural schist on Dayi Mountain, where the site is located. First, a rectangular vertical pit was dug on the ground, and then a rectangular thin stone slab that was slightly punched or naturally peeled was erected around the pit to make the coffin wall. The walls of the coffin vary in number, most of which are made up of 5 or 6 pieces, and there is no stone slab at the bottom of the coffin. After the deceased was engulfed, the top was covered with the same stone slab to become a "sarcophagus". These sarcophagi were found on the northwestern edge of the ruins (most of which were destroyed by soil borrowing from the brick and tile factory). They were divided into three burial areas within the remaining 1,000 square meters. The basic shape of the sarcophagus is wide at the head end and narrow at the end, and it is arranged in an orderly manner with the same direction (70 to 90 degrees). The dead in the tomb are buried with straight limbs.
Among the 38 "sarcophagus burials" excavated for the first time (the second one was found at the edge of the first excavation, 39 in total), 16 were covered with red pottery pots or pots on the face of the deceased, and the bottom of the pottery pots Some have small holes. There are four types of burial objects: pottery, stone, bone, and jade. There are generally few burial objects, with the most being 5 or 6, and the least being 1 or none. From the analysis of the concentration and arrangement of these "sarcophagus burials", it is a clan cemetery. According to the results of human skeleton identification, most of them are female. This shows that the sarcophagus burial site of Dayi Mountain is a site of a Neolithic matriarchal society. The society at this time is still in a stage of "group marriage". Within a clan, people only know their mother but not their father. It can be seen that social productivity is still very low, and people maintain the lowest standard of living.
The red pottery bowl covering the face is a particularly popular burial custom in the Dayi Mountain Cemetery. It has a certain primitive religious color. For this kind of burial custom, Ding Yizhen and Liu Fenggui from the Lianyungang City Museum have made a study in the article "A Preliminary Exploration of the Burial Custom of Red Pottery Bowl Cover". They believe that the red pottery bowl cover is a manifestation of the early people's worship of ancestors. The power of the Warring States period, the jade mask of the Han Dynasty and even the face of the dead folks in northern Jiangsu are covered with masking paper as the continuation of the cover of the pottery bowl. We think the above research is very desirable, but it should be added that the performance of this burial custom may also have a certain relationship with the simple moral concepts of the ancestors.
With the continuous development of productivity and the gradual improvement of concepts and awareness, the ancestors believed that directly covering the faces of their deceased relatives with soil, contaminating their mouths, ears, and eyes, was disrespect for their ancestors and relatives, and then used pottery bowls. Or the basin covers the face of the deceased. Regarding this issue, we can find examples from the Peiligang culture, which is the earliest Neolithic remnant in the current era in my country: in the tombs of this culture, there is a kind of urn coffin for burying children. The combination is an urn and a bowl. The purpose of covering the urn is to prevent soil from entering the urn, and the original ancestors who were buried in the sarcophagus of Dayi Mountain used a red pottery bowl to cover the face of the deceased. As for the small hole in the bottom of the pottery bowl, it is purely a manifestation of primitive religion, that is, the concept of soul entering and leaving. In summary, the burial custom of pottery bowl covering noodles is popular in Dayi Mountain and primitive cemeteries. The hole punched in the red pottery bowl is with primitive religious content-the ancestors have a reflection of the soul concept.
The primitive ancestors at the foot of Dayi Mountain, relying on their ingenuity, accumulated rich experience in long-term production and life. They used their dexterous hands to grind stone tools, burn pottery, and fight against nature. Make exquisite accessories to beautify your life. Among the unearthed burial objects, those pottery tripods, pottery bowls, pottery beans, and pottery kettles are quite beautiful in shape. Sand-filled pottery used to cook food is more durable than clay pottery. It should be the experience they have found through repeated practice. In order to make the tripod and kettle durable, they added a waistband to the abdomen of the utensils, which not only strengthened the utensils but also facilitated the handling of the utensils, and added a sense of beauty.
The pottery unearthed from the Dayishan Sarcophagus Tomb is generally reddish brown and hand-made. The vases, pots, and pots are made of clay sticks, and have no patterns on the plain surface. A few have nail patterns, scratch patterns and additional pile patterns. The main ones are tripods and pots. Cauldrons, tanks, etc., the tripod feet are mostly conical. Bowls are mostly round bottoms or small flat bottoms, and kettles are mostly round bottoms. The abdominal wall often has a waistband. Small utensils are molded by hand at one time. The feet of the cooking utensils or the handles of other living utensils are all being made. After the green tire is connected, it is pressed by hand to make the bonding point tight and firm. The cauldron-shaped beans with the most distinctive production characteristics can be said to be the only one that has been left in the Neolithic Age in the country so far. The production process is: making the horn ring foot, and then making the waist cauldron, then bonding the two together, and pinching the bonding place. The above are all unique to the Qingliangang cultural pottery.
In terms of stone tools, stone axes, adzes, stone chisels, stone shovel, etc. are all polished. Oval stone axes with double-edged blades, tongue-shaped drilling stone axes, and finely ground stone shovel and stone chisel are all exquisite. Unparalleled artwork.
The jade beads, jade ornaments, jade blocks and earrings in the funeral objects reflect the aesthetic consciousness of the ancestors. That piece of jewelry, small and delicate, exquisite and delicate, once worn on the neck and ears of female ancestors, how charming, charming, and cozy.
The culture reflected in the Dayishan site not only has the characteristics of the northern culture such as Dawenkou, but also contains certain elements of the Qingliangang culture. It proves the long history of Guanyun, a vast land at the intersection of north and south cultures. . The culture of the Dayishan site should belong to the category of Dawenkou culture, which is the remains of Niaoyi or Daoyi culture, one of the Dongyi culture.
We need to do more work to solve the many questions left to us by the Dayi Mountain site.
