神农神话源于何处的文化记忆?(上)

On the Origins of the Myth of the Divine Farmer:Cultural Memory of which Place does It Pepresent?(Ⅰ)

本文运用自然环境、考古与文献资料,并从文化记忆这一视角论述神农神话的发祥地。神农英雄之形象代表稻作文明关于其源头的认识。古籍指出长江中游为神农故事的发祥地,而考古资料表明,该地确实经历了从稻作萌生到文明起源的完整过程。创造稻作技术的彭头山文化是独一无二的完全放弃狩猎的新石器早期文化,其有很多特殊点,与伏羲神农的传说相吻合:如彭头山文化确实放弃"食肉饮血"和"衣皮毛";他们"结绳而为罔罟,以佃以渔";"民食五谷""揉木为耒";"男耕而食,妇织而衣",并有"制作为历"。因此,神农为皇圣的传说,很有可能隐藏着长江中游上古文明关于彭头山文化的文化记忆。长江中游社会发展成为文明时,早已不能保持彭头山文化这一源头的"纯洁性",但不妨碍其将对远古彭头山文化的记忆,升华为神农皇圣时代的理想。

This article will discuss the birthplace of the myth of the Divine Farmer(Sovereign Shennong)in the context of world history,using materials from the physical environment,archaeology and historical documents,from the perspective of"cultural memory".The research in this article will show that the image of the hero of Shennong represents the understanding of origins of civilization in rice farming.Texts handed down from ancient times indicate that the middle reaches of the Yangtze River are the birthplace of the Shennong story,while archaeological data shows that the middle reaches of the Yangtze River are very unique,and indeed have gone through the entire process from the initiation of rice cultivation to the origin of civilization.The Pengtoushan culture,which produced rice cultivation technology,was indeed a unique Neolithic culture that gave up hunting.Many unique features of the Pengtoushan culture coincide with the legends of the Sovereigns Fuxi and Shennong:people there did give up"eating meat and drinking blood"and"wearing furs";they"tied knots to make fishing nets";"ate five grains","polished wood into ploughs";their"men plow and women weave",and they"created a calendar".Therefore,the legend of the sage Sovereign Shennong may very well evidence the possession of cultural memory of the Pengtoushan culture by the ancient civilization in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.By the time there formed a civilization in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River,it was no longer possible to maintain the"purity"of its source:the Pengtoushan culture;the memory of the ancient Pengtoushan culture was instead sublimated into the ideal of the age of the sage Sovereign Shennong.