良渚，為東亞文明歸納出特質

棧橋碼頭考古遺跡發掘現場。

古埃及文明、蘇美爾文明、哈拉帕文明和中華文明是國際學術界公認的四大古老文明。國際學術界普遍認為，蘇美爾文明最早形成，古埃及文明次之，稍后是哈拉帕文明，中華文明最晚。

前三大文明所處的尼羅河流域、兩河流域及印度河流域，都位于北緯30°。良渚古城同樣如此，而且，它以自己的存在，彰顯了不同文明的個性。

歸納出東亞文明的特質

在東亞地區，可以與良渚古城遺址在“早期國家”和“城市文明”等方面進行比較的考古遺址，在《世界遺產名錄》和《預備名單》中尚屬空白。

良渚文明的存在，為東亞文明歸納出了自己的特質。

浙江省文物考古研究所研究員陳明輝說，蘇美爾文明、古埃及文明和哈拉帕文明三處文明各具特色，但又共享許多文化因素，互相之間也有著密切的文化和貿易往來。

比如，它們都以小麥、大麥作為主食，家畜中都有綿羊、山羊、牛、豬、狗等，肉食來源種類豐富，泥磚建筑普遍，有了青銅冶煉技術，宗教、貿易在文明的形成過程中發揮了重要的作用。

而東亞地區距今5000年前后的史前文明，如良渚、屈家嶺、大汶口、紅山等，可稱為東亞文明圈。東亞地區以粟、黍和水稻作為主食，家畜以豬、狗為主，土木建筑是主要的建筑形式，玉器是主要的文明載體，貿易在文明形成過程中的作用還有待探討。

良渚文明是中國距今五千多年最為耀眼和突出的區域文明，同時也是特征鮮明的文明體。陳明輝說，它歸納了東亞文明的特質——城市文明、玉器文明、稻作文明、土筑文明、水利文明、原始文字、禮制文明、宗教文明等。

挑戰對中華文明的傳統認識

如果對西方文明、國家起源有一些了解的人，應當聽過一個著名的理論：文明三要素。

按照西方物質文明指征，文明有三個標志：城市、金屬、文字。這套“文明公式”已經沿用多年，在中國也一直占據主導地位。

城市，毫無疑問，良渚有。但良渚沒有青銅器，也沒有發現文字。盡管在陶器或石器上發現了成組或單個的刻畫符號和原始文字，有的很像象形文字，但還沒有一組成組符號可以被認為是書寫系統。曾有專家據此認為良渚還沒有進入國家階段。

國際學術界對中華文明的認識存在的三個誤區。

良渚古城遺址公園內，游客拍攝反山王陵隨葬品影像。

浙江省文物考古研究所所長劉斌曾這樣歸納——

第一個誤區是將中華文明作為一個整體來對待，而忽視了中華文明形成之前還存在著多個區域文明。

第二個誤區是將中原文明作為中國早期文明的唯一代表，而以中原文明的形成作為中國早期文明形成的標志。

第三個誤區是以青銅器、文字作為判斷文明的絕對標準，而將未發現青銅器、未破譯文字的文化摒除出文明之列。

類似的觀點，考古學家張光直先生在《論中國文明的起源》中早就說過：“文字、青銅器和城市是不是所有的‘文明都有的成分呢？中國有，兩河流域有，但中美的古代文明沒有青銅器，南美的古代文明沒有文字。是不是這樣說來中美與南美古代文化史上都沒有‘文明這一個階段呢？”

其實，這種標準未必適用于中國的早期文明。

世界著名考古學家科林·倫福儒就認為，有三個因素，可促使人們去重新評估良渚作為早期國家社會代表的歷史地位。

“首先是良渚古城的規模，包括內城和外城。其次是根據墓葬材料所得出的社會等級的劃分，非常精美的玉器基本都出土于貴族墓葬中。最后一點是公共工程的規模，包括莫角山土臺，以及用來控制季風性山洪的高壩和低壩系統。”

也就是說，除了文字和青銅器，良渚古城呈現的各個方面均已達到文明國家的要求。

“良渚文明”成為了個例，它挑戰了過去國際學術界對于國家文明三要素的固有觀念。

中國新石器時代被低估

良渚文明是一種以神權為紐帶的文明模式，與以二里頭文化為代表的夏文明的文明模式大相徑庭，而與古埃及的文明模式更接近。

陳明輝就認為，良渚文明的確認，提供了早期文明的又一個案例，對良渚文明的深入研究，也有利于豐富世界早期文明理論。

已故著名考古學家、原故宮博物院院長張忠培先生很早就說過，“從目前的考古發現和研究來看，如果我們要談中華五千年文明，只有良渚文化的良渚遺址能拿得出來”，因為，這一時期是神權和軍權并重的神王之國的國家形態。

還有很早就關注良渚遺址的著名考古學家嚴文明先生，在2016年良渚文化發現八十周年學術研討會上，他也講到：“假若良渚是一個國都的話，那些（指福泉山、寺墩等）就是各個州郡所在地，這就是一個很像樣的廣域王權國家了。”

如何證明？

5000年前良渚炭化稻米。

考古學者牟永抗、劉斌作過闡述——“良渚文化時已經產生了相當數量的社會財富，并集中到少數人手中，個人財產正在迅速增加;原始宗教相當發達，構成了上層建筑的一個重要方面，產生了以玉琮、玉鉞為首的代表神權與軍權的禮器系統;獸面神像所表現的容貌，已成為良渚文化圈內共同的崇拜神像，是融合藝術與宗教一體的良渚原始宗教和禮儀制度的代表和象征;巫覡與行政首領是良渚統治者的雙重身份;精致的藝術品玉器的大量出現并用作與物質生活無關的禮儀活動，標志著專業工匠和宗教職務人員等組成的知識階層的產生;能埋入高臺墓地的只是少數的顯貴者，高高在上的大墓和星布于居住址內的小墓，反映出人們社會關系的分裂。”

