Cultural relics were unearthed from the cemetery in the southern area of the Gangshang site in Shandong.
Photo provided by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage
Archaeologists are working at the Liangzi site in Hubei Xuetang.
Photo provided by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage
Above: Archaeologists conduct archaeological excavations at the Pilo site in Sichuan.
Photo by Zheng Zhexuan
The following picture: Exterior view of the Shimao site in Shaanxi.
Photo provided by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “The major achievements of my country’s archaeological discoveries have verified my country’s millions of years of human history, 10,000 years of cultural history, and 5,000 years of civilization history.” In recent years, the “Archaeology of China” major project of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage has focused on the origin of human beings, the origin of civilization, the formation of Chinese civilization, the establishment and development of a unified multi-ethnic country, and the important position of Chinese civilization in world civilization. Up to now, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage has approved the establishment of 18 major projects including summer culture research, and approved the implementation of more than 200 active archaeological excavations in various places, providing solid support for empirizing millions of years of human history, ten thousand years of cultural history, and more than five thousand years of civilization history.
——Editor
Empirical million-year history of humanity
Promoting the solution to the issue of human origin
The origin of humanity in China is one of the key areas that the major project of “Archaeological China” is concerned about. Continuous new archaeological discoveries provide evidence for millions of years of human history.
The Liangzi site of Hubei Xuetang is located in Yunyang District, Shiyan City. It is a large wilderness site from the early Paleolithic era. Since 2021, the Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology has conducted systematic archaeological excavations on the Xuetang Liangzi site and discovered the most complete Homo erect human skull fossils in the contemporary era of Eurasia. Recently, important progress has been made in the archaeological work of the Xuetang Liangzi site, and a relatively well-preserved ancient human skull fossil was discovered, named “Yunxian Ren No. 3 Skull”. At present, the frontal bone (including the eyebrow spine), orbit, parietal bone, left zygomatic bone and temporal bone and left occipital bone have been exposed. The shape is clear and there is no obvious deformation. It is also accompanied by the unearth of a large number of animal fossils and stone products. Gao Xing, a researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the Yunxian people are at a critical juncture in the evolution of Homo erectus. Skull No. 3 is the most complete Homo skull fossil found in the inland Eurasia so far. It is an important evidence to explore the evolution of Homo erectus and its origin and development in China and even East Asia.
The Pilo site is located in Liangjia Village, Jinzhu Town, Daocheng County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. It is a Paleolithic wilderness site. The most important discovery of this site is the rich number, regular shape and mature technology hand axe and thin-blade axe. It is the most typical cultural relics of the late Ariesan stage discovered in East Asia and is also the highest alesan technology product in the world discovered. Small double-sided devices unearthed in its upper strata may also represent the rare Neo-Paleolithic culture in East Asia. The Pilo site is the rich and diverse Paleolithic site discovered on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to date with the largest area, the best preserved strata, continuous accumulation, and cultural types. It is also the first time in the world that a typical A-Sheri technology system was discovered in high altitude areas, filling a gap in the archaeology of the Cinema area and even the Paleolithic era of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Zheng Zhexuan, a research librarian at the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said that the Pilo site has revealed seven consecutive Paleolithic cultural layers, more than 6,000 stone products of various types have been unearthed, and more than 3,000 typical stone products have been recorded in the surface collection system. The discovery of the Pilo site will effectively promote the development process of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau by early humans, the ability of early humans to adapt to high-altitude environments, and the exploration of East Asian hand axesResearch on major academic issues such as distribution and origin, migration and cultural exchange of East and West people.
Relevant experts pointed out that the new discovery of the Liangzi site in Yunyang Academy in Hubei provides important evidence for exploring the evolution of Homo erectus and its origin and development in China and even East Asia; the new discovery of the Baishiya Cave Site in Xiahe, Gansu and the Pilo Site in Daocheng, Sichuan are the latest evidence of early human entry into the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and are both the main physical evidence of the migration and cultural exchanges of people from the East and the West. These archaeological discoveries not only refresh China’s existing archaeological cognition, but also provide a new scientific basis for promoting the solution of global issues such as the origin of mankind.
Empirical 10,000-year cultural history
Providing new materials to solve the problem of agricultural origin
From the current archaeological discoveries, the uphill culture in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River is an important center of the origin of rice agriculture in the world, a pioneer in entering the agricultural society, and an important empirical empirical empirical of China’s 10,000-year cultural history.
