China News Service, Beijing, March 18 (Reporter Sun Zifa) New archaeological discoveries in China in 2021 were announced in Beijing on the 18th. Six archaeological projects were selected, including the ruins, the tombs of the Warring States Period at Guozi Mountain in Zhangshu City, Jiangxi Province, the Qin and Han Dynasty Tombs of the Warring States Period in Zhengjiahu, Yunmeng County, Hubei Province, and the Tombs of Tuyuhun Royal Family in the Tang Dynasty in Wuwei City, Gansu Province.
The Archaeology Forum of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences was held in Beijing on the same day. Chen Xingcan, director of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, announced 6 new archaeological discoveries in China in 2021 and 6 shortlisted projects.
Gao Xiang, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and President of the Chinese Academy of History, and Song Xinchao, Deputy Director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage attended and delivered speeches.
New archaeological discoveries in China in 2021 were announced at the Archaeology Forum of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Sun Zifa
The forum on the day was held in a combination of online and offline methods. Representatives of the six selected projects of new archaeological discoveries in China in 2021 introduced the research progress of their respective projects, and relevant archaeological experts and scholars were invited to comment.
——Paleolithic site in Daocheng County, Sichuan.
The Piluo Paleolithic Site in Daocheng County is located in Daocheng County, Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan Province, with an area of about 1 million square meters and an average altitude of about 3,750 meters.
In May 2020, the Paleolithic Research Office of the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology discovered the site during a special survey of Paleolithic archaeology.
In November 2020, Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, together with Peking University, reported to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage for active excavation work, with an area of 200 square meters.
At the end of April 2021, the archaeological team, together with the School of Urban and Environmental Sciences of Peking University and the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, formed a multi-disciplinary research team to start the official archaeological excavation of the Pilo site. After more than 6 months of excavation work , and achieved a series of important gains and understandings.
First, the site has a vast area of about 1 million square meters, which is a rare super-large Paleolithic site at home and abroad.
There are a large number of relics, and more than 10,000 relics will be systematically collected and excavated in 2021.
Second, the cultural connotation is rich. This excavation revealed seven consecutive cultural layers in the eastern foothills of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and found a rare Paleolithic cultural triassic (simple stone core stone flake combination-Asheley technical system-small stone flakes) stone system), of which the third layer is no later than 130,000 years ago.
Third, the highest-altitude Acheulei technology remains in the world have been discovered. The hand axe and thin-blade axe and other stone products unearthed are currently the most typical, exquisitely crafted, technologically mature and most complete Acheule assemblages in East Asia.
In general, the Pilo Site is a rare super-large Paleolithic wilderness site with a special time and space location, a large scale, well-preserved strata, clear cultural sequences, rich relics, distinctive technical features, and superimposed multiple cultural factors. significant.
First, seven consecutive stratigraphic accumulations and cultural horizons were revealed in the eastern foothills of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which completely preserved and systematically displayed the Paleolithic cultural development of "simple stone-core stone-flake assemblage-Asheley technical system-small stone-flake stone tool system" During the process, for the first time, a coherent and iconic Paleolithic cultural sequence of a specific period in Sichuan and Southwest China was established, and it established a reference and benchmark for comparative research on other sites and related materials in the region.
Second, the sites with hand axes on the western Sichuan plateau such as Piluo filled a key gap in the Acheul technology system, connecting the East and the West Acheul cultural transmission belt, which has special value for understanding the migration and cultural communication of ancient people in the East and the West. significance.
Third, the site is located on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The continuous stratum accumulation, intact burial conditions and clear sequence of stone tool technological evolution demonstrate the ability, method and historical process of early humans to conquer high-altitude extreme environments.
This important archaeological discovery is a hot topic and a key time node in the current international academic circles on human dispersal and adaptation to high-altitude environments. It also provides an important ecological background and chronological scale for the coupling relationship between paleoenvironmental changes and human adaptation in this region. .
——The Neolithic Site of Huangshan Mountain, Nanyang City, Henan Province.
The Huangshan Neolithic site is located on the west bank of Baihe River in the north of Huangshan Village, Pushan Town, Wolong District, in the northeast of Nanyang City.
From May 2018 to December 2021, the archaeological team carried out continuous active archaeological excavations on the site, conducting archaeological exploration of Dushan, a famous jade-producing mountain 3 kilometers to the southwest, and the underground ancient river channel discovered between them, and conducted archaeological exploration of nearby ancient rivers. Small area surveys were carried out on both sides of the White River.
