A Study on Use-Wear of Yayoi and Kofun Period Bronze Objects

本研究旨在探讨弥合与古方时期青铜器的意义。为了实现这一目标，我利用了青铜器的使用证据，如磨损和损坏，特别是仪式用的青铜钟(Dotaku)和青铜镜子。得出以下结论：(一)铜钟内表面磨损早期铜钟内表面磨损较大，后一类铜钟内表面磨损较少。似乎有理由认为，早期类型的钟被使用了很长一段时间，而后来的类型很少使用。这表明，到弥合时期中期(大约在基督时期)，钟声被用来发出声音的那种仪式不再发生。由于公共仪式在维持社会秩序方面肯定发挥了重要作用，因此可以推测，某种仪式的消失是相当大的社会变革的结果。(Ii)铜镜碎片的分布和流通在弥合时期末(公元3世纪初/中期)分布广泛的中国铜镜碎片。到目前为止，在日本发现的几乎所有碎片都不到10厘米长。由于弥生时期进口到日本的最小的中国青铜镜的平均直径约为10厘米，我认为碎片的大小受到人们政策的限制，以保持其小于未破碎的中国青铜镜的平均尺寸。如果确实如此，那么就有可能认为当时中国铜镜存在一个等级，即大镜子、小镜子和碎片。这种等级或秩序可能表明当时存在一个中央政体。

The purpose of this study is to consider the meaning of bronze objects in Yayoi and Kofun Periods. To achieve the goal, I have utilized the evidence of use, such as wear and breakage, of bronze objects, especially ritual bronze bells (dotaku) and bronze mirrors. I have reached the following conclusions.(I) Wear of the internal surface of the ritual bronze bellsWhile the internal surface of the earlier types of ritual bronze bells is very much worn, the internal surface of the later types is little worn. It seems reasonable to suppose that the earlier types of bells were used for a long time, while later types were rarely used. This suggests that by the end of the middle Yayoi Period (around the time of Christ) the kinds of rituals where bells were used to make sound no longer took place. Since communal rituals must have played an important role in maintaining the order of a society, it is possible to speculate that the disappearance of a particular kind of ritual was a result of considerable social change.(II) Distribution and circulation of fragments of bronze mirrorsFragments of Chinese bronze mirrors widely distributed at the end of the Yayoi Period (early/middle third century, A.D.). Nearly all the fragments so far discovered in Japan were less than 10 centimeters in length. Since the average diameter of the smallest Chinese bronze mirrors imported to Japan during the Yayoi Period was approximately 10 centimeters, I argue that the size of fragments was restricted by people's policy to keep it smaller than the average size of unbroken Chinese bronze mirrors. If this is indeed the case, then it is possible to suggest that a hierarchy of Chinese bronze mirrors existed at that time, namely large mirrors, small ones, and fragments.Such a hierarchy or an order might indicate the presence of a central polity at that time.