戰國至西漢時期南方地區墓葬常見隨葬品上綁縛標簽,特徵是刻有契口或削尖,書寫品名、數量或贈送者之名,按形制可分為五種類型,呈現歷時演變的脈絡。標簽通常綁縛於無法見到內容物的竹笥、陶罐、囊橐,以及他人致贈的隨葬品之上。西漢之後逐漸消失,衰退原因可能是直接寫在器物上,或被楬、封泥匣、封檢取代,東漢晚期已退出歷史舞臺。
里耶文書標簽大多數尾端削尖,少數首尾平齊,封緘方式可透過封泥背面痕跡和傳世典籍來作推測:尾端削尖的標簽使用草繩和文書捆縛在一起,直接在標簽上按捺封泥,再以細繩封緘;首尾平齊的標簽可能用於「兩端無縫」的書囊;封泥匣用於方底的囊橐,說明秦漢之際傳遞文書發展出的包裝方式。此外尼雅遺址、韓國、日本都發現形制相同的標簽,反映東亞簡牘文化圈有著相似的社會生活方式,為文化傳播增添新的例證。
During the Warring States period and Western Han dynasty, it was common to see tags tied to grave goods in tombs in southern China. The main feature of the tags, on which the item, quantity, and/or name of the conferrer were written, is that the lower end has been carved with one or two notches or sharpened. The present article divides their forms into five types, describing their evolution over time. Tags were typically fixed to bamboo baskets, ceramic jars, or bags whose contents could not be viewed, as well as objects given by others. The practice of using tags gradually declined after the Western Han, ultimately disappearing in the Eastern Han, likely because the contents were instead written on tallies, clay seal blocks, sealing strips, or even the objects themselves.
Most of the tags unearthed at Liye, Hunan province, have been sharpened at the end, while the upper and lower ends of the remaining others are level. The sealing method can be inferred through marks on the back of the clay seals and from handed-down ancient texts: the tags with a sharp end were tied to documents with straw rope, and the clay seals were pressed directly onto the tags and then sealed with cord; those with level ends were likely used for “two-sided seamless” document bags; and clay seal blocks were applied to block bottom bags. With these forms in mind, this article explores the methods of packaging documents that developed from the Qin and Han dynasties. Furthermore, tags with the same features have been found at the Niya archaeological site in Xinjiang, as well as in Korea and Japan, reflecting a similar social lifestyle within the broader cultural sphere of East Asian wooden slips and thus being a new example of cultural dissemination.
封緘方式 文書包裝 書囊 蒲封 楬
sealing method; method of packaging documents; document bag; packing documents with bulrush; tally