It is determined that the Huangshan site covers an area of 300,000 square meters. It is surrounded by three underground ancient rivers and Baihe River. It consists of two parts: the upper part of the mountain and the lower part of the mountain. It is the largest Neolithic site in the Nanyang Basin.
The underground ancient river channel between the site and Dushan Mountain, two ancient jade mining sites in Dushan Mountain, and the underground ancient river channel between the site and Dushan Mountain, which is rich in white marble and quartz, 3 kilometers to the northwest, were discovered. , the jade resource supply system between Pushan.
At present, the main archaeological achievements include the following seven aspects:
First, archaeological excavations have determined that the Huangshan site is a central settlement site with distinctive features of jade making in the Yangshao Culture, Qujialing Culture, and Shijiahe Culture. The characteristics of the integration and development of the cultural exchanges between the North and the South in the late Neolithic Age were analyzed, which provided important materials for discussing the process of social complexity and civilization in southwestern Henan.
Second, the remains of Neolithic jade tool production at the site were supported by Dushan jade and supplemented by jade materials from other places. There is roughly a transition from the "home-style" workshop group in the late Yangshao Culture to the "group-style" production mode in the Qujialing period. rule.
During the Shijiahe Culture period, jade tools were also produced on a large scale, filling the gaps in the Neolithic jade handicraft system in the Central Plains and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Together with the remains of bone-making, they provided important clues for exploring the specialization of handicraft production and social division of labor at that time.
Third, the Fangju-style building complex of Yangshao Culture is one of the best-preserved prehistoric architectural complexes in China. The walls are preserved high, the internal facilities are complete, and a large number of relics are preserved in situ, which vividly reproduces the original scenes of the ancients making jade tools and living.
In particular, the area of F1 in the "front and rear-style" large-scale continuous long room exceeds 15 square meters, which is extremely rare.
Fourth, the high-level burial area of Qujialing, represented by large tombs with a large number of pig mandibles, jade tombs, bows and arrows, ivory tools, and a small amount of pottery, is revealed. Human bones are well preserved and social members are clearly classified.
The discovery of bundled bone needles that may have weaving functions provides important materials for prehistoric textile archaeology in China.
Fifth, relics of the nature of prehistoric wharfs were discovered for the first time in the Central Plains, which together with natural rivers, artificial rivers, and ring trenches constituted a waterway transportation system, reflecting the ancients' attention to and ability to utilize water resources.
Sixth, due to the strong identity of Dushan jade, Lingbao Xipo cemetery, Gongyi Shuanghuaishu site, Baokang Mulintou site, Shayangchenghe site, Huaibin sand mound site, and Nanyang Basin and its surroundings Many pieces of Dushan jade similar to the Huangshan site in Nanyang unearthed from the Xixia Laofengang site, Xichuan Xiazhai, Zhenping Guocheng and other sites are suspected to be "made in Huangshan", which may reflect the production of the site. The exchange of jade tools has exceeded the Nanyang Basin and reached the vast areas of western Henan, southeastern Henan, and the north bank of the Yangtze River in Hubei.
Seventh, the important relics that have been cleaned up are protected on-site in a timely manner. Prehistoric cultural relics that are well preserved at multiple levels have great academic research and display and utilization value.
——Sanxingdui Shang Dynasty Site in Guanghan City, Sichuan Province.
The archaeological excavation in the sacrificial area of the Shang Dynasty ruins in Sanxingdui is one of the implementation contents of the "Sichuan-Chongqing Civilization Process Research" major project "Archaeological China" of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.
Since the excavation started in March 2020, the distribution range and internal structure of the sacrificial area have been initially found out, and 6 new "sacrificial pits" have been discovered. At present, K3, K4, K5, and K6 have completed field excavations, and K7 and K8 have been excavated. Work is over.
The Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology adheres to the working philosophy of "project presupposition, protection synchronization, multi-disciplinary integration, multi-team cooperation", and cooperates with 39 domestic scientific research institutions represented by the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Institutions of higher learning and technology companies jointly carry out archaeological excavations, cultural relics protection and multidisciplinary research in the sacrificial area of the Sanxingdui site, especially the six newly discovered "sacrificial pits".
Up to now, the stratigraphic relationship, accumulation and formation process, shape and structure of the six "sacrificial pits", and the burial status of the relics have been basically clear. More than 200 pieces of gold, bronze, jade, and pottery have been unearthed, and more than 500 ivory have been extracted.
