A Study On The Image Of Sheep In Northwest China Before The Wei And Jin Dynasty

About ten thousand years ago,human beings began to domesticate the sheep,the earliest in Southeast Europe,Southwest Asia appeared the domestic sheep.With the strengthening of cultural exchanges between China and the West,the sheep in these regions was introduced into northwest China,and gradually developed an economic sector-the sheep industry.People and sheep formed a closely symbiotic relationship,and began to have a worship psychology for sheep,and the northwest unearthed artifacts on the sheep image also reflects this point before Wei Jin Dynasty.The present study adopted the historical research methods,chart comparison analysis method,archaeological methods for analysis and research.First of all,the image of the sheep in the northwest to make statistics,sorted out its features,age,cultural attributes before Wei Jin Dynasty.Secondly,the image of the sheep on the unearthed objects by classification,could be divided into weapons,living utensils,decorations and other six categories,analyzed the functional differences of sheep image in different objects.Thirdly,the sheep images on decorations could be divided into flock shape,standing shape,squatting shape,curving shape,beast bitting sheep shape,sheep head shape these six categories,analyzed the specific features of different shapes of sheep,and then analyzed the craftsmanship of sheep images,studying these images whether presented special meaning on the objects made of different materials.Finally,discussed the cultural elements reflected by sheep images,the northwest China had culture exchanges with Eurasian grassland region,Central Asia region,the Central Plains region,different foreign cultures were introduced into northwest area,these cultures impacted and integrated with the local culture,these cultures were transformed by people with discrimination,and then formed a unique sheep images.