大石的懸棺謎景

魯曉敏

在松陽和遂昌兩縣交界的丹霞谷地中，以松陰溪為界，南北兩岸各聚集著一片高低錯落的山峰，一片崢嶸險峻，一片跌宕起伏，仿佛一盤殺得興起的棋局。一座叫尖壇背的山峰遮蔽在其中，它是一顆并不起眼的棋子，但在這塊頑石中卻隱藏著一個驚天的秘密，使得這盤棋充滿了玄機(jī)。

上世紀(jì)初的某一天清晨，大石村后的尖壇背被一層薄霧包裹著，一個年輕的采藥人腰綁麻繩，從山頂沿著巖石凹凸處向下爬行到了山腰。這時，他看到了一株長勢茂盛的申姜，他揮舞著鐵鋤用勁地挖掘著，寂靜的山谷中響起“丁丁”聲。突然，采藥人一腳踩空，隨著一聲驚叫，發(fā)現(xiàn)自己滑入到了一個寬闊的巖洞中。驚魂未定的采藥人看到洞窟中擺放著一具厚重的棺木，強烈的好奇心驅(qū)使他撬開了棺木，他看到了終身難以忘懷的一幕：死者昂著骷髏頭，面目猙獰，黑洞洞的眼窩散發(fā)著死亡的寒光。采藥人倒吸一口冷氣，趕緊逃離了巖洞。這一藏匿了不知多少年份的秘密隨著采藥人奮力一撬，終于被打開了。

聽說大石村村民白少華曾經(jīng)進(jìn)入過巖洞，我很快在村子里找到了這個敦實的中年漢子，一看的確有些身手矯健的模樣。白少華今年48歲，說話間嘴角還帶了一絲愉快的笑意，他說16歲那年的確進(jìn)過巖洞，那是一個初生牛犢不怕虎的年齡，在伙伴的慫恿下，綁著繩索順著山崖一點點往下挪，費了九牛二虎之力終于進(jìn)入了停放棺木的巖洞。白少華在這個清涼的山洞中終于見到了傳說中的棺木，那具棺材非常結(jié)實厚重，長方形的棺材中躺著一副死人的骨頭，通體皮膚風(fēng)干，色澤黝黑，但是沒有看到傳說中的金銀寶貝。過了幾年，又有膽大的后生進(jìn)洞，他試著移動棺木，結(jié)果棺木紋絲不動，遺骨被這個好事者取下山崖，后來輾轉(zhuǎn)進(jìn)入了松陽縣博物館收藏。

尖壇背遮擋在大墳頭背、豬欄背、橫背、海螺背、苦竹塢背、包家山崗背等諸多山峰中，一點也不出挑，沒有向?qū)У囊返拇_難以尋找。白少華帶著我沿著逶迤的山路走了半個小時，終于來到尖壇背對面的一座山峰，順著他的手指方向，向上仰望，一座羅城一樣的山峰橫亙在眼前，仿佛切開了山體的橫截面。洞口所在位置離地面約有百米，距離山頂有四十多米，巖洞口如同一道微微咧開的嘴巴，嘴里含著一具棺木，嘴角露出一絲詭異的微笑。白少華說洞窟相當(dāng)敞闊，呈喇叭形，內(nèi)窄，外寬，洞口高二到三米，寬八九米，深五六十米。洞窟周圍全是懸崖峭壁，以古代的科技條件和生產(chǎn)力，無論是從下往上吊棺材還是從上往下放棺材，都是一個相當(dāng)浩大的工程，是一件異想天開的事情。在如此垂直陡峭的山崖上，松陽先民卻做到了我們不敢想象的壯舉，他們平穩(wěn)地將棺木安放進(jìn)洞穴中。我站在山腳，怔怔地仰望著，長久地盯著金箔色的山體，一直看得眼睛生疼，那真是一個充滿幻想的年代?。?/p>

我在江西的龍虎山看過崖葬表演，表演者先將棺木用竹排撐至崖洞下方的溪流中，十幾根結(jié)實的麻繩將棺木捆綁好，隨著一聲號令，懸崖上方眾多的表演者齊心協(xié)力，將棺木漸漸地往上拉。經(jīng)過艱難的起吊，由一個事先下到崖洞的表演者用勾索將棺木平移進(jìn)洞。整個過程借助了許多現(xiàn)代化的手段，依舊是緩慢而吃力，松陽先人是不是也是運用類似的技術(shù)，我們已經(jīng)不得而知。顯然，尖壇背懸棺的安葬難度要遠(yuǎn)勝江西龍虎山的崖葬，前者山勢更加陡峭，而且崖洞底下并不是溪流，而是一處凹陷的山谷，道路也相當(dāng)崎嶇，使得棺木運輸增加了難度。

