China News Service, Beijing, September 24 (Reporter Ying Ni) The important progress work meeting of the "Archaeological China" major project of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage released in Beijing on the 24th, the Kangbao Xinglong Site in Hebei, the Jingtou Mountain Site in Yuyao, Zhejiang, and the Taosi Temple in Xiangfen, Shanxi Five new achievements in archaeological work, including the site, the Shijiahe site in Tianmen, Hubei, the Shimao site in Shaanxi and the Zhaishan Stone City site.
Five new achievements in archaeological work include archaeological research on settlement organization, beliefs and customs, animal and plant remains, unearthed relics, palace buildings, ancient city ruins, etc., filling many gaps in prehistoric archaeological China and revealing the early Chinese civilization in multiple dimensions Genes are of great significance to the study of the process of Chinese civilization.
Hebei Kangbao Xinglong Site: Provide physical evidence for the cultural development and population evolution of the early settlements
The Xinglong site is located in the southeast of Xinglong Village, Zhaoyanghe Town, Kangbao County, Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province. It belongs to the Bashang Plateau at the junction of Hebei and Mongolia to the north of the Great Wall.
The site is located on a gentle slope on the south side of a low mountain on the west bank of the seasonal river Saigeyagou. The site was discovered during a regional system survey of the Bashang area in 2016.
From 2018 to 2019, the National Museum of China, Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and Zhangjiakou City Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology formed a joint archaeological team to excavate the site, with a total area of about 1,100 square meters.
Typical house structure of Xinglong site.
Photo courtesy of the Joint Archaeological Team
Field work in 2018 initially clarified the site area, accumulation type and distribution, absolute age category, etc., and discovered a type of remains represented by circular (or nearly circular) houses and round pit tombs.
In 2019, multidisciplinary analysis and research work was carried out on the site, from the perspectives of animal and plant remains, carbon fourteen dating, stable C and N isotopes, ancient DNA of human bones, and ancient environmental geomorphology, and coordinated solutions to the cultural nature and bio-economics of the site , Environmental landscape and possible cultural development and population evolution.
The main accumulation of Xinglong site is the middle and late Neolithic period.
According to preliminary judgments, its Neolithic cultural remains can be divided into at least four phases: the first to third phases are about 8,500 to 7,000 years ago. Most of the relics revealed are house sites, and there is also an indoor burial tomb with unearthed relics. The Chinese stoneware is mainly composed of a large number of grinding discs, grinding rods, stoneware and fine stoneware. The pottery is represented by sharp-bottomed cauldrons, cylindrical pots and plate-shaped wares. The pitting pattern prevails. In addition, there are exquisite bone-corner clamware. , Dominated by bone-handled stone knives and small ornaments; the fourth phase of the remains dated from 5800 to 5200 years ago, and the remains are mainly represented by "stove"-like stone circles, fine stone piles and round pit tombs.
The relics of this period are mainly the burial objects of the round pit tombs, represented by small ornaments of bone horns and dentin. Among them, the miniature stone beads and red deer teeth are more special. The latter are commonly seen in the Eurasian steppes since the Paleolithic.
The number of animal bones unearthed from the first to third phases of the site is huge. Preliminary studies have shown that there are cows, deer, sheep, horses, pigs, dogs, birds, rabbits, etc. The proportion of cows and deer is relatively large, and there are a small amount of fish bones.
The seasonal characteristics of animal species and age provide evidence to prove that the site is a permanent settlement.
A large number of relics of plants were unearthed from the second to third phases of the site, including cultivated millet and wild plants apricot, artemisia and quinoa.
Among them, millet is one of the earliest relics of millet with direct dating data in my country, which provides important materials for exploring the domestication and early cultivation of millet.
Expert comment: The Xinglong site is complicated to accumulate, and a large number of unearthed relics reflecting its unique cultural features have been discovered. Among them, the first to third stage remains and other similar sites in the surrounding area represent a new archeological culture, which can fill the prehistoric archaeology of Bashang area. Blank value.
Discovery of orderly house sites, long-term use, and repeated expansion of the residential characteristics, combined with the discovery of indoor burials, created conditions for a comprehensive discussion of settlement organization, beliefs and customs.
The rich animal and plant remains found on the site provide the possibility of exploring the occurrence of agriculture in special environmental zones and the production structure at that time, as well as the restoration of the environment at that time. It has very important data value.
Jingtou Mountain Site in Yuyao, Zhejiang: A Major Breakthrough in Chinese Prehistoric Archaeology
The Jingtou Mountain Site is located in Sanqi Town, Yuyao, Zhejiang, near the Hemudu Site and Tianluoshan Site. It was discovered in October 2013 that the cultural deposits are mainly composed of marine mollusk shells, with a burial depth of 5 to 10 meters and a total area of about 2 Ten thousand square meters.
