Inheriting the creation of the ancients and opening up the face of the times
Cultural relics and cultural heritage carry the genes and blood of the Chinese nation.
With five thousand years of civilization, every cultural relic created is culture. Before entering today’s topic, let us first pass through an amazing cultural relic and explore a secret that has plagued mankind for thousands of years—the origin of modern man. .
Last year, as soon as the No. 3 skull of the "Yunxian Man" buried in the soil was only 0.62 meters above the surface, it aroused people's curiosity and speculation.
According to the preliminary judgment of archaeological experts, the No. 3 skull of "Yunxian Man" is about 1 million years old.
In fact, the No. 1 skull was discovered in 1989, and the No. 2 skull was discovered in 1990. At that time, the discovery of these two skulls in Yunxian County, Shiyan City, Hubei Province once caused a sensation in the world, and the news about the two skulls was also reported. On the cover of authoritative academic journals such as "Nature".
The American "Discovery" magazine listed the "Yunxian Man" skull fossil as one of the world's 50 major scientific discoveries in 1992.
The appearance of the No. 3 skull of "Yunxian Man" last year is also considered to be the most complete specimen that shows that Homo erectus evolved into a "more advanced race" found in mainland China so far. Therefore, some experts believe that perhaps the modern Man originated in Africa and China.
From "Yuanmou people" to "Yunxian people", archeology has been discovering
From the Great Wall to the Forbidden City, from the magnificent Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses to the majestic Potala Palace, ancient Chinese culture has amazed the world; and these are just the tip of the iceberg of ancient Chinese civilization, those cultural relics buried in the ground with a history of thousands of years Treasures can always bring us into a splendid world of ancient civilizations.
Today (22nd), the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences announced new archaeological discoveries in 2022. Among them, six new discoveries stand out from many candidate projects. One of them is Liangzi (from Yunxian County), a school in Shiyan City, Hubei that we just saw. Paleolithic ruins.
At that time, a large number of animal fossils and stone products were discovered together with the No. 3 skull of "Yunxian Man", which is also considered to be the recipe of "Yunxian Man" millions of years ago.
From the Yuanmou people 1.7 million years ago, to the Lantian people 1.6 million to 1.2 million years ago, to the "Yunxian people" in Shiyan, Hubei today, every cultural relic created by civilization records the footsteps of time. , comes from the depths of history, has a huge time span, and has countless mysteries, attracting a lot of attention.
The era spans from the Paleolithic Age to the Song and Yuan Dynasties
So what are these six new archaeological discoveries?
Next, let us open the door to the national treasure house of art together.
These six new archaeological discoveries were released on the "Archaeology Forum of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences" today. The forum received a total of 43 application materials for new archaeological discoveries from all over the country. Yuan period.
They are: Xuetang Liangzi (from Yunxian) Paleolithic site in Shiyan City, Hubei Province, Sitai Neolithic site site in Shangyi County, Hebei Province, Nanzuo Neolithic site site in Qingyang City, Gansu Province, Yinxu Shang Wang Mausoleum and its surrounding sites in Anyang City, Henan Province , the Bronze Age Site of Hebosuo, Kunming City, Yunnan Province, and the Xixia Porcelain Kiln Site at Suyukou, Helan County, Ningxia.
Why "Yunxianren" No. 3 ranks first among the six new archaeological discoveries
The "Yunxian Man" No. 3 skull fossil discovered at the Liangzi site of Shiyan Academy in Hubei that we mentioned just now was successfully extracted and unearthed at the end of last year.
How precious is it?
Why was it ranked first among the six new archaeological discoveries in this selection?
Let's listen to the interpretation of the experts.
Fang Qin, director of the Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology:
This skull happens to be in a stratum. This is very precious, and it has a clear stratum.
So to take it out, you must first expand the square.
It can be seen at the scene that there is a rhinoceros skeleton next to the skull. We carefully removed the surroundings bit by bit to fully lift it up to ensure that its information is the most comprehensive and complete.
The No. 3 skull fossil of "Yunxian Man" is located on the wall of the archaeological exploration pit, only 0.62 meters from the surface, half of which is exposed from the rock and soil. After careful stripping by archaeologists, the skull fossil was successfully extracted and unearthed.
According to experts, regarding the origin and evolution of human beings, the current general consensus in the academic community is the theory of "out of Africa". Around 2 million years ago, in the Homo erectus stage, it left Africa and spread to all parts of the world.
Gao Xing, head of the archaeological expert working group at the Xuetang Liangzi site, a researcher at the Institute of Paleospine, Chinese Academy of Sciences: There are
very few human fossils about 1 million years ago. Specifically, in our East Asian region of China, only Yuanmou from 1.7 million years ago is more than 1 million years old. Humans and Lantian people from about 1.6 million to 1.2 million years ago.
"Yunxian people" are in an intermediate link, which is about 1 million years ago.
