秦汉畤祭遗址出土玉人功用研究

On the Function of Jade Figurines from the Zhiji Sacrificial Site During the Qin-Han Period

目前发现秦汉畤祭遗址的祭祀坑内,多是男女玉人一对与玉琮组合,应是畤祭礼仪最主要的祭祀形式。文章认为玉琮象征天圆地方,是祭天礼地的祭器。周秦汉时期奉行“以天为父,以地为母”之信仰,男女玉人与琮组合用于祭祀,正符合天为阳,地为阴,以天为父,以地为母的认知。并由此推断,男女玉人应分别是受祭的天神和地神之神主,用驷马车载之前往雍地进行畤祭之礼。西汉畤祭仍然继续沿用秦故礼仪,此正是由春秋至西汉数百年间,畤祭所用男女玉人造型及功用基本相同的缘由所在。

This article discusses the assemblage pattern of jade objects in sacrificial pits at the Zhiji sacrificial site,which usually consist of a pair of male and female jade figurines and a cong tube.This assemblage might represent the form of the sacrificial ritual conducted at the site.The author proposes that the cong tube might have symbolized the cosmological concept of a dome-like heaven and vast earth,thus serving as ritual objects for heaven and earth sacrifices.During the Zhou-Qin-Han period,the ideology of‘treating heaven as father and earth as mother’might have led to the use of a pair of male and female figurines together with the cong tube,aligning with the contemporary yin and yang concept.In this context,the figurines might have corresponded to the tablets of heaven and earth deities,considered to ride‘sima’chariots to the Yong region to receive the Zhiji sacrificial ritual.Since this ritual continued through the Han period,it may explain the long-lasting use of similar types of male and female figurines for several hundred years,starting from the Spring and Autumn period.