Chapter 428

All the archaeology experts were stunned!

"Yangshao Culture? Let me calculate~~~ Doesn't that mean it has a history of 6,000 years?"

"My god, is this an artifact from 6,000 years ago?"

"What exactly is depicted in the pattern on this?"

Fang Yang smiled: "It's a pig!"

【Popularity】 +1+1+1+1....

—— 【Holy crap, this is so outrageous? The last one from over 2,000 years ago was already exaggerated, and now we get an artifact from 6,000 years ago? Can anyone tell me what dynasty existed 6,000 years ago? Was there a feudal system back then?】

—— 【They could make containers 6,000 years ago? It seems our ancestors were smarter than we imagined. The strangest part is that they even knew how to paint on jars, but this pig doesn't look like a pig at all; it's too abstract.】

—— 【Indeed outrageous. Pottery from 6,000 years ago that has survived to the present is extremely rare. 6,000 years! That's enough time for me to die a thousand times over. I really cannot imagine how people back then made this.】

—— 【It seems we Huaxia people have been eating pork since very ancient times, otherwise why would they paint a pig!】

Upon hearing Fang Yang's answer, everyone looked up in confusion.

Looking closely, although it wasn't very similar.

The pig's snout was drawn with remarkable precision.

It could be distinguished at a glance.

Calling it a pig was not far off.

They just didn't understand why it happened to be a pig.

In the era when the ancients lived, due to a lack of necessary knowledge.

they greatly revered various natural phenomena that human power could not resist.

Such as wind, rain, thunder, and lightning.

And they used dragons, tigers, birds, and fish or turtles as totems for their tribes.

But no matter how much they used totems, they couldn't possibly totem a pig, could they?

Before they could even ask.

Fang Yang explained proactively: "Ancient people had the custom of worshipping the Big Dipper."

"And in 'Shuowen', there is a sentence: 'Tun ci siming.' Siming is the god of the Big Dipper."

"This sentence means using a pig to sacrifice to the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper."

"So when ancients painted the image of a pig on painted pottery jars, they were making an offering to the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper."

256. The Meaning of the Pig, The History of Huaxia People Eating Meat!

After hearing the explanation, everyone was somewhat surprised.

They were also amazed that Fang Yang could explain the reason.

Regarding events from 6,000 years ago, even if they went back to check the records.

they wouldn't be able to figure it out in a short while.

But Fang Yang could directly state the reason right here.

It was simply unimaginable.

Director Qin smiled and said: "Fang Yang, does this jar have any historical allusion? Can you tell us about it!"

Upon hearing this, others cast expectant glances.

After the explanations of the terracotta figures and the patterns just now.

the archaeology experts at the scene had unknowingly become Fang Yang's students again.

Fang Yang took the jar and smiled as he replied: "I just told you, the pig pattern on it was used for sacrificing to the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper."

"Then let me talk about the cultural origins of the pig."

"From ancient times to the present, there is a saying: 'Let the six domestic animals thrive, and let the five grains be abundant!'"

"They are, respectively, pig, horse, ox, sheep, chicken, and dog, the six domestic animals."

"But the domestication times of the six domestic animals vary, some earlier and some later."

"In the early period, the earliest were three: they are pig, dog, and chicken."

"Especially the pig, which was independently domesticated by us Huaxia people."

"Speaking of which, let me add a piece of knowledge for everyone."

"We all know how to write the character 'Jia' (home) for the country."

"It has a roof radical on top and the character 'Shi' (pig) on the bottom."

"This 'Shi' actually means a young pig."

"In Oracle Bone Script, the difference between 'Jia' and 'pig' is simply covering the pig with a house; putting a small shelter over the pig, that is the character 'Jia'!"

"In the ancients' view, having a pig in the house meant having wealth and having a home."

"So the pig was very important in ancient times."

"From now on, if anyone says your room is as messy as a pigsty, you can refute them."

"That's right! This is the feeling of home!"

Upon hearing these words, everyone at the scene burst into laughter.

The pig is not unfamiliar to every Huaxia person.

But almost no one recognizes the Oracle Bone Script for pig.

Who would have thought that the difference between the characters for 'pig' and 'home' is simply a house built over the pig.

From this, it can be seen that the pig was truly very important to people in the past.

Fang Yang continued smiling: "But the pigs in ancient Huaxia were not the meat pigs we eat now."

"It wasn't until the 1950s and 1960s that those pigs, the Large White Pigs, were massively imported from the Empire of the Sun Never Sets; they gained weight rapidly and had a very high market readiness rate."

"This led to the fact that the pigs of ancient Huaxia were actually phased out."

"The most primitive traditional local pigs in our country were those black pigs, which were very expensive."

"Not the black pigs found in wet markets, but the very lean ones, not as fat as those in the markets."

"Therefore, the traditional pigs of our Huaxia were not only delicious to eat but also much higher in nutritional value."

"Take an example: everyone is familiar with Journey to the West, right?"

"Theoretically, Zhu Bajie should have been a black pig, not a large white pig!"

Upon hearing these words,

everyone present froze.

The discussion about pigs had even reached Zhu Bajie.

But looking at the timeline,

when Journey to the West was written, the author must have envisioned a black pig, not a large white pig.

【Popularity】 +1+1+1+1.

—— 【Ever since I watched Fang Yang's livestream, I feel like I've grown a brain! I actually know what clothes people in ancient times wore and why. Now I even know what pigs looked like back then. And the toilets and fish tallies from before—everything feels so magical.】

—— 【That's nothing. Now, whenever I go out to eat with girls, they insist I tell them stories. I just borrow what Fang Yang said and retell it. The effect is amazing; girls love hearing these things and get completely captivated.】

—— 【Holy crap, it has such an effect? Next time I'll try it too. I used to just listen for fun, how foolish I was!! No wonder I've been a single dog for 20 years; this alone proves there's a reason for my singleness!】

—— 【Now I can conscientiously avoid cleaning my room. If anyone says I'm as lazy as a pig, I'll just tell them this anecdote. Haha, just thinking about it is fun!】

After the crowd chattered for a while,

Fang Yang explained again: "However, in ancient Huaxia, pigs were not a staple food in the early periods."

"For instance, people in the Tang and Song dynasties primarily ate mutton."

"Beef could not be eaten."

"Even until the Song Dynasty, the law officially prohibited killing cattle."

"Anyone caught secretly eating beef would be immediately exiled."

"Because among the six domestic animals, cattle were extremely important to Huaxia's agriculture."

"After all, before mechanization, plowing fields relied entirely on oxen."

"Of course, this only applied to those powerless commoners."