玉石神話信仰與文明起源

The Mythical Jade and the Origin of Civilization

本文考察舊大陸上人類文明起源期的玉石神話信仰，將玉石的崇拜和聖化現象視為催生文明的神話觀念動力要素。通過對比蘇美爾文明、埃及文明和中國文明的玉石神話信仰，確認出其共同史前物神崇拜（拜物教）基礎，以及各自不同的玉石種類和文學表現形態。對中國大陸學界近年提出的「玉器時代」和「玉石之路」等理論假說，做出比較文明史的總體關照和比較神話學的具體詮釋。最初與文明伴生的不是理性與科學，而是神話與信仰。玉石神話構成各大文明的原型編碼。蘇美爾和埃及的玉石神話編碼（以青金石和綠松石為主）由於文明古國的覆滅而失傳於後世，唯獨華夏文明的玉石神話編碼一直延續為數千年傳統，體現在滿清作家曹雪芹創作的《石頭記》和 2008 北京奧運會獎牌的金屬加玉石設計中。

The paper focus on the relationship between the mythical jade and the origin of civilization. Based on the study of jade myths of Sumer, Egypt and China, we could find the ideological motivation which leads the people in prehistory went into the birth of civilization. The paper analyses the mythical jade as an kind of the divine object of ancient fetishism, how develop the early economic and religious ideas, and push forward the earliest international trade and cultural exchange which both impact the birth of city and Bronze Age.