Among them, important cultural relics include gold masks, bird-shaped foil ornaments, bronze-topped statues of kneeling and kneeling figures, standing figures, human heads, masks, "altars", jade, ge, chisel, god tree pattern cong, utensils pedestal, stone ge, pottery urn with short collar, cup with pointed bottom, remnants of silk fabrics, ivory, ivory carvings, etc. Some of the relics are unprecedented in terms of shape and decoration.
The archaeological excavation in the sacrificial area of the Sanxingdui site is of great and far-reaching significance, mainly including:
First, the newly discovered relics and relics have further enriched the cultural connotation of the Sanxingdui site, and will also promote the research on the sacrificial rituals and sacrificial systems of the Sanxingdui site and the ancient Shu civilization, filling the gaps in previous research.
Second, it further explained the basic understanding of "the ancient Shu civilization is an important part of the Chinese civilization".
A large number of relics unearthed in Pit No. 1 and No. 2 excavated in 1986 have both ancient Shu civilization, Central Plains civilization and cultural factors in other parts of the country, indicating that ancient Shu civilization is an important part of Chinese civilization.
Several new utensils unearthed this time, such as the top statue of a kneeling sitting bronze statue and the bronze round mouth square statue unearthed in K3, the jade cong and silk fabrics unearthed in K4, and the gold masks and ivory carvings unearthed in K5, further confirm this understanding.
——The Warring States Tombs in Guozi Mountain, Zhangshu City, Jiangxi Province.
The tomb of the Warring States Period at Guozishan was discovered in 2013. The tomb is an auxiliary remains of the Acropolis, the central city site of the Qingjiang Basin during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.
The Acropolis is located in the southwest of Hongguangtang, Pengze Village, Daqiao Street, Zhangshu City, Jiangxi Province.
The city site is located on the edge of the second terrace on the south bank of the Ganjiang River, overlooking the Ganjiang River valley directly below.
The city site is 410 meters long from east to west, 360 meters wide from north to south, and covers an area of 140,000 square meters.
The city site is surrounded by towering city walls, and the existing highest point is 2 meters.
The moat outside the city wall is clearly discernible.
Around the city site, there are a large number of city sites, ruins, tombs, etc. of the same period, forming a settlement group with the construction of the Acropolis as the core.
Around the city site are Guozishan tombs, Niutoushan tombs and Guofeng tombs.
The Guozishan tombs are located to the west of Zhuweicheng and consist of four large tombs with similar shapes and sizes. The Guozishan tombs are M1 among them.
Since 2017, with the support of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Guozishan Archaeological Team composed of the Jiangxi Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Zhangshu City Museum has carried out systematic exploration, excavation and exploration of the Guozishan tombs and surrounding areas. research work.
At the same time of excavation, multidisciplinary cooperative research and cultural relics protection measures involved from the excavation site were carried out simultaneously.
After nearly 5 years of excavation, the archaeological excavation of the Guozishan tombs has achieved important stage results.
First, it is inferred from the inscriptions and relics unearthed in the tomb that the tomb era was in the middle of the Warring States Period.
Second, Guozi Mountain M1 is the Eastern Zhou Dynasty tomb with the largest scale of archaeological excavations in Jiangxi so far.
The tomb is surrounded by a ditch, has a large scale, uses a multi-chamber structure with double tomb passages, high-grade burial equipment, and a complete range of burials, indicating that the tomb owner has a high status.
According to the general characteristics of the tomb and the unearthed inscriptions, it is speculated that the owner of the tomb may be closely related to the royal family of Vietnam.
The Acropolis was the regional political center of Yue culture in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.
Third, the tombs reflect the characteristics of the blending and coexistence of various cultural factors.
The tombs have prominent Vietnamese cultural elements, such as surrounding ditch, the coffin board covered with veneer, the use of boat-shaped coffins, as well as the burial of primitive porcelain, geometric printed pottery, Vietnamese bronze tripods, copper dove sticks, etc.
At the same time, it is accompanied by a considerable number of Chu cultural factors, Qunshu cultural factors and its own unique cultural factors.
Fourth, the excavation of Guozishan tombs is a major breakthrough in the archaeology of the Eastern Zhou period in Jiangxi in recent years, filling the archaeological gap in the Eastern Zhou period in Jiangxi, and providing key data for the construction and improvement of the archaeological cultural sequence genealogy of the two-week period in this region.
Fifth, in addition to the excavation of the tomb itself, a comprehensive excavation of the cemetery was carried out to understand the surrounding ditches and passages, and to explore whether there were any auxiliary buildings on the south side.