Later there was Peking Man, and new dating shows that Peking Man may have been around 800,000 years ago.
The middle link is basically supported by the three skulls of "Yunxian people", and it should be a link between the past and the future.
Humans evolved to the stage of Homo erectus, and "Yunxian people" are at the key intermediate node of the 2 million-year evolution of Homo erectus.
Its discovery has filled the long-term evolutionary gap between Homo erectus in East Asia, Yuanmou Man, Lantian Man and Peking Man, and has irreplaceable research value.
Xixia Porcelain Kiln Site at Suyukou, Helan County, Ningxia
Fetal white delicate glaze color warm and moist Xixia "official kiln" is extremely exquisite
Every archaeological excavation has opened up a treasure house of national cultural genes, and the life trajectory of every cultural relic is amazing.
Next, let's get to know another "new discovery" - the Xixia porcelain kiln site in Suyukou, Helan County, Ningxia.
If you look carefully at the pictures we see now, you will find that these fine white porcelain bodies are delicate in white, warm in glaze color, slightly bluish in white, with strong glass texture and light transmission. And if you look closely, there is a " The word "official" is actually the "official kiln" of Xixia, which means "porcelain for court use".
This is the Xixia porcelain kiln site in Suyukou, Helan County, Ningxia. It is the earliest Xixia porcelain kiln site discovered so far, and it is also the first time in Northwest China to discover the porcelain making technology that uses a large amount of quartz in porcelain bodies, enamel and saggers. Fine white porcelain fired blank.
A new type of kiln industry: Suyukou Porcelain Kiln Site in Helan Mountain, Ningxia
The Suyukou porcelain kiln site in Helan Mountain, Ningxia, was discovered in 2017, covering an area of 40,000 square meters. In 2021, the Ningxia Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and Fudan University launched a two-year excavation of some kiln sites and obtained a series of important discoveries .
The exquisite white porcelain we saw just now is inseparable from a superb and unique kiln technology; in fact, a new "kiln type" was discovered in the Suyukou porcelain kiln site.
From the diagram, we can see that 13 horseshoe-shaped kilns were found in the Suyukou porcelain kiln site, and mines for mining porcelain clay, coal, quartz, lime and other raw materials and fuels for porcelain production were also found on the surrounding hillsides.
There are firing area, glazing area, molding area, storage area, processing area and so on.
According to experts, the kiln industry technology is relatively complicated. It is based on the traditional technology in the north and absorbs advanced kiln industry technology such as Jingdezhen Hutian kiln in the south. The complex kiln industry also reflects the economic and cultural exchanges between the Song Dynasty and Xixia. history.
Of the six new archaeological discoveries, besides the two we mentioned just now, what are the other four new discoveries?
Let's find out together.
Sitai Neolithic Site in Shangyi County, Hebei Province
The Sitai site is located in Shangyi County, Hebei Province, 10,400-6,400 years ago. It is the largest and well-preserved early-middle Neolithic site discovered in Northwest Hebei in recent years.
Among them, the characteristics of the house sites, stone tools and pottery remains of the first and second phases all reflect the process of continuous development, filling the blank of the early Neolithic culture in the Yanliao cultural area.
Nanzuo Neolithic Site in Qingyang City, Gansu Province
Located in Qingyang City, Gansu Province, the Nanzuo site is a large-scale high-level central settlement with the nature of a city in the late Yangshao period.
The core area of the site covers an area of about 300,000 square meters, surrounded by nine rammed earth platforms.
The discovery of the Nanzuo site shows that the Longdong area has entered a civilized society as early as 5,000 years ago, which is of great significance for understanding the important position of this area in the formation of Chinese civilization.
Remains of Shang Wang Mausoleum Area and Surrounding Area of Yin Ruins in Anyang City, Henan Province
Yinxu Shang Mausoleum is located in the northwest of Anyang City, Henan Province.
Through large-scale exploration and archaeological excavation, the previous understanding of the pattern of the Shang King's Mausoleum has been broken.
The large-scale Western Zhou ruins discovered in the southwest of the Shang King's Mausoleum provide important materials for the study of Zhou people's destruction of Shang and the state governance of the Zhou Dynasty.
Hebosuo Bronze Age Site in Kunming, Yunnan
The Hebosuo Site is located in Kunming City, Yunnan Province, and is the core residential area of Shizhaishan Culture.
After excavation, roads and building foundation trenches were found, 837 pieces of mud seals and more than 1,000 bamboo slips with characters were unearthed, which confirmed that this area was the seat of Yizhou County in the Han Dynasty, and strongly proved the Western Han Dynasty. rule.
The archaeological cultural sequence of the Dianchi Basin from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties to the Qin and Han Dynasties constructed by the Hebosuo site vividly demonstrates the process of the region from diversity to integration and finally into the Chinese nation community.
(CCTV news client)