陕西岐山孔头沟遗址马坑出土马骨的鉴定与研究

The Identification and Study of Horse Bones Unearthed from Horse Pits at Kongtougou Site in Qishan County,Shaanxi

本文从性别、年龄、肩高、骨骼异常等方面对孔头沟遗址宋家墓地3座马坑出土的14匹马的骨骼进行了鉴定和分析,在为西周马坑与家马研究提供了新资料的基础上,结合以往发表的材料,对周原地区西周马坑的葬马制度进行了初步探讨。主要认识有二:其一,马坑葬马年龄存在规制。仅选择服役期至退役之际的成年马,且存在有意的年龄搭配,以15岁左右退役之际的老马配以正值服役期的青壮年马,成“老配壮”之制。其二,葬马体格与马坑等级相关,马坑等级越高、葬马数量越多,则所葬马匹越高、越健壮。这应与高等级人群掌握着更好的马匹资源有关。

This paper presents the identif ication and analysis of horse bones of 14 individuals unearthed from three horse pits in the Songjia cemetery at the Kongtougou site in terms of gender,age,withers height,and skeletal abnormalities,providing new materials for the study of horse pits and domestic horses in the Western Zhou Dynasty.In addition,a preliminary discussion on the burial system of Western Zhou horse pits in the Zhouyuan area was conducted in conjunction with previously published materials.The results show that:first,there is a regulation on the age of buried horses in the horse pits.Only adult horses from the period of service to the time of retirement were selected,and there was an intentional age matching,with old horses of about 15 years old at the time of retirement being paired with young and strong horses in the period of service,making the system of"old with strong".Second,the burial horse physique is related to the grade of the pits.The higher the grade of the pits and the greater the number of buried horses,the higher and more robust the buried horses are.This should be related to the highranking groups had better resources of horses.