郭大順

這本書是遵照蘇秉琦先生的遺愿，并在他的學術(shù)思想指導下寫成的。

蘇秉琦（一九〇九-一九九七），生前是中國考古學會理事長，是我在北京大學讀研究生的導師和到遼寧工作后的指導者。他所創(chuàng)建的考古類型學、考古學文化區(qū)系類型學說和關(guān)于中國文明起源的古文化古城古國、三部曲（古國-方國-帝國）與三模式（原生型、次生型、續(xù)生型）的系統(tǒng)論述，不僅是長期指導中國考古學的學科理論，也為社會各界所廣泛關(guān)注和接受，正表現(xiàn)出無限的生命力。

用考古資料復原中國史前史，實現(xiàn)古史傳說與考古資料的有機結(jié)合，是蘇先生一生追求的目標，也是他所創(chuàng)建的學科理論的重要組成部分。早在二十世紀四十年代，蘇秉琦就與徐旭生合著《試論傳說材料的整理與傳說時代的研究》一文；五十年代，他一直在思考這一問題；六十年代，他在《關(guān)于仰韶文化的若干問題》一文的最后一部分，專門論述了仰韶文化與古史傳說的關(guān)系；七十年代，他親自為吉林大學考古教學實習在冀西北桑干河流域選點，終于獲得仰韶文化與紅山文化南北碰撞的重要線索；特別是八十年代以來，隨著全國各地史前考古新發(fā)現(xiàn)和中國文明起源討論的開展，他在倡導重建中國史前史的同時，及時提出了史前考古與古史傳說有機結(jié)合的問題，認為條件已經(jīng)成熟。他并以考古學研究成果分析古史傳說，提出如五帝時代分前后期、發(fā)展重心的三大區(qū)系、從燕山南北與黃河中下游之間到西北與東南地區(qū)之間文化組合與重組的作用等帶有根本性的指導意見，在他最后一本著作《中國文明起源新探》一書中，對此又有進一步發(fā)揮，可惜未及更系統(tǒng)詳細論述。

我大學期間的兩次考古實習和畢業(yè)論文都是關(guān)于河南省洛陽王灣新石器時代遺址的，研究生實習是整理山東省大汶口新石器時代墓地和觀摩江浙地區(qū)良渚文化等材料。王灣遺址所在的洛陽盆地屬中原地區(qū)，不過那里的仰韶文化晚期，出現(xiàn)了大量“鼎豆壺”系列，這種本不是中原地區(qū)原生的文化因素，大有替代當?shù)卦形幕蛩厝绮侍?、小口尖底瓶的趨勢，并在以后長期成為中國禮器的主要組合。究其原因，當時考慮較多的是仰韶文化向龍山文化的過渡。直到兩年后接觸到大汶口材料才有新的理解。大汶口墓地的幾乎每一種器物的主要部位都有比較敏感的時代差別，變化節(jié)奏極快，尤其是“鼎豆壺”的發(fā)展序列完整，典型性強，江浙地區(qū)也有近似現(xiàn)象。這時，蘇秉琦《論仰韶文化的若干問題》發(fā)表，文中提出從仰韶文化后期始，東南沿海地區(qū)的社會發(fā)展水平漸高于中原，并對中原古文化產(chǎn)生了更大的影響，豫西地區(qū)在仰韶文化晚期出現(xiàn)的“鼎豆壺”序列，就是受了東南地區(qū)大汶口等文化影響的結(jié)果。他安排研究生到東南地區(qū)實習，也是意識到考古材料已在反映出東南地區(qū)古文化的這一特殊重要性。我在北大學習的六十年代初，考古學文化區(qū)系類型理論還在醞釀之中，但在北大考古專業(yè)已經(jīng)有了以這一理論的一些基本思想指導的教學實踐，我有幸成為受益者。到遼寧工作后又得到發(fā)現(xiàn)和發(fā)掘牛河梁紅山文化遺址這樣難得的機遇，對蘇先生提出的遼西史前文化在中華文明起源史上“先走一步”的觀點比較容易接受。

近十多年來，中國史前考古又有了突飛猛進的發(fā)展，但這幾處遺址仍然都保持了典型性和標尺的位置。尤其是它們都恰同五帝時代諸集團有著更密切的關(guān)系，這就不僅為我進行這項研究提供了難得的條件，也使我感到有責任在這方面多作些思考。一九九五年我應《尋根》雜志之邀，寫了一篇題為《考古追尋五帝蹤跡》的短文，請?zhí)K先生審閱，先生在熱情鼓勵的同時，針對若干難點多次給予具體指導，此后就醞釀寫就了這本小書。

謹以此書紀念蘇秉琦先生誕辰一百周年。

The book was written to fulfill an unfulfilled wish of Mr.Su Bingqi and completed under his academic guidance.

Su Bingqi（1909-1997）was the Board Chairman of Archaeological Society of China，my tutor when I was a graduate student at Peking University，and my instructor when I started my career in Liaoning Province.He established the typological archaeology and cultural typology of regions and systems.He systematically explored the origins of Chinese civilization through his creative investigation of ancient cultures，cities，and states.He proposed theories of trilogy （ancient state-regional state-empire）and three types （protogenesis，subgenesis，successive genesis）.For a long time his theories have not only played a guiding role in Chinese archaeology as an independent discipline，but also gained much attention and wide acceptance.So it is appropriate to say that they are showing a boundless vitality.

