Ancient apes and "humans"
In nature, where natural selection and survival of the fittest occur, animals only rely on their own organs to avoid harm and seek a survival environment. Even the most highly developed ancient apes can only use some natural materials, randomly picking up broken branches and scattered stones to fight wild beasts, digging plant roots and knocking down fruits from trees to satisfy their hunger. This kind of labor using natural tools is just a natural labor. The ancient apes accumulated rich experience in the long-term use of natural tools, and finally began a leap from apes to humans at an imperceptible speed.
Labor is the decisive factor in the evolution of ancient apes into humans, and making tools is the main sign of the transformation of ancient apes into humans. In the process of long-term use of natural tools to engage in natural labor, the ancient apes promoted the development of their brains and began to compare certain regular natural phenomena, and the concept of quantity emerged spontaneously. For example, some women teamed up to collect wild fruits in the virgin forest and found a dense fruit forest. The trees were full of various fruits. The sweet mountain fruits could not only fill their stomachs, but also bring some to their companions. As time passed, fewer and fewer fruits were picked here, and finally they had to give up this place and look for other food. So more and less left a deep impression on people. Other young and strong men went out to hunt wild animals. Sometimes they hunted a small hare, and sometimes they were lucky enough to hunt a big goat. Over time, you can tell the difference in weight by carrying it with your hand or carrying it on your shoulder. In order to catch wild beasts, we often look for tree branches to serve as weapons. If they are too long, they are inconvenient to carry and use, and if they are too short, they cannot hit the prey. After repeated practice, the concept of length came into being. These are the results of contrasting regular phenomena in nature. Through the experience accumulated through long-term comparison, we gradually developed the concepts of "shape" and "quantity" and began to make simple and rough stone tools. The archaeological community calls it the Paleolithic period.
From the understanding of quantity to making tools
Although the "ape man" in the Paleolithic period had divided stones into relatively sharp triangles and polygonal choppers of different sizes, and pointed tools with sharp edges, but judging from the surface of the stone tools of this period, they could not control the stone well to make ideal stone tools of a certain shape and size. The resulting vibration causes physical division. Despite this, when ape-man makes the simplest wooden and stone tools, it is a kind of conscious and creative work that starts after comparing and understanding the intuitive quantities of size and length. This awareness is first reflected in the discrimination and utilization of "quantity".
About 200,000 years ago, that is, the second stage of the Paleolithic, called "ancient people". The tools of this period can be divided into various types: such as stone knives, stone axes, stone sickles, etc., and even composite tools appeared, that is, wooden handles were installed on stone tools, thus greatly improving production efficiency. The manufacture of composite tools shows from another perspective that the ancients have greatly improved their understanding of quantity; when drilling holes in stone axes or stone sickles, one must consider the thickness of the drilled hole and the wooden handle. Only by maintaining relative consistency can a composite effect be achieved. Although there were no measuring tools at that time, the activity of comparing the size of the hole, the thickness and length of the wooden stick, and the weight of the stone ax had already occurred.
The Paleolithic period developed into the third stage about 40,000 years ago, that is, the "New Man" period. In addition to tens of thousands of various stone tools unearthed from various sites, brightly colored, A fluffy layer of ash. It shows that the "newcomers" have mastered the method of manually drilling wood to make fire.
From cooked food to the use of high temperature
The "Book of Rites" records: "In the past, the kings had rice cremated. They ate grass and trees, and the meat of birds and beasts, and their feathers." The "new man" of this period was in the process of evolving from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic. The use of fire and the invention of bone needles finally broke away from the "eating of hair and blood". The naked life was completely separated from the animal kingdom and began to enter the ancient civilization stage.
"Fire" has always existed in nature, and it is only used when human society and economy develop to a certain height. After hundreds of thousands of years of evolution from "ancient apes" to "humans", they gradually changed from fearing and avoiding fire to preserving fire...