From September 2019 to August 2020, Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, together with Ningbo Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and Hemudu Site Museum, conducted active excavations of the site.
A wooden bowl more than 8,000 years ago unearthed at the Jingtou Mountain site.
Photo courtesy of Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Archaeological findings revealed that there were settlement elements outside the village’s residential area, such as movable terraces, waste dumping areas, food and tool processing areas, and tidal flat areas. Remains such as open fire pits, food storage pits near the coast, and living utensils processing and production areas were also found.
A large number of relics unearthed at the site are divided into two categories: artifacts, animal and plant and mineral remains.
There are more than 300 artifacts including pottery, stoneware, boneware, shellware, woodware, and weaving.
The animal remains include marine shells and the bones of fishing and hunting animals.
The most plant remains are waste wood and sawtooth oak fruits and acorns in storage pits. The mineral remains are mainly a large number of fragments of reefs cemented with oyster shells.
According to carbon fourteen determination by many laboratories at home and abroad, the age of the Jingtou Mountain site is 7800-8300 years ago, which is about 1000 years earlier than the Hemudu culture.
The unearthed relics have certain similarities with the artifacts of Hemudu culture, but also have obvious differences. They have distinct personalities in terms of decoration, production technology and production methods.
The excavation of the site is of great academic significance for studying the origin of Hemudu culture and its relationship with Kuahuqiao culture, and perfecting the sequence of Zhejiang prehistoric culture.
With a depth of 5 to 10 meters, the Jingtou Mountain site is the first coastal shell mound site in Zhejiang and the Yangtze River Delta region so far, and it is also the oldest and oldest coastal shell mound site buried along the coast of China.
The remains contain strong marine cultural factors, which have important academic value for the study of the origin of Chinese marine culture.
The discovery and excavation of the Jingtou Mountain site provides a new perspective and rare cases for the study of environmental changes since the Holocene, the time and process of transgression, the development and evolution of ancient Chinese coastlines, and the human-land relationship of the Neolithic human culture in coastal areas of China. The coastal environment and sea level rise in the early and mid-2000s established precise time and space coordinates, which is another major breakthrough in marine environment research.
Expert comment: The excavation of the Jingtou Mountain site is a major breakthrough in Chinese prehistoric archaeology, and is of great value to the study of the origin of Chinese marine culture and the changes in the marine environment.
At the same time, the Jingtou Mountain site archaeology, based on the field excavation of deep-buried cultural accumulations, has carried out active and fruitful explorations in working modes and technical routes. It is a successful attempt to carry out archaeological excavations under special buried environmental conditions. The archaeological work of prehistoric sites in the facies depositional environment has important reference and enlightenment significance.
The Taosi Site in Xiangfen, Shanxi: It is of great significance to the origin of Chinese civilization and early Chinese studies
The Taosi site has a clear functional division. The palace area, as the core functional area of a large-scale capital site, has always been an area of concern for academics, and it is also one of the most important and direct elements of the nature of the Taosi site.
From 2013 to 2017, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Institute of Archaeology of Shanxi Province jointly continued to carry out anatomical excavations of the suspected palace walls of Taosi site. It took 5 years to gradually confirm the nearly 130,000 square meters of palace walls of Taosi site. Exist, and more comprehensively exposed the south east gate site and the side gate at the southeast corner.
The focus of the excavation work from 2018 to 2019 was to fully expose the largest palace building in the palace. The total area of the excavation was 2,880 square meters, and significant gains were made.
Human skull pit excavated from Taosi site.
Photo courtesy of the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
The excavation confirmed the scale, structure, age and other issues of the large palace building with three rows of columns.
The palace building platform is about 520 square meters. There are three rows of 18 column caves remaining on the foundation site. The bottom of the column caves are equipped with pillar foundation stones. Some foundation stones are filled with stones. At the same time, large palace buildings are also found to the north. There is a rammed earth foundation.
A large house site was discovered to the east of the large palace building. The plan is rectangular, 10.85 meters long from east to west and 9.65 meters long from north to south.
The house site is a ground building with walls, and the ground of the house site is a barbecue ground with hard texture.
The site of the house is inferred to be an annex building at the same time as the large palace building.
A new small house was discovered in the southeast of the large house.
The interior is a white gray leather floor with a square stove in the middle.
Seven bovine limb bones and one bronze relic were found on the site.
In addition, corbel bones were found to be concentrated in the room.
