三星堆人的神圣动物——三星堆埋藏坑动物元素铜像的初步分析

Sanctified Animals at the Sanxingdui Site:Initial Examination of Bronze Statues with Animal Figures Unearthed from the Sanxingdui Burial Pits

三星堆埋藏坑出土了众多人与动物元素结合的神像、不同动物元素集合的神兽等铜质或铜木复合的像设、供奉用具和仪式用具。其中人首鸟身的铜像,是三星堆人崇拜的三位大神即太阳神、句芒(也可能是古蜀先王祖神蚕丛)和禺疆(也可能是古蜀先王祖神柏灌)在天上的景象。那些在组合铜器下层托负巫师和祭品的铜神兽是集合了犀、象、虎、鸟等特征的虚幻动物,承担着运送巫师从地上前往天界的任务,与后世文献中的“飞廉”之类鸟兽合体的神兽有着相近的功能。此外,三星堆的龙分有角和无角两类,也都具有权力或守护的象征意义。分析这些神圣动物的构成要素、陈放方式、象征意义等,有助于理解三星堆埋藏坑的内涵与功能,认知三星堆社会的人与神之间的关系。

The combination of human and/or animal figures is noticed on many God statues,sacred beasts,bronze altars,offering utensils,and ritual paraphernalia unearthed from the burial pits at the Sanxingdui site.The bronze statue with a bird body and a human's head probably was materialized im-ages of the three gods to the Sanxingdui people,namely the Sun God,Gou Mang(or Can Cong,a dei-fied ancestor of the ancient Shu state),and Yu Jiang(or Bo Guan,a deified ancestor of the ancient Shu state).The bronze sacred beasts supporting the bronze altars with offerings should be an integrated,mystified form of the rhinoceros,elephant,tiger,and bird.Similar to the Fei Lian in historical docu-ments,these beasts were responsible for escorting the shamans in ascension.Furthermore,the Sanxing-dui's dragons can be subdivided by the absence/presence of horns,and they too symbolized the posses-sion of power.The designs and elements of the sacred beasts,their position and display,and their sym-bolic meanings enhance our understanding of the function and significance of the Sanxingdui burial pits as well as of the human-god relations in the Sanxingdui societies.