The Hometown of Cubans in Changyang, Qingjiang, Western Hubei

As for the hometown of the distant Cubans, there have been two kinds of sayings in the past. One is said to be in the middle and upper reaches of the Han River in southern Shaanxi, and the middle and lower reaches of the Qingjiang River in western Hubei. The author is in favor of the latter. Because this is not only based on the historical materials of ancient Chinese literature, but also the physical history of archaeological discoveries.

Here, in order to facilitate the reader's understanding, it is necessary to introduce the basic situation of Qingjiang and the important archaeological discoveries of the middle and lower reaches, and then state the activities of the ancient Cubans and the ancient cultural sites and unearthed cultural relics related to the Palestinians.

First, the basic situation of Qingjiang in western Hubei

The Qingjiang River is the largest tributary of the south bank of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River below the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River. Its direction runs from west to east and is basically parallel with the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River. It originated from the Qiyue Mountain in Lichuan, Hubei Province, and flows through 9 counties and cities such as Enshi, Xianfeng, Xuanen, Jianshi, Badong, Wufeng and Changyang. It flows into the Yangtze River in Yicheng, with a total length of more than 440 kilometers. With a drop of nearly 1,500 meters, it is one of the rivers with the best water quality in China. The drainage area is over 17,000 square kilometers, of which the mountain area accounts for more than 80%. The mountain is mainly the Yushan Yumai, followed by the Wuling Mountain and the Dagu Mountain.

The Qingjiang River Basin is a settlement of ethnic minorities in southwestern Hubei. The natural conditions are superior, the geographical environment is unique, the climate is warm, the rainfall is sufficient, the land is fertile, and the products are rich, especially water resources, mineral resources, forest resources, tourism resources and more. A kind of cash crops occupy a very important position in Hubei and even the whole country. Therefore, the people of all ethnic groups, mainly based on the Tujia people, have loved and lived in this region for generations. Here, not only has the history of the Tujia family been long, but humans have proliferated since ancient times. For example, the "Changyang People" fossil of the early human sapiens discovered in 1956 has been around for 200,000 years and has long been known both at home and abroad. Nearly the archaeological workers of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Hubei Province discovered the ancient human (ie, Homo erectus) fossils of more than 1.2 million years ago in the Gaoping Jujing Cave.

2. Important archaeological discoveries in the middle and lower reaches of the Qingjiang River in recent years

Since the Qingjiang water elevator level development in 1987, the Qinghe Geheyan archaeological team in Hubei Province has been closely cooperating with hydropower projects to carry out archaeological work. In the territory of Changyang Tujia Autonomous County, there are more than 10 ancient cultural sites that have been officially discovered. Among them, there are 3 sites in the Paleolithic Age, namely the Xiaoxia Cave, the carp mountain and the squeeze hole. Through the laboratory of the Department of Archaeology of Peking University and the Laboratory of the Institute of Geology of the China Earthquake Administration, the ages are about 130,000 years, 12 to 90,000 years and 27,000 years. There are four Daxi cultural sites in the Neolithic Age. They are Miaoping, Shazui, Xisiping and Shentan Bay, all of which are more than five or six thousand years old. There are also four early Pakistani cultural sites. They are incense burner stone, female beach cliff house, Qianyuping and Nan'anping. They are all three or four thousand years ago. There are two sites in the Warring States Period, one is in the outer village and the other is Nan'anping. The ages are 2,300 years ago. In addition, some ancient tombs were also found. Among them, there is a cemetery in Daxi Culture Period (Miaoping Ping), and three early Ba people cemeteries (Miaoping, Xianglu Stone, and Shentan Bay) dating from 2,000 to 1,500, 600 years ago during the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties. 5 cemeteries (Tianchikou, Jing'an, Gucangping, Zhouping and Chenjiatun). These sites and tombs have found more than 30,000 pieces of stoneware, pottery, bones, teeth, jade, silverware, bronzes, oracle bones, seals, coins and text symbols, as well as ancient animal bones and fossil specimens. Among them, there are more than 10,000 relics belonging to the early Ba people, which provides valuable material research materials for solving the historical unsolved cases of the early Ba people in China.

Third, the ancient literature basis for the early Palestinian activities

Judging from the records of ancient Chinese literature, the author believes that there are at least two important materials, which can explain that the Qingjiang River Basin in western Hubei is the hometown of ancient Ba people.

