关于史前夏商时期奠基遗存的几个问题

Several Issues about Remains of Ritual Activities in Foundation Laying in Prehistoric Times and the Xia-Shang Period

在对史前夏商时期奠基遗存的相关研究中,目前存在以下三个亟待深入探讨的问题:一是如何界定"奠基"的内涵;二是如何确立甄别奠基遗存的标准;三是如何进一步论证部分瓮棺葬的奠基性质。本文分析认为,"奠基"是人们在建造一切形式的建筑的过程中,为奠定建筑物的基础而举行的某种祭祀仪式;其不仅包括为生者奠基,还应包括为死者奠基。结合"奠基"一词的内涵和判别仪式遗存的基本方法,甄别奠基遗存应遵循两项基本原则:一是要确定遗存与建筑物之间存在内在的时空关联;二是要认定遗存中存在某些具有宗教祭祀意义的物质遗存或特殊形式。瓮棺葬与其附近建筑之间的关系比较复杂,其中部分瓮棺葬符合甄别奠基遗存的两项原则,它们应属于奠基遗存。

This article discusses several issues about remains of ritual activities in foundation laying of buildings in prehistoric times and Xia-Shang period and tries to establish a standard to identify this kind of remains. It points out that those ritual activities were performed not only for the living but also for the deceased. The identification of those remains should follow two indexes： the time and spatial relationships between the remains and the buildings, and the artifacts with ritual connotation in the remains. As for the urn coffins, they had complicated relationships with the surrounding buildings and some of them should be remains of ritual activities in foundation laying.