试论西藏发现的早期金属器和早期金属时代

ON THE EARLY METAL WARES AND EARLY METAL AGE IN TIBET

西藏的石器时代终止于何时，铜器时代何时开始？铁器又是什么时候传人的。长期以来，这些问题始终未能得到令人满意的答复。西藏考古史上发现的一些年代较早的金属制品，都属传世或采集品，不仅来源不详，而且绝大部分是由非专业人士所记述，并非考古发掘的遗物。因此，已故考古学家童恩正先生只能根据当时的情况提出西藏史前可能有过早期金属时代，并将其年代的上下限设置得极为宽泛，“这一时代可能开始于公元前一千年代，而结束于公元六世纪，即吐蕃王朝兴起之前”。这个概念大致包括青铜时代和早期铁器时代。有学者认为，过去在中亚沙漠地带考古学研究不充分的情况下采用的一种具有相对普遍适用的工作假设，后来不仅被中国学术界所沿用，并且也同样适用于整个欧亚大陆草原地带目前考古学研究的实际状况。本文的讨论大体即依这一概念的时空范畴加以展开。

The studies on the issue of the early making and using of the metal wares in Tibet have long been relying on the textual materials completed in later times, but could not be supported by the archaeologically obtained physical materials. This paper systematically trimmed the results of the Tibetan archaeology in recent years and pointed out that the earliest date of the making of metal wares in Tibet could be as early as 4000 BP or earlier. In 2500-2000 BP, which corresponded to the Warring-States Period and the Qin and Han Dynasties in the Central Plains, the early metal age in Tibet showed a complicated feature; iron wares might have been introduced into the Tibetan Plateau, and the compound objects composed of iron and bronze parts became popular, showing that the people had some knowledge on these two metals. The people living in Ngari Plateau in western Tibet and Yarlung Tsangpo Valley in southern Tibet had known to use or make iron weapons and ornaments; the discovery of the large quantity of iron arrowheads, which were consumables in weaponry, proved that the iron production at that time reached a rather high level. Another important feature of the early metal age in Tibet was that a set of gold products emerged in the early metal wares of Tibet; as in many nomadic tribes living in Eurasian Steppes, gold seemed to be widely known and used by the Tibetan people as the symbols of status, position and wealth at this time. It could also be observed from the early metal wares unearthed in Tibet that their making probably referred to the various features of the manufacturing and decorating of the early metal wares in the surrounding areas, and some special metal objects might have been introduced into Tibet through multiple possible approaches. All of these fully reflected the clear features of openness, inclusiveness and absorbability of the early metal age in Tibet.