...Sound to the ancestors They have continuously developed a high perceptual understanding of it in practice. They teach it based on experience when firing pottery and smelting metal, and control the temperature by visually observing the changes in firelight. There is a record about observing the fire conditions in "Kaogong Ji": During the melting process of copper and tin, black and turbid gas is produced first, and as the temperature rises, yellow-white, bluish-white and cyan gases are produced successively. At this time, it can be cast. . Similar to the method of observing fire, there is also a saying in "Han Feizi": "Look at the forged tin and detect the green and yellow color". After people gained an understanding of quantity, they gradually began simple measurement activities. Take the living conditions as an example: for a long time, our ancestors lived a life of weathering the wind and rain, eating and sleeping in the open air. Sometimes they "make nests out of trees" in large forests that block the sky and the sun, and sometimes they migrate to winding hills to find caves to live in to avoid wind and rain. With the continuous improvement of production tools, people are no longer satisfied with living in unstable trees or dark and humid caves, but require a relatively stable and comfortable residence and begin the work of building houses.
Xi'an is one of the birthplaces of ancient Chinese culture. It is surrounded by mountains and rivers, has moderate temperatures and fertile land. It is a good place for clans and tribes to settle. In 1953, a typical Yangshao cultural site was excavated in the north of Banpo Village on the east bank of the Chan River in the suburbs of Xi'an, which opened the curtain on the original commune. The state has also built a unique Banpo Heritage Museum here.
Entering the museum hall feels like visiting a village where primitive people lived thousands of years ago. You overlook the foundations of round and square houses, touch the simple tools soaked with the blood and sweat of your ancestors, and look around at the paintings painted by painters. In the pictures of the work and life of the commune villagers, it seems that some strong people wearing animal skins are building low earth houses with their hands and feet. Others carried wooden sticks and ran happily carrying the hunted beasts on their backs. And the clan chief led everyone to cultivate pieces of wasteland. These scenes full of exciting life scenes are presented one after another.
Banpo Village is divided into three parts: residential area, pottery making area and clan cemetery. The residential area is in the center of the village and is also its main component. The styles of houses are different, mainly square and round. To build square and round houses, measuring tools are indispensable. It is said in "Zi Zi": "The ancients were the rules and standards for the world to imitate." According to legend, Jue was a person from the emperor's era, and it is also said that he was a person from the Yao and Shun era. Although the era cannot be determined, the foundations of these round and square houses in clan villages dating back six to seven thousand years ago are enough to show that primitive society already had tools for drawing circles and squares. A simple measurement of length is essential when building a house. For example, if you use "rule" to draw a circle, how big is the diameter of the circle? If you use "rectangle" to draw a square, how long should each side be to make it suitable for habitation. How deep to dig a semi-underground house underground and how high to build the walls on the ground are all inseparable from "number" and "quantity". When humans were building the most primitive houses, each builder could measure the foundation according to his or her own steps or pull ropes. When cutting wood, just bring your own standards, use your arm or height to compare the length, and use your hand to measure the thickness to help remember. There are no requirements for the accuracy of measurements, no need for unified units and the establishment of unified standards.
In the Lintongzhai residential area ruins of the same type as Banpo, we can also see the general situation of housing planning at that time. Within the more than 8,000 square meters that have been excavated, there are more than 90 houses, including four large square houses. The largest one has an area of ??about 120 square meters, and the remaining three have an area of ??about 80 square meters. One of them has four foundations. Both are 9.1 meters long. It can be inferred that measurements were taken during construction. According to the production level at that time, to build such a large and spacious house, a certain amount of labor force was often required to work together. When working together and making comparative measurements, it was possible to temporarily stipulate a unified length standard. , compare with each other if necessary. After the house is built, this temporary standard is often abandoned and will not become a unified standard for building all houses. When building their own small houses, the area sizes were only approximately the same. When stepping or pulling ropes to determine the foundation of a house, there will be no dispute even if the steps are of different sizes. According to archaeological excavation reports, in addition to many houses, the Banpo site also has many cellars, which were communal warehouses of clan communes. In one of the large cellars, a layer of rotten millet (millet) with a thickness of 18 cm was found. . There was so much stored grain. Is it because the production efficiency was already very high at that time and there was too much grain to eat? If you think of it that way, the clan commune is too idealistic.