崖葬是古代百越民族特有的葬俗，四川、湖南、江西、福建、廣西、貴州、浙江等地都有崖葬習(xí)俗。崖葬有多種類型，有的將棺材通過人力放置在距離地面幾十米甚至上百米的崖壁上。由于地理位置非常險峻，崖葬工程量大，難度高，儀式非常神秘，存世的也很少。直到尖壇背懸棺的發(fā)現(xiàn)，才填補了浙南崖葬歷史的空白。

在浙南一帶，少數(shù)出家人圓寂后，也有將棺材和骨灰罐擺放在天然山崖洞窟中的葬俗。大石村對面的萬壽山上，一處叫上橫欄的天然洞穴中就曾堆積著數(shù)十具棺木和上百個骨灰罐，可惜這些積存了數(shù)百年的文物在文革中遭到橫掃。萬壽山的棺木擺放比較簡單容易，只需順著平緩的山道將棺木抬進(jìn)巖洞即可，它與尖壇背懸棺的難度不可同日而語，葬制也完全不同。對尖壇背懸棺，我一直不明白，為什么這種奇特的葬俗會落在松陽？他們是一群什么樣的人？他們究竟是采用什么方法將幾百斤重的棺木運上崖洞的呢？

在大石村的群山中，有一處相當(dāng)生僻的地名叫棺材弄夾，山體中裂開一處天然的大巖洞，凈三開間大，可以同時容納100余人。東西兩側(cè)均是聳立的巖石，加上幾株枝繁葉茂的杉樹橫貫在洞口，這個山洞顯得極為隱秘，除了村人一般無人知曉，成為村人當(dāng)年躲避兵禍和匪禍的天然避難場所。1942年8月，侵華日軍由遂昌進(jìn)入松陽時路過大石村，村民緊急逃往山洞避難，躲過了一劫。白少華說他是土生土長的大石村人，他也不清楚在這些連綿的群山中到底隱藏了多少巖洞，也不知道那些巖洞里到底有多少秘密？或許在今后很長的一段時間里，大石村還會如同魔術(shù)師寬大的袖子一樣，變出另外的山崖物體，讓世人驚詫不已。

大石村，顧名思義，整座村莊被累累巨石圍繞，有的如同佝僂著脊背的佛陀，有的如同瞌睡的獅子，有的如同平整的屏風(fēng)，有的如同饅頭，有的如同海螺，有的如同壽桃，奇形怪狀的石頭拱衛(wèi)著大石村，村名應(yīng)石而生，自然是簡單貼切，沒有必要做太多的文辭修飾。大石更像一座巨大的石頭門闕，門后就是一座巨大的文化寶庫，原本無比笨重的區(qū)域剎那間變得無比空靈。

在大石村西南的一片茶葉地里，埋藏著一個蒼老的遺址，它在地底下安靜地躺了三四千年，它的出土?xí)r間比尖壇背懸棺整整晚了半個世紀(jì)。1982年，一個種地的農(nóng)民驅(qū)趕著耕牛，在這片深淺不一的地表下翻出了一個遠(yuǎn)古的秘密。在這里相繼出土了商代印紋陶罐、印紋酒壺以及西周的罐、樽等器物，器物周身印刻著回紋、席紋、繩紋、云紋、曲折紋，拙樸寬厚的攜帶著地層的泥氣，這些典型的百越文化陶器讓事實開口說話—大石村早在商周時期就是先民的聚居地。占地大約20000多平方米的大石商周遺址是松陽最古老的村落之一，它的頹垣斷壁以平面的方式積壓在泥土層中，為我們保留著一個想象的輪廓。這處龐大的遺址看似與懸棺沒有多大關(guān)系，一個在山上，一個在地下，一個隱蔽在蔚藍(lán)色的天空，一個躲藏在黑漆漆的地底，從結(jié)構(gòu)關(guān)系來說，他們的姿態(tài)恰恰相反?；蛟S，一脈追溯，他們就是懸棺主人的祖先，他們之間在大石這塊奇玄的土地上有著一種冥冥之間的暗合。

尖壇背懸棺，向世人展示出一個千古難以破解的謎團(tuán)，為松陽崖葬保留了標(biāo)本，讓我們目睹這一古老而玄妙的葬制，領(lǐng)略這一古老文化的風(fēng)采。那么，懸棺主人究竟是一個怎么樣的人？懸棺下葬的確切時間是什么時候？松陽歷史上到底有過多少懸棺？這一切都成了解不開的謎團(tuán)。歷史就是這樣，在時間的磨礪中落下了一個個謎團(tuán)，讓后人在翻檢的時候不知所措，又驚喜不已。

（本文照片由葉高興攝）

The Cave Coffin Mystery near Big Rock Village

By Lu Xiaomin

A bubbling stream separates Songyang County and Suichang County in the southern Zhejiang Province. Towering peaks flank the valley. In the valley perches Big Rock Village.