According to the clues provided by the early aerial and satellite images, targeted drilling was carried out in the surrounding areas, and the sites of Maolishan and Chapanshan were discovered. There is a group of city sites on the second terrace of the Ganjiang River Valley, which provides new clues for exploring the settlement layout in this region.
Sixth, the excavation of the Guozishan tombs has laid a solid foundation for the final characterization of the site of the Acropolis and the discussion of the settlement layout and social structure in the Qingjiang Basin during the two weeks.
Seventh, the excavation of Guozishan tombs is a new breakthrough in the archaeology of Yue Kingdom and Yue culture, which has opened up a new situation for the study of Baiyue culture. important value, and provides direct evidence for the exploration of the process of "diversity and unity of Chinese civilization" in this region.
——Zhengjiahu Warring States Qin and Han Cemetery in Yunmeng County, Hubei Province.
Zhengjiahu Warring States Qin and Han Cemetery is located in Chengguan Town, Yunmeng County, Hubei Province.
Since May 2020, in order to cooperate with the municipal construction of Yunmeng County, with the approval of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Yunmeng County Museum have jointly teamed up to excavate.
The excavation area of the cemetery is divided into three areas: A, B, and C. In 2020, a total of 196 tombs in areas A and B will be excavated, all of which are small tombs of Chu culture since the late Warring States Period, mostly north-south.
In 2021, 116 tombs in Area C will be excavated, of which 14 are water-filled tombs, all of them are pit tombs, no tomb passages, and most of them face east; One coffin and one coffin; in terms of the shape of the tomb, the structure of the coffin and the coffin, the combination of burial objects, and the custom of sacrificing animals, they are all small and medium-sized tombs of the Qin culture. Relevant, the time span is from the late Warring States period to the early Western Han Dynasty.
The multi-disciplinary testing research carried out includes carbon 14 dating, human bone archaeology, animal archaeology, plant archaeology, ancient DNA analysis, isotope analysis, residue analysis, composition analysis, process research and detection of parasites in the ventral soil, etc., with remarkable results.
For example, the use of multiple isotopes to reconstruct individual migration behaviors and life histories clearly revealed the close interaction between the north and the south, and provided scientific and technological support for understanding the population integration at that time.
The main results of this excavation are as follows:
First, a batch of precious written materials was unearthed.
In addition to the dispatch policy and the bronze tripod inscription unearthed in M277, a long-text wooden gourd (a kind of polygonal wooden tablet) unearthed in the tomb M274 at the end of the Warring States Period, the full text is about 700 characters, the font is typical Qin Li, and the gourd text records the counselor's signature lobbying The king of Qin laid down his soldiers to stand up for justice, and the style and style of writing were similar to those in "Warring States Policy".
This gourd is the earliest wooden gourd with the longest writings. It is rare in shape and rich in connotation. It involves archaeology, ancient philology, ancient philology, ancient history and many other fields, and has great academic value.
The Gouwen is not seen in the handed down records, but it provides a brand-new policy document, which enriches the political history materials in the later period of the Warring States Period, and is a precious text for the study of social thoughts at that time.
Second, a group of rare wood-panel paintings of burial utensils were unearthed, dating from the end of the Warring States Period to the Qin Dynasty and the Qin and Han Dynasties.
The themes are the first to fill the historical blank of the materials and types of paintings in the Warring States period, Qin and Han Dynasties. It is an important discovery in the history of Chinese art and is of great significance for tracing the formation of Chinese tomb murals.
The Qin culture in the subject matter has distinct characteristics, which provides important materials for the study of the funeral customs, religious thoughts, costume culture and artistic modeling of the Qin people.
Third, a large number of exquisite Qin culture lacquer ware has been unearthed. These lacquer ware are extremely well preserved, many of which are exquisite in craftsmanship, unique in patterns and rich in cultural connotation. It provides important materials for the development history of Chinese lacquerware.
Fourth, clean up a group of rare Qin culture flooded tombs to provide important materials for the study of the funeral customs, living conditions and cultural changes of the Qin people.
Fifth, it activates the historical scenes of important nodes in the unification process of the Qin and Han empires.
Yunmeng is a strategic point for the Qin people to unify the south. The Zhengjiahu cemetery forms an organic whole with the city site of the King of Chu and its surrounding cemeteries such as Sleeping Tiger Land, Longgang, Jiangguo, and Dafentou. The ages are concentrated from Baiqibaying to the early Western Han Dynasty Most of these tomb owners were Chu, Qin, and Han Handi—the witnesses and witnesses of the unification process of the Qin and Han empires. Multidisciplinary research has also clearly revealed the frequent migration and interaction of people from the north and the south at that time.