Millet is a relatively drought-tolerant crop and is suitable for growing on loess soil. Clan villagers in the Yellow River Basin cultivated a large amount of wasteland by cutting it down and burning it. The wasteland cultivated by fire is soft and has a certain degree of fertility. As long as you sow seeds and cultivate it, you can harvest something that year. Although agricultural production has brought a relatively stable source of livelihood, it is still in the period when stone axes and stone sickles are the main tools. It is conceivable that the harvest is low. It is not possible to make a living just by growing crops. Most of the time You also have to go out to hunt and collect wild plants. When collective labor can only maintain basic living conditions, clan communes have no private property, and everyone still lives in a primitive communist society with collective production and distribution. Under such low-level living conditions, why is there so much food in the underground kiln? It turns out that these are the collective grain reserves of the clan commune. In fact, the Banpo villagers gradually realized the necessity of storing grain through the accumulation of long-term life experience. In the early days, during the harvest season, the clan chiefs distributed all the food to everyone according to their population. After getting more food, everyone no longer goes out to find other food to supplement. Once these foods are used up, especially when winter comes and no other food can be found in nature, many people will die one after another due to lack of food for a long time. Many years have passed before people gradually realized that they should not divide and eat all the food during harvest, but should reserve some. After discussion at the clan council, it was decided to distribute only part of the grain to everyone during the harvest season, and store the rest. The insufficient part would still be supplemented by gathering and hunting. When the weather is cold, the stored grain would be used. Food is distributed to everyone. This greatly reduced the number of deaths due to starvation.
In the era of dividing the food and eating it all, you can temporarily find a clay pot as a distribution tool, and everyone can get basically the same amount of food. You can find a new one next time. When there is storage activity, it is necessary to consider how much to store to survive the cold winter.
So we used the method of "tying knots to record events" to record the harvest of the previous year, and use the same clay pot to measure it the next year. In this way, year after year, I finally summed up an experience and knew how much should be allocated and how much should be stored. At this time, one or several containers are selected and used every year to measure and distribute grain. Over time, these instruments become fixed measuring instruments within a certain range. However, since unified units and fixed values ??had not yet been developed at that time, these measuring instruments could not be called true weights and measures. Production tools are an objective measure of the level of productivity development. The transformation of matrilineal clan communes into patrilineal clan communes is first reflected in the obvious progress in production tools. A large number of stone tools unearthed from various places during this period were generally polished. Large stone axes, stone knives, stone adzes, etc., after grinding, all show regular shapes, clear outlines, and sharp edges, which greatly improves the efficiency of felling trees and reclaiming wasteland. The advancement of production tools has promoted the development of agriculture and also led to the prosperity of the breeding industry. Under the condition that basic living conditions are guaranteed, a small number of people are separated from the production of front-line daily necessities and engaged in handicraft labor, and an independent production department is gradually formed. With the development of productive forces, men's status in society changes, prompting the transition from matriarchy to patriarchy. The great social division of labor resulted in status differences among members of clan communes, which objectively promoted the emergence of the concept of private ownership. The greed for wealth has also caused changes in human ideology, that is, the concept of equal distribution has been shaken. Significant changes in the distribution system make the distribution method much more complex than when it is distributed equally. In order to have a relatively stable concept of quantity, retaining a few instruments specially used for measurement first appeared in patriarchal clan society.