“以獸面神像為形象的宗教崇拜和琮鉞為代表的禮器系統所反映的原始宗教和政權形式，以及土筑高臺墓地，棺、槨禮器所代表的顯貴者階層，作為進入文明的許多特征，成為匯入華夏文明的重要組成部分。”對于良渚時期的社會形態，這是學者們的普遍認知。

游客在良渚博物院展廳閱讀有關良渚的關鍵詞。

“中國的新石器時代是被遠遠低估的時代，良渚社會的復雜程度與階級制度，已達到了‘國家的標準。”

——良渚古城遺址申遺成功，足以證明考古學家倫福儒早先說過的這句話的意義。

（本文圖片：CFP提供）

Liangzhu City： A Model of East Asia Civilization

The Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City is so unique in terms of regional early state and urban civilization that no similar sites of other civilizations in East Asia of that time exist on the World Heritage List. The Liangzhu Civilization presents a series of characteristics that define the East Asia Civilization.

The Egyptian Civilization， the Sumerian Civilization and the Harappan Civilization， which are considered the three major civilizations of that time in West Asia， shared quite a few similarities. All the three civilizations had wheat and barley as staple food， and raised sheep and goats， cows， pigs， dogs and had a wide choice of meat supply， had mud brick houses， and developed bronze making technologies， and had religion and trade making a key contribution to the advancement of civilizations.

聯合國教科文組織助理總干事班德林在良渚博物院駐足觀看出土器物。

Cultures of 5，000 years ago in present-day China formed a circle of East Asia Civilization. In this civilization， millet， corn and rice were staple food， domestic animals were largely dogs and pigs， earthen and wood buildings dominated， and jades played a central role. Whether trade contributed to the forming of the civilization is to be further explored.

The Liangzhu Civilization was the most outstanding regional civilization of 5，000 years ago in China. This civilization present distinct characteristics that define East Asia Civilization： urbanism， jade， rice agriculture， earthen building， water conservancy， primitive pictograms， ritual system， and religion.

Those who have read about the genesis of western civilizations and states may be familiar with the following traditional civilization theory： a civilization is a form of human culture in which many people live in urban centers， have mastered the art of smelting metals， and have developed a method of writing. For a long time， this formula was applied diligently to judging whether a culture could be considered a civilization. And if this criterion were applied to the study of Liangzhu， one could probably conclude that the Liangzhu Culture was by no means a civilization.

In the international archaeological community， three popular misconceptions led to the misunderstanding of the Chinese Civilization for a long time， according to Liu Bin， director of Zhejiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. It is erroneous to consider the Chinese civilization as an all-inclusive and overall entity and ignore a number of regional civilizations prior to the formation of the Chinese civilization. It is equally erroneous to consider the civilization in the central China as the only representative of the early Chinese civilization and therefore consider the civilization in central China represents the early Chinese civilization. It is erroneous to use bronze and writing systems as absolute criteria and therefore exclude cultures without bronze wares and understandable writing systems from the rank of civilizations.

Now experts say that the set of standards does not apply to early Chinese civilizations.

Three factors make it necessary and possible to reevaluate the historical position of Liangzhu representative of a regional early state， according to British archaeologist and paleolinguist Colin Renfrew. The first factor is the mega size of the Liangzhu City including the Inner City and the Outer City. The second factor is the obvious social strata as seen in graded tombs. Finest jade objects are all from tombs where nobles were buried. The last factor is the size of the public works including the Mojiaoshan earthen terrace， the High-Dam and Low-Dam system that controls floods in the Monsoon season.

The Liangzhu Civilization is a case study that challenges the stereotypes once popular with the international archaeological community.

Some people say that the Neolithic China has been seriously underestimated. The international recognition of the Liangzhu Civilization provides a case study of early civilizations across the world. More studies of the Liangzhu Civilization will enrich the theory of world early civilizations.

In fact， some Chinese scholars reasonably disagreed with the set of three criteria a long time ago. Zhang Zhongpei who was curator of the Palace Museum in Beijing and passed away in 2017 said a long ago that Liangzhu was a perfect case study of a realm of deity and kings where religious power and military power joined hands and ruled. Zhang considered Liangzhu Archaeological Site fully qualified for a discussion of the 5，000-year Chinese civilization.

“If Liangzhu City was a state capital， then some settlements far away from the state capital would be like prefectural and county capitals. In that case， Liangzhu would add up to be a wide-area kingship state，” reasoned Yan Wenming， a prominent archaeologist who has concerned himself with the Liangzhu archaeological excavations and research for a long time， at a symposium in commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the discovery of Liangzhu Culture in 2016.

良渚瑤山祭壇遺址。

A relatively thorough study of unearthed evidences on material wealth， religion， jade artifacts， social strata， graded cemeteries， craft specialization， high population density， urban planning， large-scale construction， human resources， food， agriculture， water conservancy， ritual system as seen in Liangzhu City can provide a wealth of information on Liangzhu and enable scholars to conclude that Liangzhu is indeed a civilization.

The successful inclusion of Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City onto the UNESCOs World Heritage List suggests that the international archaeological community has accepted Liangzhu as an early civilization.