中原墓葬出土商代及西周青铜斧的类型与分期

Morphological Classification of Bronze Axes Unearthed Tombs in the Central Plain of China

青铜斧是中原地区青铜时代具有代表性的器物之一。其器身呈扁平长条形,双面弧形刃或直刃,銎口多呈长方形或六边形;器型差异主要表现在有无铜箍和附耳上。铜箍数量多者出现的时间较晚。器身施有"十"字形凸线纹或兽面纹的青铜斧多属商晚期,西周少见。目前所见中原出土青铜斧的墓葬最早属二里岗上层时期,为初步发展阶段,数量较少。之后青铜斧数量不断增多,至西周早期达到繁盛期,西周中期呈现衰落之势。随葬青铜斧的墓葬有明显的等级差异,商代主要集中于高等级墓葬中,西周开始向稍低等级的墓葬蔓延。

Bronze axe is one of the representative objects of the Bronze Age in the Central Plain of China, takes on flat strip and has arc or straight blades on both sides and rectangular or hexagonal cheeks. Decorations of bronze hoops and ears are the main difference between bronze axes. Axes with more hoops appear relatively late. Heads with cross-shaped low relief or animal head motif are usually found on axes of the late Shang Dynasty, and are rare in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Tombs unearthed presently belong to Erligang Upper Period, the preliminary phase, where there are fewer bronze axes. They are popular till early Western Zhou Dynasty and decline in the mid of it. Bronze axes buried in the tombs can be ranked differently, most of them are in the upper class tombs of the Shang Dynasty, and they can be found in the tombs of lower classes since Western Zhou Dynasty.