In 1983, archaeologists excavated a rare large-scale "palace-style" building, numbered F901, at the Dadiwan Neolithic site in Qin'an, Gansu. After comprehensive research and textual research, the excavators believe that it should be a site where family private ownership emerged and entered the patriarchal clan society. It is worth paying special attention to the fact that a set of pottery with a multiple capacity ratio and an unusual shape for ordinary containers and sacrificial vessels was unearthed at the F901 house site: bar-shaped plates, shovel-shaped cups, skip-shaped cups and four-handled deep-belly jars . Researchers believe that these four pieces of pottery, whose capacities are roughly in proportion to each other, are special measuring vessels that appeared to solve the problem of reasonable distribution after the emergence of private ownership. The reasons are as follows: The F901 house ruins are grand in scale and the project is extensive. It is a large-scale building that requires hundreds or even thousands of labor days and mobilizes the entire clan to build. Based on the analysis of the structure of the house and the surrounding environment, it is likely to be an activity place for tribes or tribal alliances. It is a "palace-style" building mainly used for gatherings, sacrifices, or holding certain ceremonies. Four pieces of pottery were placed on the main indoor living surface of the house foundation site together with other sacrificial ritual vessels such as pottery tripods. After the artifacts were repaired, the sizes of the four artifacts were measured and the volume ratios between them were roughly 1:10, 1:20, and 1:100. That is, 1 four-handled deep-belly pot = 5 skip-shaped pots = 10 shovel-shaped pots = 100 bar-shaped plates. However, it must be noted that the shapes of these four pottery vessels are very irregular and were greatly damaged when they were unearthed. Even after repairs, it is difficult to accurately reflect their volumes. This set of data was calculated by archaeologists using modern methods after restoring the artifacts. Such a precise proportional relationship was difficult to achieve at the time. Even so, there is a rough multiple relationship between these four pieces of pottery. It is possible that tribal leaders used them to distribute and measure grain. It is impossible to verify whether these measuring instruments had special unit names at that time. Cold comes and summer comes, spring blooms and autumn brings fruit. Primitive agriculture is the process of collecting and protecting wild plants. Through long-term observation and practice, we gradually understand the growth patterns of annual grasses and plants. Starting with phenology—the evolution of plants, migration, and entry and exit phenomena of animals—is the earliest way to explore seasonal changes throughout the year. In our country, the transition from phenology to astrological determination of agricultural time was completed before the Shang Dynasty at the latest. "Book of Jin·Lv Li Zhi" says: "The calendar is used to record farming, and the months are used to record things. The origin of this is far-reaching." It means: using the four seasons to record agriculture, and using each month to record things, the origin In very distant ancient times, it was regarded as extremely important. It is recorded in ancient books: "The Yellow Emperor sent Xihe to predict the sun, and the Changyi to predict the moon. The astrological energy was determined in a moment, Linglun created the laws and regulations, Da Nao made Jiazi, and Li Shou made arithmetic." (See "Shiben"), that is, as early as the Yellow Emperor At that time, he ordered his ministers Xi and He to observe the sun, Chang Yi to observe the moon, Ji District to observe the stars, Ling Lun to compile music rhythms, and Da Ru to compile the method of Jiazi year, and ordered Li Shou to do the counting. "Shangshu·Yao Dian" also contains: "The calendar is like the sun, moon and stars, and it is respectful to teach people the time." "Xijihe, the period is three hundred and sixty days, and there are six days, and the leap month is used to determine the four o'clock." "Lixiang" The verb explanation here is to observe the movement of the sun, moon and stars to determine the spring, summer, autumn and winter, and stipulate that there are 366 days in a year, and the leap months are used to determine the four seasons. Due to the need to determine the farming season, a ruler must take advantage of the situation and conduct a timing ceremony. The word "respectfully teaches" contains the calendar number issued by the emperor on behalf of heaven, which shows the extreme importance to the calendar. What is a calendar? Simply put, it is a long-term timing system created by people to meet the needs of production practice. Specifically, it is the artificial arrangement of year, month, day and time.
Although there is no written record of my country’s earliest calendar knowledge, the astronomical knowledge of the prehistoric period can still be sporadically confirmed from the images drawn on unearthed artifacts.
