60年前，浙江温州考古学者夏鼐的一次会议发言，给了良渚一个“名分”，他正式提出了“良渚文化”。

　　如今，四代良渚考古人历经83年，确证良渚文明是目前中华大地上第一个进入国家的文明。

　　从“文化”迈入“文明”，这中间，需要走多少步？

　　60年前，良渚文化被正式命名

　　1959年12月26日，星期六，夏鼐在日记里记了一件事。

　　上午8点半到12点，他参加了一个名字很长的会议——“长江流域规划办公室文物考古队队长会议”，并做了题为《长江流域考古问题》的发言，报告中有这样一句话——“太湖沿岸和杭州湾的良渚文化，是受了龙山文化影响的一种晚期文化。”

　　就是这次会议，正式命名了“良渚文化”。

　　先说“良渚文化”——

　　它是指距今5300~4300年，中国新石器时代晚期的一支重要考古学文化。其核心分布区为面积约3.65万平方公里的环太湖地区，向北可扩展至江淮地区、宁镇地区，向南可达金衢盆地、宁绍地区，目前已发现良渚文化遗址1000多处。

　　良渚文化是中国史前玉文化发展的最高峰。良渚人创造了一套以琮、壁、钺、冠状饰、三叉形器、玉璜、锥形器为代表的玉礼器系统，同时在许多良渚玉器上雕刻有神徽图案。良渚国王和权贵通过一整套标志身份的玉礼器及其背后的礼仪系统，达到对神权的控制，从而完成对王权、军权和财权的垄断。

　　一个国，自然是一种文明

　　那么，怎样才可以称之为良渚文明？

　　不妨先来明晰“文明”是怎样的概念。

　　北京大学考古文博学院教授赵辉曾对“文明”做过详细解读，他认为——“‘文明’是一个有多种解释、定义的概念。小到一个人的文化修养，大到整个人类在其漫长历史发展过程中取得的每一点成就和全部成就，都可以叫作‘文明’。‘国家’是人类历史发展到一定阶段出现的社会组织，当然也是文明成就的一部分。”

　　从这个角度来说，如果良渚古城的国家形态被证实，它必然进入了文明社会。

　　不同于世界其他三大文明所处地理位置独立，面貌较为统一，中华文明是一个广义的概念，指以黄河流域和长江流域为中心形成的大文明体。实际上，这是由多个区域文明逐步融合的产物，是一种“多元一体”的文明模式。

　　如同著名考古学家苏秉琦先生当年的形容：满天星斗。

　　比如，太湖流域有良渚文化，辽西有红山文化，江汉地区有石家河文化，晋南有陶寺文化，陕北有石峁遗址……

　　距今6000年开始，各区系进入文明化、城市化、复杂化加速发展的新时期，在距今5500年到4000年间，形成了许多强势的文化和区域文明，如较早的庙底沟文化、凌家滩文化、红山文化，稍晚的距今5000年前后的良渚文化、屈家岭文化、大汶口文化，更晚的龙山文化、石家河文化、陶寺文化等。

　　一直以来，我们都是以夏商为文明探源的出发点，以黄河文明为中华文明，这无形中降低了周围地区这些高规格遗迹遗物的历史地位。

　　随着探源脚步的迈进，考古学家渐渐发现，满天星斗的文化中，有一些已然闪现出文明的火花。

　　经过83年的考古发现，可以确证的是：“良渚”是其中一个特殊的个案——良渚文明，是截止目前中华大地上第一个能够被确证进入国家的文明。

　　How Our Understanding of Liangzhu Evolved from Culture to Civilization

Sixty years ago, archaeologist Xia Nai suggested the name of Liangzhu Culture to define the ancient existence in Liangzhu characterized by archaeological discoveries. Thanks to the material evidence and studies since 1936, it is academically correct to say that Liangzhu Civilization is the first state civilization in China. It has taken a long journey for archaeologists to understand that Liangzhu Culture first named 60 years is actually Liangzhu Civilization.

Xia Nai noted the historical naming in his diary. Time was the morning of December 26, 1959. The event was a meeting of leaders of archaeological teams working the Yangtze River basin. The speech he gave was under the title of archaeological issues in the Yangtze River basin. In the speech he first came up with the term Liangzhu Culture which describes an ancient culture around the Taihu Lake and Hangzhou Bay. The term Liangzhu Culture came from Xia Nai at this professional gathering.

The Liangzhu Culture archaeologically refers to a culture that existed from 5,300 to 4,300 years ago in the late phase of Neolithic Age. The 36,500 square-kilometer central area of the culture spread around the Taihu Lake. The culture reached further north in Jiangsu and further south in Zhejiang. At present, over 1,000 archaeological sites excavated in this vast region in eastern China can be attributed to the Liangzhu Culture.

The Liangzhu Culture marks the unprecedented development of the prehistoric jade culture of China. The people of Liangzhu invented a ritualized jade system. Some of jades are decorated with a deity insignia. It was through the ritual jade objects and the ritual system that the ruling class of Liangzhu exercised its power over religion, state administration, military affairs and material wealth.

Then how come the Liangzhu Culture is now considered a civilization?

Civilization is a complex concept that inspires various definitions and explanations. In Chinese, the concept is even sometimes used an adjective to describe an individual who behaves herself decently in the public, indicating a civilized behavioral and ideological code people should follow and carry out. According some definitions, ancient Liangzhu was a regional early state with primary characteristics of a civilization: urban settlements, full-time specialists not involved in agriculture, concentration of surplus production, class structure and state-level organization.

Unlike the ancient civilizations in other parts of the world, Chinese civilization is a broad concept that describes a comprehensive civilization with the Yellow River basin and the Yangtze River basin as the core area. In fact, the Chinese civilization is a unity where many diverse regional civilizations came together and fused.

A night sky full of stars, a metaphor proposed by archaeologist Su Bingqi, is a perfect description of the Chinese civilization. There are the Liangzhu Culture around the Taihu Lake, the Hongshan Culture in Liaoning in northeastern China, the Shijiahe Culture in the north, the Taosi Culture in the south of Shaanxi, the Shimao Culture in the north of Shanxi, just to name a few important regional cultures across China.

About 6,000 years ago, regional cultures in China experienced fast and complex social and cultural development and urbanization. From 5,500 years to 4,000 years ago, many regional cultures became powerful. For a long time, the archaeological community thought that the Chinese civilization was largely along the Yellow River basin in the north and that the Xia and the Shang were the beginning of the Chinese civilization. This understanding diminished the historical significance of regional cultures far away from the Yellow River basin. Ample and convincing material evidences from recent archaeological excavations have changed people’s understanding of the Chinese civilization. Now it is agreed that Liangzhu is a perfect case study and that it is the first state civilization in China.