It is speculated that it is also an annex of a large palace building, similar to a storage room.
In addition, important relics such as human skull pits and water wells were found at the southeast corner of the palace building, and a bronze bi-shaped object was unearthed, which is very rare.
It is worth noting that four newly-arranged column holes were newly discovered to the east of the small house site, and they were on the same east-west line as the south row column holes of the large palace building. The specifics are unknown, but the clues are significant and need to be discovered.
Expert comment: The excavation of the foundation site of the large rammed earth building in the palace of the Taosi site has made important gains and is of great significance.
The excavation further confirmed the existence of the largest palace building with an area of nearly 8,000 square meters in the palace, and it is the largest rammed earth building foundation site in the prehistoric period.
On the base of the building, there are two main halls, an annex building on the east side, a central courtyard, and a suspected corridor on the east side. The complex structure and regular layout are rare in prehistoric times. They should be the source of ancient Chinese palaces.
The large palace building on the base of the building is the largest single rammed earth building found in the Neolithic Age.
In short, the excavation and discovery of the foundations of large rammed earth buildings in the palace city of Taosi Ruins are of great significance to the research on the origin of Chinese civilization and early China.
Shijiahe Site in Tianmen, Hubei: Neolithic high-level urban settlements show diversity and prosperity
From 2014 to 2019, the Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Peking University School of Archaeology, Culture and Museum and others jointly formed the Shijiahe Archaeological Team to conduct systematic exploration of the Shijiahe Site Group and the surrounding area of 9 square kilometers, successively at the Shijiahe Site Important excavations were carried out at the Yinxintai, Tanjialing, Sanfangwan, Yanjiashan, Zhujiafentou, Xushuling, Luojiabailing, and Zhoujiawan sites in the group, with a total area of 6,212 square meters and important results.
The Shijiahe Site is the largest and highest-level urban settlement in the Neolithic Age in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. During the main period of about 5900 to 3800 years ago, the culture and settlements of the site have experienced initial prosperity, prosperity, gradual change, sudden change, and decline. Phase changes.
Tanjialing city walls and trenches excavated from the Shijiahe site.
Photo courtesy of Shijiahe Archaeological Team
According to archaeological excavations, major discoveries such as the large-scale city site of Tanjialing, the large-scale sacrificial site of Yinxintai, the high-grade jade burial of Tanjialing, and the professional pottery workshop of Sanfangwan are the most noticeable.
The ancient city of Tanjialing covers an area of 170,000 square meters, which is much larger than other sites of the same cultural nature in the same period. It is an important beginning of Shijiahe as the cultural center of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and it is also an important foundation for the formation of the Shijiahe ancient city later.
The large-scale worship site of Yinxintai revealed 5 artificially piled loess platform foundations in the late Shijiahe culture. The remains of multiple sets of cylinders and more than 100 special coffins containing urns, bowls, and inverted cylinders were found around the foundations. The sacrificial relics are the largest sacrificial places ever discovered in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.
The discovery of Tanjialing's high-grade jade urn coffin filled the gaps in the previous hierarchical classification of jade burials. The 9th urn coffin represents the highest level found so far, and the jade combination includes the head of the gods.
The pottery kilns, loess pits, mud washing ponds, and water storage tanks revealed by the Sanfangwan site are mostly related to pottery making. At the same time, stacks of pottery cups overlap and sinter, showing the typical characteristics of pottery workshops. It is recognized as a large-scale professional kiln that mainly made red pottery cups from the late Shijiahe culture to the post Shijiahe culture period.
In addition to the above four sites, the excavation of Zhujia Tomb Head, Xushuling, Luojiabailing, Zhoujiawan and other sites also made important breakthroughs.
The tomb of Zhu’s family revealed a small family cemetery that lasted from the early to late Qujialing culture.
The Xushuling site has cleaned up a batch of relics such as building foundations, ash layers, burnt soil accumulations, ash pits, and ash ditch related to the settlement of the post-Shijiahe culture.
The Luojiabailing site revealed a loess pile foundation from the late Shijiahe culture.
These findings provide a solid support for an in-depth understanding of the macro structure and organizational stratification of the Shijiahe site, indicating the existence of functional zoning of the site group, and revealing the general trend of production specialization and social stratification.
Expert comment: The discovery of the ancient city of Tanjialing advanced the Shijiahe site as the cultural center of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River to 5500 years ago, and the discovery of the Shijiahe cultural jade, suggesting that the central position of the site may extend to the end of the Neolithic period and summer Chronicle period.