The first is the Shan Hai Jing, which was written in the Warring States Period. In his "Hai Neijing", there are "the southwestern country of Pakistan. The white-white scorpion is a salty bird, the salted bird is multiplied by the centimeter, the syllabus is taken after the photo, and the post-photograph is the beginning of the Ba people". This passage can be said to be the earliest record of the age of the Chinese people. Because it is too white, that is, Fuxi, is the legendary "three emperors" era. The Ba people mentioned here should be at the same time as the Yellow Emperor, even a little earlier than the Yellow Emperor. The Shan Hai Jing, which records the situation of the Ba people, is known to be the earliest ancient book in China. What is recorded in the book is undoubtedly the content of the pre-Qin period, which was the case of the ancient or ancient times. The situation of the Ba people can appear in this ancient book, which itself indicates the ancient times of its age. In addition, the Qingjiang River Basin in western Hubei is part of the area referred to in the "Hai Hai Jing" in the "Shan Hai Jing". Therefore, the Qingjiang River Basin should be the hometown of the early Palestinians in China, which is very reasonable.

The other is the "Han Han Shu", which was written in the Southern and Northern Dynasties of China. In his "Southern Nanshan Yi Biography" there is a record, namely: "Ba County South County is quite a man, there are five surnames: Pap, Fan, Miao, Xiang, Zheng, all from Wuluozhong to the mountains. The mountain has red and black two points, and the son of Pap is born in the red hole. The sons of the four surnames are all black holes. There is no king, and all the ghosts and gods are throwing swords at the stone caves. The affair is a unique one, and all the people sigh. Let each take the earthen boat, and the singer can be considered a prince. The surname is Shen, but the singularity of the singer, because of the common, is for the prince. The boat is from Yishui to Yanyang. The salt water has a goddess. It is said that the monarch is: 'The vast area here, the fish salt is out, willing to stay in the cohabitation. 'Yu Jun does not allow, the salt god to come to eat, once turned into insects, masking Daylight, the heavens and the earth are meditation. For more than ten days, you can wait for it, because of the shooting, the heavens are enlightened. You are the king of Yicheng, and the four surnames are all ministers. The tiger drinks human blood, and it is awkward." This passage can be said to be the most detailed and clear about the origin and development of the Chinese people. Although this record is a legend with a mythical nature, it is clear that the geographical scope of the Ba people is in the south, in Yishui, and in the Wuluozhong Mountain. The academic community generally knows that Yishui is now the Qingjiang River in western Hubei, and Wuluzhong is in the vicinity of Changyang or in the vicinity of Changyang. There is no doubt. Therefore, based on this record, we say that the Changyang area in the middle and lower reaches of the Qingjiang River in western Hubei is the hometown of the distant Cubans in China, and there are good reasons. However, in this record, there is also a lack of clarity. In the era of the two chief figures of "Jun Jun" and "Saline Goddess", there are still some vague phenomena, so the academic community has some different understandings. And views. We believe that the "saline goddess" and "廪君" mentioned in this legendary story seem to have a remnant of the matriarchal clan society and a strong historical shadow of the patriarchal clan society, or two symbolic characters in this region during this period. The representative figure is relatively early, even as early as 5,000 years ago, and at the latest in the late Neolithic period of the tribal alliance more than 4,000 years ago. However, some people think that the age of Jun Jun was not so early, it should be a Pakistani leader during the Warring States period. Therefore, it is difficult to discern the true age of the "Jun Jun" only by the record on the "Han Han Nan Nan Xi Yi Biography". It seems that if we want to completely solve this controversial issue, we will only find the answer from the important archaeological findings.

4. Typical sites and unearthed cultural relics of the early Ba people

As mentioned above, in the Changyang area in the middle and lower reaches of the Qingjiang River in the past 10 years, more than 10,000 pieces of relics of the early Ba people in China have been unearthed. These relics are mainly from ancient cultural sites, and some are from the tombs of the Ba people. According to expert research, these relics can play a decisive role in solving the historical problems of the origin of the Chinese people. For example, the censer stone ruins found in the typical early Pakistani cultural relics on the banks of the Qingjiang River are not only rich in relics, but also the accumulation of strata. From Xia, Shang, Xi Zhou to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States period, from morning to night, they were continuously passed down without interruption. In addition to the coexistence of Ba and Chu cultures during the Warring States period, the Pakistani culture before the Spring and Autumn Period was relatively simple and had no influence from foreign cultures. This shows that the early Ba people's remains of the Xianglu Stone Cultural Site are not foreign cultures, but local indigenous cultural relics. From the early Ba people cultural stratum in the summer period, a small number of pottery fragments in the Longshan culture period can be seen. This early Ba culture is just like the Neolithic culture at the end of the primitive society. It can be seen that the early appearance of the early Ba people should be In the period of the military alliance at the end of the primitive society, this is basically consistent with our analysis of the survival of the leader of the Palestinians, "Jun Jun", at least 4,000 years ago.

