高雄市「瀰濃庄開基伯公壇」及其碑文的歷史研究

A Historical Research on Kaohsiung City's ＂Shrine of the First Earth God of Meinong Village＂ and Its Inscriptions

瀰濃庄開基伯公壇坐落高雄市美濃區的靈山下，學界幾乎一致認定祂就是美濃開庄歷史的濫觴。然而，無論是地理位置的偏僻性，抑或是儀式空間上的疏離感，開基伯公壇與瀰濃庄之間，皆存在著許多難以合理解釋的矛盾。因此，筆者禁不住對於目前有關開基伯公壇與瀰濃庄之間的歷史描述，產生高度的質疑。本文首先從各類有關開基伯公壇的文本中，梳理出矛盾和問題，從而解構既有歷史敘述。再運用歷史文獻和空間文本，試圖證明開基伯公壇的創建年代及其可能的創建者，最後再提出歷史的解釋。筆者認為，目前有關開基伯公壇的歷史描述，乃是將不同歷史文本錯誤接合所致。開基伯公壇並非1736年由林豐山、林桂山所創建，極可能是1850年代由宋乃揚家族所完成。這項見解可修正目前有關清代瀰濃庄開墾的敘述模式，更有助於開啓重新解讀瀰濃地區聚落歷史發展的新方向。

The 'Shrine of the First Earth God of Meinong Village' is located at the foothill of Mount Ling of Meinong Village in Kaoshiung, and has been agreed by most scholars as the origin of Meinong Village's history. However, either the remoteness of its location or a sense of alienation of its ritualistic space seems to controvert such an assumption and leaves many contradictions to be explained. Therefore, it is necessary to reconsider closely the relations between the Shrine of the First Earth God and the historical descriptions on the Meinong Village. This study begins with an examination of the different kinds of texts related to the Shrine of the First Earth God and it lays out in a systematic way all the contradictions and problems which would deconstruct the current historical narrative that prevails. With the help of historical documents and literature on its space, it attempts to re-establish the actual founding year of the Shrine of the First Earth God and its possible founders and offer as a result an adequate historical explanation. It argues that the current historical description of the Shrine has been a garbled version of different ancient texts. The Shrine of the First Earth God was not established by Feng Shan Lin and Kwei Shan Lin in 1736. Instead, it was much more probably built by Song Naiyang's family in the 1850s. Such a conclusion can then revise the current historical narrative on the pattern of development of the early settlement in Meinong Village, and, hopefully, point out a new direction for a reinterpretation on the historical development of settlement in the Meinong area.