From 1960 to 1973, pottery unearthed from the Longshan Cultural Site in Dawenkou, Shandong Province, was painted with patterns of "sun", "moon", "cloud" and "mountain". Graphically we see the sun clinging to the clouds and jagged mountain tops. The clouds on the mountain hold out the rising sun, creating a morning scene. It reflects that as far back as 4,500 years ago in the Neolithic Age, people had mastered certain knowledge related to "sunrise" and "sunset". This is actually the most primitive concept of time. Later, from 1972 to 1976, some painted pottery sherds with sun patterns, crescent patterns, and moon patterns were unearthed at the Dahe Village site in Zhengzhou of the Yangshao Culture, providing insights into the observation of celestial phenomena by prehistoric people about 3070 to 3790 years ago. material. In the restoration map drawn based on the size and shape of the sun pattern on the pottery sherds, it can be seen that the people of Dahe Village, who lived in a matriarchal society, had begun to evenly divide the sun's path around the starry sky into 12 equal parts. It can be further speculated that people at that time had mastered the astronomical knowledge and calendar concepts of dividing a year into 12 months and a solar month into 30 days.
Before the emergence of writing, the only way to express and transmit these calendar knowledge was to express numbers through knotted ropes and wooden logs, and to use graphics to illustrate them. And the "Qimu Ji Shi" is definitely not just the imagination of future generations. Although the meaning of the various symbols engraved on the rim of the pottery bowl unearthed at the Banpo site is not yet known for sure, they are likely to be records of time numbers or indications of certain important events. At that time, the most important concern of everyone from rulers to ethnic groups was to obtain more crops to satisfy their hunger. If those symbols are not closely related to the calendar, it is speculated that there must be other ways of expressing them, but unfortunately it has not been confirmed yet.
The first person in ancient China to establish standards of weights and measures - Dayu who controlled floods
"As small as Yu, I am like a fish." "Micro" is used here as an explanation. This was the sigh of the ancients facing the rolling Yellow River; if Dayu had not controlled the water, we would have become fish and shrimps in the water (see "Zuo Zhuan: The Ninth Year of Zhaogong"). Looking through ancient Chinese books, there are many stories about Gun and Yu's flood control. It is said that three or four thousand years ago, a huge flood occurred in the Yellow River Basin, and the flooding lasted for decades. "Mencius" said that at that time, there was a vast expanse of white everywhere; the floods were flowing across the sky, the crops were not harvested, and the beasts were threatening people. Mr. Gong, who is famous for his flood control, used the method of shoveling high areas to fill low areas, but failed several times. When catastrophic floods threaten people's survival, tribal chiefs have to pay great attention. "Shangshu Yaodian" says: Emperor Yao was worried about flooding. Ask everyone who can control the water. Siyue Gong recommended Gun, the chief of the Xia tribe. "Shang Shu·Hong Fan" records: "Gun Mi floods." Annihilation means suffocation. "Guoyu·Zhouyu" also records: "There is a person who worships Bo Gun... and claims that it is the fault of Zhu*Gonggong." It means that he improperly followed the old method of the Japanese Gong family, that is, "If you want to block hundreds of rivers, you will drop high hills and valleys to harm the world." In order to prevent water flow, he cut the high places flat, filled the low places, and built Embankments and earth fences are used to protect residential areas and farmland. Under the conditions at that time when the working tools were very simple, it was almost impossible to build or build embankments strong enough to block the ferocious floods. This kind of method of treating the head when it hurts and the foot when it hurts will never succeed. Gun failed and was driven far away.
