新發見の西周銅器群とその問題點

Abstract

It is a noteworthy fact that those bronzes which have been discovered after the Revolution are the result of systematic excavations and consequently, their sites are known. In the present article are taken up those bronzes from the Western Chou (周) sites at Tan-t'u (丹徒) Hsien and I-cheng (儀薇) in Kiangsu (江蘇) Province, at Liang-yuan (凌源) Hsien in Liao-ning (遼寧) Province, at Hung-chao (洪趙) in Shan-si (山西) Province, and at Ch'ang-an (長安) and Mei (眉) Hsien in Shensi (陝西) Province. AlI these sites were in the cultural area of Western Chou, while at that time the other parts of China still remained in the stone age. This area may be divided into four distinct sub-areas. It might be, therefore, supposed that each of them reveals its own local characteristics, but, in fact, alI of them are so closely related with the bronzes from Lo-yang (洛陽) and Shantung (山東) that Iittle local difference is observed. At some of these sites bronzes of different dates were excavated from one and the same tomb. Though the handing down to the posterity of ceremonial vessels was an established practice, it will be still an interesting problem to explore why such bronzes which had been handed down for generations were buried in the tomb.