Warriors of Ancient Ba Tribe
The large oracle bone is 42 centimeters long, and has over 100 holes. It is one of the biggest oracle bones ever found in China. The other burial object is the exquisite bone spoon. Experts say that nothing like it has ever been found in the history of archaeology in China. The pottery fragments are helpful in determining roughly when the man was buried. It was 3,000 years ago.
It is recorded that Linjun was born in a shaman family. A large oracle bone buried with a person may indicate that he was once a great magician. In ancient China, the identities of a great shaman were very complicated. He could be both the political and spiritual leader.
At different levels in the same archeological site, a lot of weapons were also been found including clusters of bronze swords, bones, stone swords and bronze willow-leafed swords. Is the dead man Linjun himself, or a relative? Is one of the weapons the one that killed the Goddess of Brine?
Of all the weapons excavated in Lijiaba, the most plentiful were swords. One kind of sword 20 centimeters long was particularly plentiful. Even today, the swords are smooth sharp and undamaged. Researchers believe they could not have been used for fighting to have remained in such good condition.
Wang Jiayou (Research Fellow, Sichuan Provincial Museum):
These were certainly throwing weapons. They were described in the article called 鈥淵anshi鈥檚 notes鈥 in The Story of Sima Xiangru, which says, 鈥淭hey were like darts thrown at targets.鈥 This indicates that the swords were not used in the same way as on the Central Plains.
Guan Weiliang (Professor, History Department, Chongqing Normal College):
Throwing a short sword was like throwing knives nowadays. They were thrown at great speed.
The more was discovered, the more mysteries arose. The area of excavated tombs with funerary bronze weapons stretches from Lijiaba to the Three Gorges Valley. The most commonly found weapons were the bronze willow-leafed swords inscribed with the image of a tiger. Were these the kind of swords that Linjun used to throw? Why were they here in the tombs?
No one can explain why the warriors chose to live in the valley of China鈥檚 longest river. There were violent torrents, huge valleys and other tribes. Their earlier home should have been much safer.
