Now that the stone chime has been found.

It shows that the sacrificial activities of the ancient Shu people were also carried out in full accordance with the etiquette of ritual music.

Although the text is still not found, the discovery of the stone chime shows that the ancient Shu people must have a set of ritual and music systems that we do not know yet.

Lile was a very important tool in the Shang and Zhou dynasties.

It is not only used to restrain the king, but also to regulate the behavior of the people, so as to maintain the stability of the social order.

You can imagine that a huge stone chime is hung at the door of the temple, and whenever the priest is sacrificed, the priest will hit the stone chime hard to make a crisp and long sound, which can not only shock people's hearts, but also comfort people's hearts, and unite all the ancient Shu people together and condense them into an indestructible force.

Music was born to enrich the spiritual world of human beings, with the effect of soothing and uniting people's hearts.

When everyone was a child, they had heard the "lullaby" sung by their mother, and this kind of lullaby and nursery rhyme was actually the earliest birth of human music.

Soothing and comforting.

This is a spontaneous human behavior, and it is also something engraved in human DNA.

Human beings have evolved step by step from ancient times to modern humans.

Perhaps words are not necessarily something that will necessarily evolve.

For example, in the African and Amazon jungles, there are still a lot of slash-and-burn tribes, primitive tribes without writing, they have no writing, and they still live to the present.

However, even these primitive tribes had a culture of "music".

They would sing together around a campfire and make primitive percussion instruments out of some bones.

Africa's culture is not splendid, but there are no more musical instruments than the indigenous people of Africa.

Music is an innate human talent.

As long as it is a modern Homo sapiens, it is certain that he will develop his own music and musical instruments.

It's the same all over the world.

Whether it is the Ansa people in the British Peninsula, the Indians of North and South America, or the Chinese people, in the process of civilization development, they will develop their own musical instruments.

It's just that the Chinese people have developed "music" from a simple form of entertainment to a part of the etiquette system.

It can be said that music is a necessity for human beings, but words are not necessarily.

The discovery of musical instruments in the Sanxingdui sacrificial pit can only be said to be a matter that conforms to the laws of human evolution.

But it was a stone chime that was found, so it was different.

The stone chime is the earliest ceremonial instrument of Chinese civilization, which was born earlier than chimes and the like.

The chime originated from a certain kind of flake stone labor tool, and the left half of the chime character in the ancient Chinese text resembles a hanging stone, and the right half resembles a hammer in hand.

Later, its shape changed in many ways, and the texture was further expanded from the original stone to jade and copper chimes.

It evolved from labor tools and was originally used for the music and dance activities of the ancestors.

The name of the chime is found in the "Shiben Composition", which is said to have been written by Yao and Shun Shiren without a sentence.

Or pass on: "Chime, made by uncle." ”

It can be seen that by the late Neolithic Age, when Yao or Shun were the chiefs of the tribal alliances, the chime was already in use.

"Lü's Spring and Autumn Ancient Music" contains: Yao Ming Kui hits the chime "like God" and "so that the beasts dance", depicting a scene of music and dance life in the ancient primitive society.

In the 70s of the 20th century, a large stone chime was unearthed at the Dongxiafeng site in Xia County, Shanxi, which was 60 centimeters long, and there was a perforation in the upper part, and the sound of hitting was pleasant.

It has been determined that this chime is about 4,000 years old, and it is the earliest real chime found so far.

From 4,000 to 4,500 years ago, the Longshan culture also unearthed a stone chime.

Basically, it can be determined that the stone chime, a musical instrument, and silk fabrics appeared at about the same time.

By the time of the Shang Dynasty, the chime musical instruments had been relatively complete, and the chime had been widely circulated in the Shang Dynasty and was used by the royal court band.

In the Zhou Dynasty, the chime was even more important, it was already an important ceremonial instrument in the Zhou ceremony, and it was also an important part of Yale with percussion as the main body.

After that, until the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the chime was the most important part of the court ritual culture.

It was not until the chaotic times at the end of the Qin Dynasty that all the ritual music in the Zhou rituals completely disappeared in the war, and the chime, a traditional Chinese musical instrument, gradually disappeared from history.

The Han Dynasty was the last period of the chime's existence, and this instrument did not appear in the "ritual music" after the Han Dynasty.

It is worth mentioning.

Stone chimes appeared in many places at the same time during the Yongsan period, and they contained special social functions and political colors.

The stone chime is mainly used as a special tool for tribal chiefs to gather clansmen and direct conquests, as well as a musical instrument for dance and music.

As a burial object, its appearance is very significant.

In ancient China, the stone chime was a ceremonial instrument for the clan to supervise the chieftain and command the clansmen.

According to the "Shangshu Shundian": "The emperor (Shun) said, Kui, the order of Rudian music, teach the stomach,...... The gods and men are harmonious, and they say, Yu Yu hits the stone and throws the stone, and the beasts dance. ”

It can be determined that from the Three Emperors and Five Emperors to the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the stone chime was not a musical instrument enjoyed by the ruler, but a ritual instrument used for sacrificial occasions.

In "The Book of Songs, Shang Song, That", it is said that in the sacrifice of "Yan My Ancestors", there are both "simple and simple drums" and "the sound of pipes", and finally in the "sound of Yiyi chime" to achieve "both harmony and peace".

This shows that chime music is an indispensable sound for large-scale ceremonies such as sacrifices and rural food, and it has a strong hierarchical significance.

What is recorded in "Ode to Shang" is the way the merchants once lived, and it is the folk customs of the merchants.

In the Shang Dynasty, the chime was already a very important ceremonial instrument.

In the Zhou Dynasty, as the chime became more and more prominent in the sacrificial activities, the ruling class gradually joined in the development of this instrument, and regarded this instrument as a symbol of its own identity and status.

As we all know, Zhou is a dynasty with etiquette regulations everywhere, and all of them pay attention to etiquette in clothing, food, housing and transportation.

The Zhou people also had a clear hierarchical distinction between the suspension of the stone chime at that time.

For example, the monarch - the four gates are hung with bell chimes, called palace hanging.

The princes - go to the bell to the south of it, and it is called Xuan Han.

Doctor Qing - only hung on the east and west, called the judgment hanging.

Shi - only allowed to hang the chime, but not the bell, called the special hanging.

There are also differences in the direction of the hanging chime, which is called sheng chime in the east and song chime in the west.

All this brings a very heavy "identity" to the musical instrument "chime".

It is completely different from the piano, guitar and other musical instruments of later generations.

In addition, in the tombs of stone chimes unearthed from the Yongsan culture, cow shoulder blades used for sacrificial divination were also unearthed in the same period.

Divination bones are commonly used in prehistoric religious rituals, and religious sacrifices based on divination should be objectively prevalent in this period.

The stone chime and the bones are buried together, which also shows that in the Longshan culture, in addition to the function of percussion instruments, the stone chimes buried with them also have the nature of ceremonial instruments for worshipping gods.

Coincidentally, the Sanxingdui people also put the stone chime and the priest's items in the sacrificial pit together.

The ritual music system of Sanxingdui people seems to be able to be linked with the ancient culture of the Central Plains!