These materials vividly demonstrate the historical process in which Qin culture and Chu culture gradually merged, unified into Han culture, and merged into Chinese civilization. They are useful for studying the formation of a multi-ethnic unified country in China from the late Warring States Period to the early Western Han Dynasty, the process of the unification of Chinese civilization and its background. Reflected national identities provide typical examples.
——The Tombs of Tuyuhun Royal Family in Tang Dynasty in Wuwei City, Gansu Province.
The tomb group is located in the southwest of Wuwei City, Gansu Province, at the northern foot of the Qilian Mountains. It is mainly distributed in the west of the Nanying Reservoir in the Nanshan District of Wuwei, on the hills on the north bank of the middle and lower reaches of the Binggou River and the Dashui River.
In recent years, the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology has led the formation of the Tuyuhun Archaeological Project Team, which has continued to carry out archaeological investigations, excavations and research.
In 2019, the project team excavated the tomb of Murongzhi, the king of Tuyuhun Xi (the third son of Murong Nuo Hobo), which is the only well-preserved tomb of the Tuyuhun royal family found so far, and a large number of funerary objects were unearthed in the tomb.
At the same time, a combination of epitaphs unearthed in the tomb is of clear age and rich in content. It is the first time to mention the "Mausoleum of the Great Khan" in the Nanshan District of Wuwei. There are also two lines of uninterpretable text engraved on the left side of the epitaph, which may be the text of the Tuyuhun ethnic group.
In 2020, while completing the protection and restoration of 301 pieces (sets) of cultural relics unearthed from the tomb of Murongzhi, a large-scale survey and exploration were carried out in the Wuwei area, and a total of 23 tombs of the Tuyuhun royal family were discovered and confirmed.
In 2021, the archaeological team will excavate three tombs newly discovered in the Changling-Machangtan area in Wuwei area with the main goal of proving the specific orientation and layout characteristics of the "Great Khan's Mausoleum" and enriching the cultural connotation of the Tuyuhun royal tombs. , unearthed more than 290 pieces of funerary objects.
It can be seen from the Epitaph of the Dang Clan of the Lady of Fengyi County in the 27th year of Kaiyuan (AD 739) unearthed at M2 of Machangtan that the tomb group was the cemetery of the Tuyu Hunpengzi family in the early and middle Tang Dynasty.
Through continuous archaeological work, the tombs of Tuyuhun royal family in Wuwei can be preliminarily divided into Chashan village area (“Da Khan Mausoleum” area) represented by Murongzhi’s tomb, Qingzui represented by Princess Honghua and Murong Zhong’s tombs - Lamawan District (“Yanghui Valley” Mausoleum District) and Changling-Machangtan District (“Baiyang Mountain” Mausoleum District) represented by Dang’s Tomb.
The tombs as a whole show the distribution characteristics of "large concentration, small scattered" and the characteristics of tomb site selection of "Niugang remote area, Ma Qiang opened tombs, and ground Zanglongdui".
The tombs all have the basic characteristics of high-grade tombs in the early and mid-Tang Dynasty.
The discovery of the Tuyuhun royal family tombs in the Tang Dynasty in Wuwei, Gansu vividly reveals the historical facts that the Tuyuhun people gradually integrated into the Chinese civilization system in the past 100 years since their return to the Tang Dynasty. It provides a new research direction for the enrichment and improvement of the Silk Road cultural system.
The 6 shortlisted projects newly discovered by Chinese archaeology in 2021 include: Shi'ao Neolithic Rice Field Site in Yuyao City, Zhejiang Province, Geyachuan Neolithic Age Site in Zhangjiachuan County, Gansu Province, Neolithic Site in Jijiacheng City, Li County, Hunan Province, and Jiangcun Site in Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province The large tomb, the ruins of the Southern Dynasty Buddhist Temple in Xiying Village, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, and the ruins of the Beiting Old City in Jimusar County, Xinjiang.
It is understood that the Archaeology Forum of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences was founded in 2002. It is sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and organized by the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Archaeological Journal of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The exhibition stage of archaeological discoveries and the academic platform of new archaeological progress are aimed at promoting archaeological academic exchanges and promoting the prosperity and development of Chinese archaeological undertakings in the new era.
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