The discovery of many batches of exquisite jadeware represented by Tan Jialing indicates that the cultural development of the post-Shijiahe cultural stage has shown a certain degree of diversification and prosperity.
The settlement center and cultural pattern of the post-Shijiahe cultural stage is still one of the major research topics for future discovery and research.
Shaanxi Shimao and Zhaishan Stone City Sites: 21 graded tombs provide new materials for studying the process of Chinese civilization
The investigation and excavation of the Longshan Shicheng settlements around Shimao, Shaanxi are an important part of the archaeological work of the Shimao site and the major issue of "Archaeological China".
Up to now, more than 20 Longshan Stone Towns have been investigated in detail, involving the first-level tributaries of the Yellow River such as Huangfuchuan, Shimachuan, Kuye River, Tuwei River, and Jialu River in Yulin area.
From the current findings, Shicheng is a typical settlement feature of Shimao Culture, with obvious differences in scale, ranging from several thousand square meters to 4 million square meters, reflecting the hierarchical differentiation of settlements within the Shimao Kingdom.
The stone city of Fuguzhai Mountain was discovered and confirmed under this academic background.
Unearthed artifacts from a niche in a tomb of Shimao Culture.
Photo courtesy of Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology
Fuguzhaishan Stone City is located in Zhaishan Natural Village, Wangshamao Administrative Village, Tianjiazhai Town, Fugu County, Yulin City, Shaanxi Province. It is located in the middle reaches of Shimachuan, with an area of about 600,000 square meters. It is about 25 kilometers southeast from the Yellow River and southwest from Shimao About 60 kilometers.
In addition to the stone wall, horse face, and core platform foundation, the most important discoveries in Zhaishan Stone City are 21 Shimao cultural tombs.
The tombs have distinct hierarchies, distinct shape features, and typical vessel combinations, providing a wealth of new materials for the study of Shimao cultural tombs.
In the summer of 2016, two well-preserved horse faces were found on the outer facade of the stone-built city wall in the south. A preliminary understanding of the age, structure and masonry method of the stone-built city wall of Zhaishan was found.
During the trial excavation of the temple site, a large vertical cave earth pit tomb was found. The burial objects in the niche were complete and typical, providing important clues for finding the Longshan cemetery in Zhaishan Shicheng.
Up to now, a total of 21 Shimao cultural tombs have been cleaned up in the temple site, all of which are rectangular vertical cave earth pit tombs, mostly east-west. According to the burial equipment, niches and martyrs, they can be divided into four categories: the first category has wooden coffins , Niches, and martyrs, a total of 3 seats.
The owner of the tomb was buried in a wooden coffin, with straight limbs on his back, and usually 3 to 4 jade objects were buried on his body.
The martyred was located outside the coffin on the left side of the tomb owner, facing the tomb owner sideways, and there were slashing marks on the martyr's body.
Both the owner of the tomb and the martyr were smeared with cinnabar, and there were white bedding under them.
There is a steamed bun-shaped niche on the right side of the tomb. There are generally 5 pottery with stone lids in the niche. The pottery combinations are usually flared flasks, dippers, deep belly basins, small pots or pots, and 1 in the niche. Up to 2 fine stone blades.
This type of tomb is the largest.
There are four types of tombs with wooden coffins, niches and no martyrs.
They were all buried with straight limbs on their backs. The niche was located on the left side of the tomb. The mandibles of pigs were placed in the niches. There were 10 more and 1 less. They were initially identified as domestic pigs.
There are three types of tombs, including wooden coffins, no niches, and no martyrs. There are a total of 7 tombs.
All were buried alone with straight limbs, and traces of textiles were found on some tomb owners.
The four types of tombs have no wooden coffins, niches, and no martyrs. There are 7 tombs in total.
The burials are all single-person burials, and there are two types of burials, straight limbs and side-legs. The main burial is straight limbs.
This type of tomb is the smallest.
The above four types of tombs have distinct hierarchies, distinct shape features, and typical artifact combinations, which make up for the shortcomings of serious robbing of the Shimao site tombs, provide abundant new materials for the study of Shimao cultural tombs, and are an important part of the Shimao cultural research supplement.
In addition, some houses, ash pits and other Shimao cultural relics were found in the temple site, and a batch of typical pottery, stone tools, and bone artifacts were unearthed, especially the phenomenon of "ash pit burial persons" found around the cemetery. It may be related to sacrificial offerings and deserves further attention.
Expert's comment: Shimao Culture Stone City ruins and Zhaishan tombs show unique cultural characteristics and obvious hierarchical differences, which provide a solid foundation for the establishment of Shimao Culture and are important materials for exploring the social structure and civilization process of the Hetao area .
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