What makes this village special is a cave coffin accidentally discovered by a herbal gatherer in the republican years before 1949. Now no one remembers who the herbal gatherer was or when it happened， but the legendary account remains.

One early morning， a young herbal gatherer of Big Rock Village roped down a cliff to dig herbs. He lost his footing on the cliff and slipped into a huge cave. While looking hastily around to understand where he was， he could not believe his eyes： he spotted a thick wood coffin in the cave. He was frightened but became curious at the same time. He pried open the coffin and saw a skeleton. The holes where the eyes had been stared back at him. He was frightened. He came back and told the story to villagers.

The other day I visited Big Rock. Bai Shaohua， now 48， visited the coffin high up in the cave in 1980 when he was 16. With the help of his fellows， he roped himself down the cliff and entered the cave. Yes， the coffin was indeed very thick and huge， something built to last. The remains inside the coffin were not exactly a skeleton. It was a mummy with the dried and darkened skin. He did not see any treasure in the coffin. A few years later， a bold young man from the village came into the cave. He tried to move the coffin， but the huge coffin did not budge an inch. He removed the mummy out of the coffin and brought it back to the village. The mummy is now safely housed in Songyang County Museum.

The cave is situated on a cliff of a hill called Jian Tan Bei， which does not stand out from a cluster of peaks near the village. Without a guide， a visitor from the outside could easily get lost among hills. Bai Shaohua and I went to visit the cave. After trekking for half an hour， we came to the foot of the peak. Bai pointed and I looked up. The cliff looks like a fortress. The cave is about 100 meters above the spot where I stood and there is another 40 meters to the top. The cave looks like a smirking mouth. Bai Shaohua said the cavernous cave takes the shape of a trumpet： the cave is about 20 meters tall， 50 meters wide， and 40 to 50 meters deep. The coffin is placed on a spot just inside the cave. The cliff presents a vertical surface， as if hewn by an axe. How the coffin got up the cliff and made its way into the cave remains unknown.

Cliff burial and cave burial are very ancient ways to bury the deceased in many parts of southern China such as Sichuan， Hunan， Jiangxi， Fujian， Guizhou and Zhejiang provinces. The coffin in the cave near Big Rock was the first cliff burial found in Zhejiang Province.

In some places of southern Zhejiang， cave burial was exclusively used for Buddhist monks and nuns. An easily accessible cave near Big Rock Village used to serve as a cemetery where dozens of coffins and more than a hundred bone-ash urns were placed. They had been there for hundreds of years before they were destroyed and removed during the Cultural Revolution （1966-1976）.

Big Rock Village is surrounded by hills where many caves exist. In August 1942 Japanese soldiers passed by Big Rock on their way from Suichang to Songyang. The residents of Big Rock hastily hid themselves in a big cave in a nearby mountain. The cave， unknown to outsiders， saved them. Bai Shaohua says that he was born and brought up in Big Rock， but even he has no idea how many caves are out there in the mountains. He says he would not be surprised if one day someone discovers a cave by accident and finds a coffin there.

What he wonders is not totally groundless. In 1982， a farmer of Big Rock was plowing in a farmland near the village when he unearthed an object that looked like a shard of a pottery piece. Archaeologists came. Quite a few pottery pieces such as pitchers， wine kettles， and urns were unearthed in the farmland. It is said that all these pottery utensils were products of the Shang Dynasty and Zhou Dynasty about three thousand years ago. Altogether， archaeologists found a 200，000-m2 site of ruins of a large rural settlement. The site represents one of the most ancient ancestral settlements in Songyang.

The underground ruins of the ancient settlement may not have anything to do with the coffin in the cave high up on a cliff， but both are part of the secrets Big Rock holds. The mummy from the cave coffin remains a mystery. Archaeologists wonder who the deceased was， when the burial took place， how many cave coffins there were in the history of Songyang， whether some still exist quietly in a cave somewhere in the hills.