‘한자고고학’은 “한자에 남겨진 흔적을 통해 그 배후의 말 없는 문화사를 발굴, 해 석하는 학문”이라 정의할 수 있다. 이는 한자를 대상으로, 특히 한자의 어원을 통해 이에 반영된 문화성을 밝히는 학문으로, 이의 증명에 언어문자학, 문헌학, 고고학, 인 류학 등의 자료들이 동원될 수 있다. 여기서는 ‘한자고고학’의 개념 정립을 비롯해 그 실천적 사례로 ‘일(壹)’자의 어원과 상징 분석을 통해 ‘한자고고학’의 방법론적 구 축 가능성을 검토했다. 이를 위해 (1)문자학적 측면에서 일(壹)의 어원과 상징, (2)고 고학적 측면에서의 호(壺)와 인면호(人面壺)의 상징, (3)인류학적 측면에서의 호리병 박 숭배 전통, (4)출토문헌에서의 관련 자료들, (5)확장적 연구로서의 여러 유사 자료 들도 함께 논의했다. 이를 통해 기존의 한자학을 문화연구로 그 영역을 확장시키고, 인접학문과의 접속 속에서 그간의 한자 내부에 한정되었던 시선을 밖으로 확장함으 로써, 새로운 해석과 관련 영역을 개척할 수 있는 이론적 틀을 마련하고자 하였다.

This study aims to interpret the significance as a cultural symbolism of ‘rentouhu (人頭 壺),’ which is gourd-shaped earthenware with a human face sculpted on the spout and has been excavated in large quantities at the Neolithic sites in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River in China. Although there have been brief descriptions on these artefacts due to their unusual shape, there has been little discussion of their significance as a cultural symbol. This study would like to argue that this object is a visual depiction of the origin myth that ‘humankind was born from a gourd,’ a myth that is widespread in China. The narrative of the origin of humankind from bottle gourd is universal and takes various forms in the origin myths of many ethnic groups in China, including the Han Chinese. It is also closely associated with the gourd, a device that enabled humankind to survive the disaster of the Great Flood. This paper draws on graphonomic, philological, archaeological, and anthropological data to discuss the cultural implications of ‘rentouhu (人頭壺).’ In particular, by clarifying the etymology of several Chinese characters including the character ‘yi’ (壹: one), this paper analyzes the traces of the myth of the origin of humankind from the calabash implicit in the etymology. Artefacts from Yinxu (殷墟), Anyang, Henan Province showing ‘a bird’s body with a human face’ discovered in the lower Yellow River region and the petroglyphs depicting the ‘flowers in the shape of human faces’ in Lianyungang (連雲港), Jiangsu Province in the downstream area of the Huai River are also expressions of the myth of the origin of humankind and cultural symbols of ‘rentouhu.’ This study will contribute to in-depth studies of the rentouhu as well as the origins of Chinese civilization. Beyond this, it will contribute to proposing a methodology of ‘Chinese character archeology,’ a convergence study involving graphonomy, philology, anthropology, and archeology.