三星堆遗址发现年代新考

New Evidence to Date the Discovery of the Sanxingdui Site to 1927

摘要:

近年来举世闻名的四川省广汉三星堆遗址一系列重大的考古新发现引起了海内外的高度关注。但是, 关于三星堆遗址最早的发现年代, 却一直没有定论。 对此, 以往常见 1931 年和 1929 年两说, 近年来又有 1927 年的推论。 根据四川大学博物馆 ( 前华西协合大学博物馆) 收藏的第一手档案资料———葛维汉《汉州发掘日记》 英文手稿, 同时结合既往的研究史, 可以对这个问题给出一个明确的意见, 即广汉三星堆月亮湾遗址最早发现于1927 年。

Abstract:

In recent years,the Sanxingdui Site in Guanghan,Sichuan,with its great number of new archaeological veries,has attracted attention of archaeological discoveriesch lars from ome and abroad. However，the exact date when the Sanxingdui Site was discovered has remained unsettled. In the past,there were two views on this matter:one setting the time at 1929, the other at 1931. More recently, some scholars dated the discovery to 1927. The 1929 theory was put forward by Tong Enzheng in his article “Jade Relics Unearthed in Guanghan” which was based on Hanji?s field investigation in 1960. Feng and Tong once led teachers and students of archaeology from Sichuan University to conduct field investigations and trial excavations at the Sanxingdui Site,and they also interviewed the Yan family who had initially discovered those jade relics. However,the information they obtained may not be accurate. The 1931 view first appeared in Lin Mingjun?s 1942 paper “The Discovery and Excavation of Ancient Relics in Guanghan”，in which Lin mistook the time when Dong Yidu learned about the discovery of jade utensils in Hanzhou,mentioned in David Graham?s A Preliminary Report on the Hanzhou Excavation（1934 ），as the date of the discovery of the site. Both views were based on information reported by others,that is, indirect information whose accuracy could not be confirmed.In 2006,Xu Jie,based on a paper published by Daniel Sheets Dye in 1931,dated the first discovery of jade relics at Sanxingdui to 1927. A Dye was one of earliest scholar who visited the site and conducted investigations there, his account is more reliable although he only mentioned “four years ago”（that is，four years before 1931 ）instead of giving an exact date. Recently，in our systemization of the old files and archives at Sichuan University Museum，we happened to find the English manuscript of David C. Graham?s Diary on Excavation in Hanzhou. Graham presided over the first archaeological excavation at the Sanxingdui Site in 1934, and his diary is no doubt a reliable source.Fortunately,Graham made a detailed record of when and how Sanxingdui Site was first discovered,and definitely dated the time of its discovery to 1927. Based on this evidence,we are now sure that Sanxingdui Site was first discovered in 1927.