The incense burner stone site is located on the north bank of the Qingjiang River, 0.5 km southeast of Yuxiakou Town, Changyang Tujia Autonomous County. It is 97 km east of Changyang County and is located in the middle reaches of the Qingjiang River. The site was discovered in 1983 and covers an area of ​​more than 30,000 square meters. Three archaeological excavations were carried out in 1988, 1989 and 1995. More than 400 square meters were excavated in the center of the site, and stoneware, pottery and bone tools of the early Ba people were obtained. Nearly 10,000 cultural relics such as bronzes and a batch of Ba people’s tombs in the early Shang Dynasty. It also found a large number of merchants, the oracle bones of the Zhou Dynasty and two pottery seals of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. The number of oracle bones is the most unearthed in the provinces south of the Yangtze River so far. The pottery seal is the earliest pottery seal unearthed in China. It should be said that the degree of civilization of the early Palestinians was higher.

The pottery unearthed from the censer stone ruins is mainly composed of sand-filled brown pottery and gray-brown pottery. The pattern is mainly composed of thick and thin rope patterns and checkered patterns. The fire is generally higher and the quality is harder. There are many kinds of pottery, such as pottery, container, food and drink, fishing equipment and textile tools. Among them, cans and kettles used as cookware are large. The group composition and style of its pottery are also unique. Some of the main pottery such as flat bottom or bottom bulging pot, round lip squeezing flat bottom sputum, open bulging sputum bottom pot, extravagant mouth small belly bottom cup and round lip extravagant deep dish trumpet ring foot thick bean It is very different from the pottery of Xia and Shang culture in the Central Plains of the North, and is similar to the unearthed relics of many Xia Shang period sites in the nearby Three Gorges area. However, the excavations of similar sites in the Three Gorges area are not as many as those unearthed from the censer stone ruins, so typical, so self-contained pottery groups. Therefore, after careful sorting and comparative study, archaeologists named it “Chenfurnace Stone Culture” according to its unique cultural characteristics. Because this culture fully reflects the cultural characteristics of the Ba people in China, its time and space range coincides with the area of ​​the early Ba people activities, so the incense burner stone culture is the early Ba culture, from the summer period or the early summer period to the western Zhou period. , before and after for more than a thousand years. The incense burner stone site has been announced as a key cultural relics protection unit by the Changyang Tujia Autonomous County People's Government, and has established a protection mark to strengthen protection. The local town government has also set up a corresponding management organization. This protection unit has been turned into the incense burner stone ruins park, and an inscription on the forest at the entrance of the park has been added.

The geographical environment near the incense burner stone site and the "Yicheng" in the ancient literature record have "mountain stone", "spring water is also Qu", "wangru acupoint", "the shore is collapsed", "the stage is multiplied" and " There are basically similar geomorphological features on the shore, such as the platform. The unearthed cultural relics are very rich, and the times are basically consistent. In addition, there are historical legends reflecting the early Ba people’s story Baihulong (that is, the tomb of Junjun). Therefore, it is generally believed that the location of the incense burner stone site is China. The seat of the capital (the “Yicheng”) where the ancient Ba people originally settled.

In short, the discovery of a group of early Pakistani cultural sites in the middle and lower reaches of the Qingjiang River, especially the incense burner stone ruins, is very helpful in solving the ethnic origin of the Tujia people in China and the mystery of the history of the ancient Ba people in ancient China. The birthplace of the Ba people recorded in the historical literature is in the vicinity of Yishui’s Wuluozhong Mountain, and the incense burner stone ruins are just next to the Yishui River. In today’s Qingyang Changyang, this completely confirms that the ancient Yishui area was indeed the early stage of China. The central area of ​​the Ba people's activities. The location of the incense burner stone ruins is not too far from the mountain of Wuluozhong. Therefore, historical archaeologists based on the records of historical documents, and closely combined with historical artifacts and local folklore unearthed from the ground, concluded that the Qingyang Changjiang in western Hubei is the hometown of the distant Cubans in China, which should be in line with historical facts.

(The original "Tujia Academic Journal" 2002, No. 1)