Ancient Yunnan Civilization--Exploring the Kunming Museum (1)

A friend once told me that to understand the history of the city, go to the local museum. Inspired by a friend, and because of my interest in archaeology and history (although I often fail history exams), I went to the Kunming Museum some time ago.

The Kunming Museum is divided into several exhibition halls, namely the Bronze Hall, the Dinosaur Hall, and the Fan Hall. These halls are the largest of the bronze halls, showing us the ancient Dian civilization that has disappeared in the long river of history.

Since I especially liked watching CCTV's science and education channel, the ancient Dian Kingdom is no stranger to me. According to the current archaeological findings, the ancient Dian Kingdom lasted from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the Western Han Dynasty, belonging to the branch of bronze civilization. During the Western Han Dynasty, with the inflow of advanced ironware civilization in the Central Plains, the ancient Yunnan civilization gradually declined and disappeared.

Although the ancient Dian Kingdom has disappeared, we are fortunate to have a glimpse of the mystery of the ancient Dian Kingdom through modern archaeological excavations. The museum displays many bronze utensils from the ancient Dian Kingdom period. Let's take a look.

The Niuhu bronze case on the right is very famous and is a representative work of the bronze civilization of the ancient Dian Kingdom. I didn't see the real thing in the museum. It is estimated that it is now a nationally protected cultural relic, and it is not easy to display.

This is an exquisite bronze drum. After thousands of years, there is still no trace of rust, which shows the advanced copper smelting technology at that time.

This is called the feather dance bronze ware cover, with a diameter of 54 cm. No matter from the carving on the utensils or the anti-rust treatment of the surface, we have to admire the casting technology of our ancestors.

The exquisitely carved sword, although it has been rusted, can vaguely see the exquisite casting at that time. The sword with the golden scabbard must belong to the king of Dian Kingdom.

There are still many representative exhibits of the bronze culture of the ancient Dian Kingdom. I have sent all the pictures I took to share with you.

This trip to the Kunming Museum gave me the first close contact with the ancient Dian civilization, which brought me a lot of shocks and made me sigh at the high wisdom of the ancients.

The Chinese civilization has a long history. These lost civilizations are undoubtedly not the treasures of our nation, nor the pride of our nation. We should cherish and protect them.