To reconstruct the prehistory of China upon archaeological evidence and combine ancient legends with archaeological evidence from anew had been Mr. Su’s life-long pursuit and important components of the theories he established as a discipline.As early as the 1940s，Mr.Su Bingqi and Mr.Xu Xusheng coauthored an article titled“A Tentative Analysis of the Recorded Legends and Study of Legend Age”（“Shilun chuanshuo cailiao de zhengli yu chuanshuo shidai de yanjiu”）.His interest in legends continued in the 1950s though.In the 1960s，in the last part of his article titled“On Some Questions about the Yangshao Culture”（“Guanyu Yangshao wenhua de ruogan wenti”），again he turned his attention to the relationship between the Yangshao culture and legends in ancient history.In the 1970s，for Jilin University’s archaeological teaching and fieldtrip，he himself chose a location in the basin of the Sangganhe River，northwest of Hebei Province，where important clues were finally discovered of the encounter between the Yangshao culture in the south and the Hongshan culture in the north.In the 1980s in particular，when many places in China witnessed new discoveries in prehistoric archaeology，archaeologists shifted their attention to the origins of Chinese civilization，Mr.Su pointed out that it was time to reconstruct the prehistory of China and to combine prehistoric archaeology with the legends recorded in ancient historical texts.His analysis of the old legends through archaeological finds brought about numerous new insights，such as the two-part division of the Five Emperors Epoch，the Three Great Regions and Systems as the centers of development，and the functions of cultural groupings and regroupings from the south and north of the Yanshan Mountain and the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River to the northwest and southeast regions.Today these theories are treated as guiding principles in Chinese archaeology.In his last book A New Investigation of the Origins of Chinese Civilization（Zhongguo wenming qiyuan xintan），his above theories are further developed，but unfortunately not yet woven into a complete system due to his death.

When I was a college student，my two fieldtrips and one graduation thesis were all centered on the Neolithic site at Wangwan of Luoyang，Henan Province，while my graduate fieldtrip was entirely turned to Neolithic tombs in Dawenkou，Shandong Province，and the unearthed objects of the Liangzhu culture in regions of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.The basin of Luoyang where Wangwan is located belongs to the Central Plains，but too many pottery vessels of “ding，dou，and hu”series emerged from the late period of the Yangshao culture at Wangwan.These vessels were not originated in the Central Plains in terms of cultural factors，but they showed a strong tendency to replace the local cultural factors，such as painted pottery and the narrow mouthed and pointed-bottomed bottles，and became one of the major ceremonial vessels for a long period of time.Why?Researchers at that time turned much of their attention to the transition of the Yangshao culture to the Longshan culture for explanations.But new understandings had not been gained until two years later when unearthed objects were studied at Dawenkou.Major parts of almost every kind of objects from Dawenkou tombs show distinctive differences in time，a very fast pace of change，and especially the complete “ding，dou，and hu” series with strong typical characteristics，a phenomenon that occurred similarly in the regions of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

At that moment，Mr.Su Bingqi published his“On Some Questions about the Yangshao Culture.”He pointed out that in the late part of the Yangshao culture，the level of social development in the coastal regions of the southeast gradually became more advanced than that of the Central Plains and in turn exerted a greater influence upon the cultures on the Central Plains，as evidenced by the fact that，in the late Yangshao culture，the“ding，dou，and hu” series in the west of Henan Province were nothing but the results of the influence from cultures such as the Dawenkou culture in the southeast regions.For this reason，he tried to make it possible for his students to have their fieldtrips in the southeastern regions，because he realized that archaeological evidence had already reflected the special significance of the ancient cultures in the southeastern regions.

In the early 1960s when I was a student at Peking University，archaeological typology of regions and systems（ATRS）was still a theory in its rudimentary form，but the archaeological specialty of PU already had its teaching and practice under the guidance of some of the basic principles of ATRS.I was fortunate to be one of those students.When I came to Liaoning，I was bestowed the rare opportunity to discover and excavate the sites of the Hongshan culture at Niuheliang.Because of this experience，I found it easy to accept Mr.Su’s theory that prehistoric cultures of western Liaoning Province is“one step ahead”in the history of the origins of Chinese civilization.

In the recent ten years，again the researches of prehistoric archaeology in China have undergone a fast development，but the above mentioned sites have their typicality and position as a scale plate unchallenged.These sites are remarkable in one more aspect——they happen to be closely connected with the groups in the times of the Five Emperors.

This connection not only provides the rare conditions for me to search for the Five Emperors，but also entrusted me with the responsibility to think more about the topic.In 1995 as a response to the request from Root Tracking （Xungen）magazine，I wrote a short essay titled “An Archaeological Search of the Five Emperors’ Footprints”（“Kaogu zhuixun wudi zongji”）.I asked Mr.Su to go over the essay.He not only warmly encouraged me to continue the work，but also gave me repeated instructions on certain difficult problems.And now the essay has evolved into the present book.

The book is dedicated to Mr.Su Bingqi in commemoration of his centennial birthday.