The Ancient Country Dian and the Bronze Sculptures
The foremost discovery in recent years was the excavation of the Yangfutou tombs in Kunming with about 40,000 square-meter area. From the year 1998 to 1999, the experts carried out the excavations of 524 tombs between the Eastern Han Dynasty and Western Han with more than 4,000 pieces of cultural relics. Without an exception, the tombs were vertical earthen pit tombs, divided into large, medium and small types. In the large and medium-sized tombs more buried with a coffin in a chamber. A large number of bronze sculpture were found there. There were five burial forms, namely multi-burial, dismembered burial, stacking burial, straight body lying in the coffin and twisted body leaning to one side. There was also the phenomenon of human sati in the large tombs. For example, in M 113 detected human sacrifice of skulls. The general number of funerary objects were one to sixty pieces while the most maximum was 391 (sets). Some were buried in a hierarchic chamber with one level or two or four levels. The funeral objects took the bronze sculptures as priority, followed by pottery and painted wooden device, as well as a small amount of gold, silver, jade. The categories consisted of weapons, production tools, textile tools, appliances, musical instruments and so on. The appearance of pottery and well-preserved lacquered woods were seldom seen in the other tombs. The lacquered devices embraced various wooden handles of the weapons, wood carvings which were characterized by shaping in the form of human or animal head. In short, the Yangfutou tombs were counted as one of the most significant discoveries recently in the Dian and the relics were of a high scientific value. Plus, it was named as one of the top ten archaeological discoveries in 2000.
According to the group of bronze sculptures and C14 dating, it is possible to classify the bronze statue culture of Dian as four periods, lasting from the Warring States era to the early Eastern Han Dynasty.
In addition, the most convincing is the supreme gold seal of the King of Dian on behalf of the highest authority of the ruler of the Kingdom Dian. On the seal is a knob in the form of a snake with ripples on its back and holding its head to the upper right. This seal does not only testify that this country’s ruling class and people are believing in snake, which is characteristic of their culture, but obtain the recognition of the Western Han Dynasty as well. The culture of Dian amounts to the belief in the snake, which can be told by the unearthed china bronze sculptures. This assertion appears to be in line with historical situation of the primitive Dian Kingdom. Thus, it is not difficult for us to realize that why there are so many bronze sculptures in the form of snake or with snake patterns in the tombs of Ljia Mountain, Jiangchuan.
In summary, large quantities of bronze sculptures unearthed in the chinese bronze Age in the southwest, the hundreds of people image on the bronze sculptures in particular provide us with valuable information to verify and research the customs of the Dians. What they has mirrored back are too numerous to mention one by one. These old customs of Dian are still being continued or conducted in the ethnic minorities in the southwest of China. On the double of confirmation of the archaeological data and the literature records, we are able to trace to the source of the modern ethnic customs. The formation of ancient national customs and the reasons of the development are manifold and determined by economic, political, social, religious, psychological, geographical, linguistic and other factors. For instance, the formation of the ancient Dian is caused by specific geographical, ethnic and social factors. These ancient customs can be handed down in the ethnic minorities are always subject to the common geographical, ethnic, psychological factors of the people. The fundamental reason is that it has adapted to the requirements of people’s lives and thinking in different ages in specific geographic areas, particular nations and societies. Once these practices once formed, most possess the stability and take shape of a certain pattern carried on from generation to generation. Therefore, it is no wonder that the old customs of the Dian Kingdom reflected on the decorations on the bronze sculptures can be inherited and carried forward among the modern minorities.
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