后石家河文化“抱鱼人偶”与祭山活动

The post-Shijiahe Fish-holding Figurines and Sacrifices to the Mountain Gods

在以邓家湾为代表的遗址中出土了大量后石家河文化时期的陶塑品,其中"抱鱼人偶"因其独特的造型,最为引人注目。过去学界对此多有讨论,本文重新审视了这些材料,认为这些陶人偶应称为抱璋人偶,其表现的是巫师手持牙璋的形象。文献记载玉璋的一个重要功能是祭祀山川,因此"抱鱼人偶"表现的是巫师祭山以致雨的活动场景,这样的祭山求雨活动与后石家河文化时期江汉平原整体干冷的环境背景相符合。邓家湾遗址出土的所有陶塑动物、陶塑人偶即是这一祭祀活动的综合体现。

A great many pottery figurines,dated to the post-Shijiahe culture period,have been excavated from the Dengjiawan and other sites.Among them,the fish-holding human figurines are most striking for their unique style.Despite the many previous discussions on these figurines,the present paper,based on a re-examination of the materials,proposed that fish-holding pottery figurines should really be called zhang-tablet holding figurines,which show the image of a shaman holding a yazhang(ivory tablet).According to the literature records,one most important function of yazhang was for performing sacrifices to the mountain and river gods.Thus,the so-called‘fish-holding figurines’represent the activities of shamans sacrificing to the mountain gods for rain,which are consistent with the overall dry and cold climate of the Jianghan Plain back in the post-Shijiahe culture period.All pottery animal and human figurines unearthed from Dengjiawan,we believe,are material manifestations of this ritual activity.