China News Service, Taiyuan, February 13 (Reporter Hu Jian) The Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archeology announced on the 13th a new archaeological discovery in 2022. Local archaeologists discovered a Neolithic site more than 5,000 years ago in Yuncheng, Shanxi Province. The site is close to the Salt Lake. , its massive salt industry resources are inseparable from the formation and development of the site, and are of great value to the exploration of the origin of civilization and the control and utilization of resources in the process of early national development.
Stone tools unearthed at the site.
Photo courtesy of Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archeology
The Ruins of Yuan Village, Xia County, Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province is located in Yuan Village, Peijie Town, Xia County, Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province, in the north of Salt Lake.
According to the survey, the Yuancun site is an ancient settlement site with the remains of the Neolithic Age and the Xia and Shang Dynasties as the main body, with a total area of about 1.1 million square meters.
Artifacts unearthed from the site.
Photo courtesy of Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archeology
From 2006 to 2022, cultural institutions such as the National Museum of China, the Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archeology, and Jilin University conducted archaeological work on the Yuancun site and surrounding areas many times.
From July 2022 to the present, in order to cooperate with the construction of ASIMCO Auto Parts Manufacturing Base, Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, Yuncheng Cultural Relics Protection Center and Xia County Culture and Tourism Bureau have carried out archaeological excavations on the site. A total of 58 ash pits, housing There are 4 ruins, 3 pottery kilns, 1 tomb of the Han Dynasty, and 1 tomb of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. A large number of pottery, bone tools, jade tools and animal bones were unearthed.
An aerial view of the excavation area in 2022.
Photo courtesy of Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archeology
According to Wang Xiaoyi, the person in charge of the excavation project and the director of the Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, the main harvest of this excavation is the discovery of important relics such as pottery kilns, house sites, and ash pits in the late Yangshao period that are well preserved. Pottery, one small sand pot and one sand basin were found in the fire chamber.
These discoveries have enriched the cultural connotation of the Yuancun site, and are of great significance for exploring the ancient cultural features and the evolution of settlement forms in this area.
Deer bones unearthed at the site.
Photo courtesy of Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archeology
Wang Xiaoyi said that this excavation is mainly the remains of the late Yangshao culture, and the discovered remains and a large number of pottery and stone tools have enriched the archaeological materials of the late Yangshao culture in southern Shanxi.
Through the archaeological work of the Yuancun site over the years, the cultural development sequence from the early to late Yangshao culture has been completely revealed, providing material materials for the study of the development, evolution, and extinction of the Yangshao culture in the southern Shanxi region.
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