Painted Pottery Twin Pot: Gorgeous Yangshao Culture

 

At Henan Museum, there is a piece of priceless treasure - “Painted Pottery Twin Pot”. It is unearthed from Dahe Village Ruins, and it is one-of-a-kind. Like what you think, it is the Painted Pottery Twin Pot shown by the picture in Yangshao Culture chapter in middle school history textbook. It is widely believed in the industry that the Painted Pottery Twin Pot is a holy ceremonial article, a sacrificial vessel used when a clan allies itself with another clan or when there are large-scale activities and a drinking vessel for drinking together, representing peace, friendship, mutual respect and mutual attachment.

河南博物院有一件镇馆之宝“彩陶双连壶”，出土自大河村遗址，单件孤品，独一无二。对，就是中学历史课本提到仰韶文化的标准配图。业内普遍的观点认为彩陶双连壶是神圣礼仪用品，是氏族结盟或者大型活动时的礼器，是用以对饮的酒具，象征着和平、友好、相敬、相亲。

In consideration of being approximate to age and excavation site, some experts believe that when Yandi (Yan Emperor) allied himself with Huangdi (Huang Emperor), they used the Painted Pottery Twin Pot for drinking together, to take an oath and be reconciled with each other, which is the earliest deduction of the statement that “drinking the same pot of wine represents we are friends sharing both life and death”. There is another relatively interesting deduction, and specific content is as follows: during Yangshao Culture period, people at that time were going through the transition from incestuous marriage, group marriage and dual marriage to monogamy, so it is speculated that the excavation site is the residence of a primitive couple. According to this statement, maybe the Painted Pottery Twin Pot is the origin of “drinking cross-cupped wine” in today’s society.

鉴于年代、出土地的相近，还有专家认为在炎黄二帝结盟之时，就是用双连壶共饮盟誓，化干戈为玉帛，也是“生死之交一壶酒”的最早演绎。还有比较有趣的推断：在仰韶文化时期正是人类经历从乱婚、群婚、对偶婚向一夫一妻制过渡的时期，于是就推测这是不是一对原始夫妻的居所，双连壶也许是我们喝“交杯酒”的来源。

At Dahe Village Ruins Museum, there is a ruins hall which protects the ruins of the foundations of a house. The aforementioned Painted Pottery Twin Pot is unearthed here. This heap of ruins of the foundations of a prehistoric house still retains a complete layout and walls with a height of more than 1 meter now, which is amazing. Its walls are constructed through the construction method of “wooden framework complete modeling”. In addition, its walls and floor are baked into brick-red with fire. This kind of dual-side slope-style terrace building lays the basic style of traditional dwellings in northern China, being a milestone in the history of Chinese architecture.

大河村遗址博物馆中有一座遗址厅，保护着一处房基遗址。前文所说的双连壶就出土于此。令人惊叹的是，这片史前房基遗址至今仍保留有完整的平面布局和1米多高的墙壁，墙体采用“木骨整塑”的建筑方法，墙壁以及地坪用火烧烤成了砖红色，这种两面坡式的排房建筑奠定了中国北方传统民居的基本形制，是中国建筑史上的一座里程碑。