What Were Old Tombstones Made of？

The ancient people's interpretation of "tablet" is mostly based on the shape, and sometimes also on its use. The functions of ancient tablets include recording sacrificial scenes, describing events, marking and guiding.  

In our impression, the most common inscriptions should be tombstones, but as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, there were already so-called "inscriptions". The tablet inscriptions at that time were quite different from the later uses.  

First use: to measure time. "Etiquette · Betrothal Ceremony" records: "East north, when the tablet south Chen", ancient people with stone tablets erected in the court courtyard, with the help of the sun illuminate the direction indicated by the tablet to identify the current time. The usage is similar to that of a sundial, but the structure of the stone tablet is different from that of the pointer of a sundial, so the accuracy of the time indicator is somewhat lower. 

The second use: the fixation of livestock. "The Book of Rites · Sacrificial Righteousness" records: "On the day of sacrificial rites, the king led the sacrificial animals... When you enter the temple, you are beautiful in the monument." Li here means "tie". When used in sacrificial occasions, "tablet" also has a different kind of solemn and solemn. The emperor dressed up in splendid clothes and prayed to heaven for good weather in the coming year. He sacrificed cattle and sheep. At this time, if livestock moved back and forth, it was bound to affect the solemnity and order of the whole ceremony. The style of the tablet is simple and simple, and the base is carved with patterns, which are engraved with words, which complement the whole sacrificial scene. Even more, it appears that heaven is awe-inspiring. 

Third use: tools for pulling ropes at the corners of tombs. In ancient times, the coffin was placed in the tomb, the need to be placed around the tomb to fix the coffin around the stone tablet, and then punched holes in the above, through the rope, so that you can control the movement of the coffin through the traction rope, the coffin into the tomb. Later, the life story and experience of the tomb owner can be engraved on the stone tablet at the four corners as a statement and summary of his life, and this form of recording his life is actually the embryonic form of modern "tombstone".  

After the Spring and Autumn Period, what we know as "tablet inscriptions" began to take shape. Hand-carved tablets developed, and the materials became more conducive to hand-carved tablets, instead of natural stones. By the Western Han Dynasty, the main function of the tablet was to carve characters and record events, and its original use was gradually forgotten by people.  

In any case, the inscriptions are the crystallization of the wisdom of the ancients and cannot be replaced by modern industry. They are collections of great artistic value. The ancients wrote events or their own emotional appeals on them, which is the humanistic care that has been enduring and fresh no matter how many years have passed, and will not be changed by time.