If the flood problem has not been eliminated, another wise person must be recruited to control the water. Siyue again recommended Gun's son Yu to inherit his father's legacy. Yu was ordered to control the floods. On the one hand, he invited the three clan chiefs Qi, Houji, and Gaotao to lead the tribesmen to join the flood control process. On the other hand, he carefully summarized the lessons of previous failures and found out that the reason for the failure was that he failed to observe the flow of water and did not understand the natural conditions of mountains, rivers and swamps, so he could not take advantage of the situation to eliminate floods. "Huainanzi" says: "That's why Yu decided to duke it because water was his teacher." "Du" means ditch, and "yin" is used as a basis or explanation. He also said: "The dredging of rivers leads to the sea in the east because of the flow of water." They all say that Yu's flood control has summarized the law of water flowing to lower places, dredged waterways according to the flow of water, and accelerated the discharge of floods. "Shang Shu Yu Gong" roughly describes the areas Yu inspected and passed through, which is basically consistent with the trend of China's terrain, which is higher in the west and lower in the east. Various historical records also record that Yu traveled abroad for many years, traveling through mountains and rivers, exploring water sources, and dredging waterways. "Historical Records of the Xia Dynasty" records: Yu "humbled his palace and lived in the ditch. He traveled by car on land, by boat on water, by sled on mud, and by horse on mountain... At four o'clock, he opened the nine states and connected them with nine roads. "Pi Jiu Ze, crossing the nine mountains." "Guoyu·Zhou Yu" also said: "High and low, the rivers are dredged and stagnant, the water is abundant, the nine mountains are worshiped, and the Jiuzhou is conquered." These records are very important to Yu's flood management. Field investigations and measurements are all conclusive. Combining many materials, it can be proved that Dayu had a plan to control the floods, had routes and measured them, and finally divided the territory he knew at that time into Kyushu.
How did Yu complete such a great project of water control and territorial division? Measurement cannot be separated from numbers and quantities, so there must be ways to count and measure. Large-scale measurements such as water control must have a unified measurement standard. How is this standard established? "Historical Records" gives the answer: "(Yu) was measured by his body and weighed out." This sentence can be understood as using Yu's length and weight to determine the units of length and weight. With the unit and standard, and copying it to the wooden stick, square ruler and yardstick, you can directly read and calculate when measuring length. Water control projects can reproduce and deliver this volume even in different regions.
Wang Jia said in his supernatural novel "Shi Yi Ji": Yu obtained measuring tools because of the help of gods. When he was digging the dragon gate and entered a cave dozens of miles deep, "the darkness... You can't go back." A monster like a pig came out, holding a pearl in its mouth and leading the way. When they reached a bright place, they saw Fuxi, the son of the Nine Rivers Goddess Hua Xu, sitting in front of him with the body of a snake and the face of a human. Fuxi gave Yu a jade slip one foot and two inches long to measure the heaven and the earth. Yu used this sketch to assess water and soil. Although the legend of Dayu's flood control has many mythical colors, it is still a reflection of historical facts. Whether it is Fuxi's jade slips or Yu's body measurement mentioned in "Historical Records", it is shown that water control is inseparable from weights and measures.
There is also a record in "Huainanzi Terrain Training": "Yu Nai sent Taizhang to march from the east pole to the west pole, 233,500 miles and 75 steps. From the North Pole to the South Pole, there are 233,575 steps. "To control floods on a large scale, we must conduct preliminary surveys from east to west and south to north. Taizhang and Shuhai are good people. Yu sent two people to survey the four directions, and the "bu" became the most primitive unit for measuring the earth. "Kaogong Ji" said: "The wildest step is measured in steps." This unit of measuring land in steps has continued for thousands of years. What counts as one step? "Kong Congzi" says, "Kou means one move, and double the step is a step." That is, the distance traveled by one leg is called "Kou", and the distance traveled by the other leg is called "Step". All these show that Dayu used various measurement methods to finally achieve the purpose of water control.
Yu controlled the floods, the people lived in peace, and his prestige in the tribal alliance increased day by day. After Shun's death, Yu became the heir and established the Xia Dynasty. From then on, the weights and measures established during flood control became the legal system of the Xia Dynasty.