Chinanews.com, Beijing, December 12 -- Taiwan's "Economic Daily" recently published a report introducing Tianmen City, Hubei Province, exploring the local Shijiahe site and finding the origin of Chinese civilization.
Shijiahe site. Image source: Taiwan's "Economic Daily"
According to the report, the Shijiahe site is a Neolithic site in Tianmen, Hubei, located in the hinterland of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the northern part of the Jianghan Plain and the southern foot of Dahong Mountain, located in Shijiahe Town, with a total area of 8 square kilometers, composed of more than 40 ruins, the age span is 6000 to 4000 years ago, it is the largest and most complete Neolithic settlement site found in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River so far, and it is one of the origins of Chinese civilization. The Shijiahe culture, named after it, represents the highest level of prehistoric cultural development in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.
The picture shows the excavation site of the Shijiahe site. Image source: Taiwan's "Economic Daily"
The discovery of the Shijiahe site is quite legendary. In the winter of 1954, Tianmen and Jingshan counties jointly built the main canal of Shilong Reservoir, and when they excavated to the area of Shijiahe Town, Tianmen County, a large number of ancient relics such as stone tools and pottery were found. Subsequently, researchers from the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences investigated it and carried out rescue excavations in the early spring of 1955 on several key sites along the canal, with an excavation area of about 1600,1147 square meters. Among them, the excavation area of Luojiabailing is <>,<> square meters. Since then, the prelude to the archaeology of the Shijiahe site has been opened, and it is the first foundation stone laying for prehistoric archaeology in the Jianghan area.
The picture shows the jade unearthed at the Shijiahe site. Image source: Taiwan's "Economic Daily"
Since 1955, the Shijiahe archaeological team organized by the mainland cultural relics department has carried out more than 20 archaeological excavations of various scales at the site, and found rich relics and relics, which are of typical significance for the study of the chronology of the development of prehistoric culture and the formation, development and decline of settlements in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. In March 2001, the Shijiahe site was rated as one of the "3 major archaeological discoveries in China in the 20th century".
In recent years, the Shijiahe archaeological team has carried out large-scale excavation work on the Shijiahe site and made major discoveries.
The picture shows the jade unearthed at the Shijiahe site. Image source: Taiwan's "Economic Daily"
More than 240 pieces of extremely precious exquisite jade have been unearthed at the excavation site of Tanjialing site of Shijiahe culture, such as double conjoined head jade jue, tiger seat double eagle jade ornament, jade plaque, tiger-shaped jade crown ornament, jade tiger, jade eagle, jade yue, etc., with the largest number of jade cicadas, jade tubes, jade beads, and jade tigers. The round carving, openwork carving, subtraction yang carving and bas-relief line carving techniques commonly used in these jade artifacts represented the highest peak of jade processing techniques in China and even East Asia at that time. (ENDS)