鳥瞰良渚古城遺址公園。

60年前，浙江溫州考古學(xué)者夏鼐的一次會議發(fā)言，給了良渚一個“名分”，他正式提出了“良渚文化”。

如今，四代良渚考古人歷經(jīng)83年，確證良渚文明是目前中華大地上第一個進入國家的文明。

從“文化”邁入“文明”，這中間，需要走多少步？

60年前，良渚文化被正式命名

1959年12月26日，星期六，夏鼐在日記里記了一件事。

上午8點半到12點，他參加了一個名字很長的會議——“長江流域規(guī)劃辦公室文物考古隊隊長會議”，并做了題為《長江流域考古問題》的發(fā)言，報告中有這樣一句話——“太湖沿岸和杭州灣的良渚文化，是受了龍山文化影響的一種晚期文化?！?/p>

就是這次會議，正式命名了“良渚文化”。

先說“良渚文化”——

它是指距今5300～4300年，中國新石器時代晚期的一支重要考古學(xué)文化。其核心分布區(qū)為面積約3.65萬平方公里的環(huán)太湖地區(qū)，向北可擴展至江淮地區(qū)、寧鎮(zhèn)地區(qū)，向南可達金衢盆地、寧紹地區(qū)，目前已發(fā)現(xiàn)良渚文化遺址1000多處。

良渚文化是中國史前玉文化發(fā)展的最高峰。良渚人創(chuàng)造了一套以琮、壁、鉞、冠狀飾、三叉形器、玉璜、錐形器為代表的玉禮器系統(tǒng)，同時在許多良渚玉器上雕刻有神徽圖案。良渚國王和權(quán)貴通過一整套標志身份的玉禮器及其背后的禮儀系統(tǒng)，達到對神權(quán)的控制，從而完成對王權(quán)、軍權(quán)和財權(quán)的壟斷。

市民參觀良渚古城遺址。

一個國，自然是一種文明

那么，怎樣才可以稱之為良渚文明？

不妨先來明晰“文明”是怎樣的概念。

北京大學(xué)考古文博學(xué)院教授趙輝曾對“文明”做過詳細解讀，他認為——“‘文明是一個有多種解釋、定義的概念。小到一個人的文化修養(yǎng)，大到整個人類在其漫長歷史發(fā)展過程中取得的每一點成就和全部成就，都可以叫作‘文明。‘國家是人類歷史發(fā)展到一定階段出現(xiàn)的社會組織，當然也是文明成就的一部分?！?/p>

從這個角度來說，如果良渚古城的國家形態(tài)被證實，它必然進入了文明社會。

不同于世界其他三大文明所處地理位置獨立，面貌較為統(tǒng)一，中華文明是一個廣義的概念，指以黃河流域和長江流域為中心形成的大文明體。實際上，這是由多個區(qū)域文明逐步融合的產(chǎn)物，是一種“多元一體”的文明模式。

如同著名考古學(xué)家蘇秉琦先生當年的形容：滿天星斗。

比如，太湖流域有良渚文化，遼西有紅山文化，江漢地區(qū)有石家河文化，晉南有陶寺文化，陜北有石峁遺址……

距今6000年開始，各區(qū)系進入文明化、城市化、復(fù)雜化加速發(fā)展的新時期，在距今5500年到4000年間，形成了許多強勢的文化和區(qū)域文明，如較早的廟底溝文化、凌家灘文化、紅山文化，稍晚的距今5000年前后的良渚文化、屈家?guī)X文化、大汶口文化，更晚的龍山文化、石家河文化、陶寺文化等。

一直以來，我們都是以夏商為文明探源的出發(fā)點，以黃河文明為中華文明，這無形中降低了周圍地區(qū)這些高規(guī)格遺跡遺物的歷史地位。

隨著探源腳步的邁進，考古學(xué)家漸漸發(fā)現(xiàn)，滿天星斗的文化中，有一些已然閃現(xiàn)出文明的火花。

經(jīng)過83年的考古發(fā)現(xiàn)，可以確證的是：“良渚”是其中一個特殊的個案——良渚文明，是截止目前中華大地上第一個能夠被確證進入國家的文明。

How Our Understanding of Liangzhu Evolved from Culture to Civilization

良渚古城遺址內(nèi)，一座雕像反映當時人民的勞作。?

Sixty years ago， archaeologist Xia Nai suggested the name of Liangzhu Culture to define the ancient existence in Liangzhu characterized by archaeological discoveries. Thanks to the material evidence and studies since 1936， it is academically correct to say that Liangzhu Civilization is the first state civilization in China. It has taken a long journey for archaeologists to understand that Liangzhu Culture first named 60 years is actually Liangzhu Civilization.

Xia Nai noted the historical naming in his diary. Time was the morning of December 26， 1959. The event was a meeting of leaders of archaeological teams working the Yangtze River basin. The speech he gave was under the title of archaeological issues in the Yangtze River basin. In the speech he first came up with the term Liangzhu Culture which describes an ancient culture around the Taihu Lake and Hangzhou Bay. The term Liangzhu Culture came from Xia Nai at this professional gathering.

The Liangzhu Culture archaeologically refers to a culture that existed from 5，300 to 4，300 years ago in the late phase of Neolithic Age. The 36，500 square-kilometer central area of the culture spread around the Taihu Lake. The culture reached further north in Jiangsu and further south in Zhejiang. At present， over 1，000 archaeological sites excavated in this vast region in eastern China can be attributed to the Liangzhu Culture.

The Liangzhu Culture marks the unprecedented development of the prehistoric jade culture of China. The people of Liangzhu invented a ritualized jade system. Some of jades are decorated with a deity insignia. It was through the ritual jade objects and the ritual system that the ruling class of Liangzhu exercised its power over religion， state administration， military affairs and material wealth.

Then how come the Liangzhu Culture is now considered a civilization？

玉琮。

良渚玉璧。

Civilization is a complex concept that inspires various definitions and explanations. In Chinese， the concept is even sometimes used an adjective to describe an individual who behaves herself decently in the public， indicating a civilized behavioral and ideological code people should follow and carry out. According some definitions， ancient Liangzhu was a regional early state with primary characteristics of a civilization： urban settlements， full-time specialists not involved in agriculture， concentration of surplus production， class structure and state-level organization.

Unlike the ancient civilizations in other parts of the world， Chinese civilization is a broad concept that describes a comprehensive civilization with the Yellow River basin and the Yangtze River basin as the core area. In fact， the Chinese civilization is a unity where many diverse regional civilizations came together and fused.

A night sky full of stars， a metaphor proposed by archaeologist Su Bingqi， is a perfect description of the Chinese civilization. There are the Liangzhu Culture around the Taihu Lake， the Hongshan Culture in Liaoning in northeastern China， the Shijiahe Culture in the north， the Taosi Culture in the south of Shaanxi， the Shimao Culture in the north of Shanxi， just to name a few important regional cultures across China.

About 6，000 years ago， regional cultures in China experienced fast and complex social and cultural development and urbanization. From 5，500 years to 4，000 years ago， many regional cultures became powerful. For a long time， the archaeological community thought that the Chinese civilization was largely along the Yellow River basin in the north and that the Xia and the Shang were the beginning of the Chinese civilization. This understanding diminished the historical significance of regional cultures far away from the Yellow River basin. Ample and convincing material evidences from recent archaeological excavations have changed peoples understanding of the Chinese civilization. Now it is agreed that Liangzhu is a perfect case study and that it is the first state civilization in China.