Our newspaper, Taiyuan, February 14th (Reporter Li Jianbin) The Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology recently announced 12 important archaeological projects in 2022, among which the Neolithic site in Yuancun, Xiaxian County has attracted attention.
According to experts, the site is more than 5,000 years old and is the largest core settlement found in the area around the salt lake in Yuncheng, Shanxi.
The site is close to the salt lake in the south, and its massive salt industry resources are inseparable from the formation and development of the site, which is of great value in exploring the origin of civilization and the control and utilization of resources in the process of early state development.
The Yuancun Site is an ancient settlement site with remains from the Neolithic Age and the Xia and Shang Dynasties as the main body. It is located in Yuan Village, Peijie Town, Xia County, Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province. It is located in the north of Yanhu Lake and on the platforms on both sides of the Lugou River. square meters.
In recent years, the Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, in conjunction with relevant cultural and museum institutions, has conducted a comprehensive investigation and exploration of the Yuancun site, discovered the ring moat in the middle of Yangshao period, and gained an overall understanding of the distribution of the underground remains of the site.
In July 2022, the Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, together with the Yuncheng Cultural Relics Protection Center and the Xia County Culture and Tourism Bureau, conducted archaeological excavations on the site.
A total of 1,300 square meters were excavated, and 58 ash pits, 4 house sites, 3 pottery kilns, 1 Han Dynasty tomb, and 1 Ming and Qing Dynasty tomb were discovered. A large number of pottery, bone tools, jade tools and animal bones were unearthed.
According to Wang Xiaoyi, the person in charge of the excavation project and 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.
Among them, the Y2 pottery kiln is better preserved. It is a horizontal cave type rising flame kiln, which is composed of a kiln chamber, a fire chamber, a fire channel, a fire hole and an operation pit. One small sand tank and one sand basin were found in the chamber.
There are three types of house sites: semi-crypt, crypt and cave-dwelling. Few pottery fragments have been unearthed. Stone materials for making charms were found in the filling of shallow pit stoves. It is speculated that this is a workshop for making charms.
The unearthed relics include pottery, stone tools, bone tools and jade tools.
Mainly pottery, including bowls, bowls, sand jars, bell-mouthed and pointed-bottomed bottles, tripod feet, lids, pots, beans, pottery knives, pottery fish, etc., and a small amount of painted pottery were also found; stone tools include stone axes, stone Adzes, stone chisels, piercing stone knives, stone arrowheads, stone balls, stone ear pendants, etc.; bone wares include bone needles, bone arrowheads, bone drills, etc.; jade wares include jade rings.
Wang Xiaoyi said that the remains and a large number of pottery and stone tools discovered this time have enriched the archaeological data of the late Yangshao Culture in the southern Shanxi region, and are of great significance for exploring the ancient cultural features and the evolution of settlement forms in the region.
Through the archaeological work at 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.
Guangming Daily