The Qiaotou site is located on the west side of Qiaotou Village, Chengxi Street, Yiwu City, Zhejiang Province. Tongxi, a tributary of Qiantang River-Yiwu River, flows from north to south on its east side. The main body of Qiaotou site is a moat settlement site from the Shangshan Cultural Period. The east, south and north sides of the excavation area are artificially excavated moats, and the west side is destroyed by rivers, and the middle is surrounded by incomplete plateaus with a slightly square shape. The relics unearthed from Qiaotou site are mainly pottery and stone tools. Stone tools are mainly gravel stone tools and grinding stone tools, including stone millstones, stone grinding rods, stone balls, perforated stone tools, as well as stone axes, stone chisels, stone knives, etc. The types of pottery include large mouth basins, flat chassis, egg belly jars, double-ear jars, pots, ring foot trays and cups. The creamy white color patterns on the pottery are relatively complex, with patterns such as sun patterns and short-line combination patterns. Shangshan Culture Babaylan Painted pottery is an important branch of the Neolithic painted pottery culture in the long river basin, and it is also the earliest painted pottery discovered in China and even East Asia so far. Qiaotou site is the earliest moat site discovered in East Asia so far. This discovery is an important witness to the initial complexity of the settlement life of Neolithic Age in Southeast China, and is also a major breakthrough in the archaeology of Shangshan cultural settlements.
The Xinglong site is located in the southeast of Xinglong Village, Zhaoyanghe Town, Kangbao County, Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province. It belongs to the Bashang Plateau at the junction of Hebei and Mongolia to the north of the Great Wall. During the 2016 regional system survey of the site, the total excavation area was about 1,100 square meters. The area, accumulation category and distribution of the site were initially confirmed in 2018,Absolute age, etc. 201Komiks9 Year Field Work continues to excavate some house sites to understand the construction, use and abandonment of houses. A large number of plant remains unearthed from the second to third phases of the site, including the cultivated crops of millet and sorghum, wild plants such as mountain apricots, large seed artemisia, and quinoa. Among them, millet is one of the earliest millet remains with direct dating data in my country, providing important materials for the discussion of the domestication and early cultivation of millet. The Xinglong site is complex in accumulation, and a large number of unearthed relics that can reflect its unique cultural appearance have been discovered. The remains of the first to third phases and other similar sites around it represent a new archaeological culture of Cinema.
Lei Xingshan, vice president of Capital Normal University, said that the Shangshan culture represented by the Yiwu Qiaotou site is an important origin of rice farming in the world. It also discovered the earliest painted pottery discovered in China and even East Asia. The Xinglong site is one of the earliest millet remains with direct dating data in my country, providing important materials for exploring the domestication and early cultivation of millet. “More than 10,000 years ago, it was a turning point from the Paleolithic Age to the Neolithic Age. Related archaeological discoveries are marked by pottery, agriculture, and settlement, involving major key points in the history of human evolution, providing new materials to solve the problem of agricultural origin, and confirming that Chinese civilization is a continuous civilization.” Lei Xingshan said.
More than 5,000 years of empirical evidenceBabaylanHistory of Civilization
Revealed the genes of early Chinese civilization
In recent years, archaeological discoveries have shown the historical process of China’s prehistoric civilization and the formation and development of early countries, and have become an important empirical evidence of Chinese civilization for more than 5,000 years of 5,000 years of empirical evidence. Several archaeological excavations have filled many gaps and revealed the civilization genes of early China in multiple dimensions, which are of great significance to the study of the process of Chinese civilization.
Shimao ruins are located in Gaojiabao Town, Shenmu City, Shaanxi Province. It was built around 4300 years ago and was abandoned after about 500 years of use. It has an area of more than 4 million square meters. It is the largest known city site in China from the late Longshan period to the early Erlitou period. So far from 2012, archaeologists have successively excavated the east gate of the outer city, the high-level tomb area of Hanjiadan, the “outpost” of Fanzhuangzi outside the city, etc. In addition to a large number of unearthed relics, they have also discovered the phenomenon of “skull sacrifice pit” and “hiding jade in stone”. The inner and outer wall city and horse faces found at the east gate of the outer city are the earliest similar urban defense facilities in China. Archaeological Research in Shaanxi ProvinceShao Jing, assistant director of the institute, said that various signs of archaeological excavations indicate that the Imperial City is the most core area of Shimao City and has the nature of an early “palace city”.
The Taosi ruins have clear functional divisions, among which the palace area is a key area of focus in the academic community and is also one of the most important and direct materialization elements of the capital of the Taosi ruins. The Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Institute of Archaeology of Shanxi Province gradually confirmed the existence of the palace city of nearly 130,000 square meters of Taosi site after five years, and more comprehensively revealed the side door at the South East Gate site and the southeast corner. The excavation of the foundation of a large rammed earth building in the palace city of Taosi ruins has achieved important results, which is of great significance. The excavation further confirmed the existence of the largest palace building with an area of nearly 8,000 square meters in the palace city, and is the largest rammed earth building foundation in the prehistoric period to date. There are two main halls of Cinema, an annex on the east side, a courtyard in the middle, and suspected corridors in the east, etc., found on the foundation of the building. The structure is complex, the layout is regular, and it is rare in prehistoric. It should be the source of the ancient Chinese palace form. The excavation and discovery of the foundation of a large rammed earth building in the palace city of Taosi Site is of great significance to the study of major issues such as the origin of Chinese civilization and early China.
The ancient rice fields of Shiao ruins are located in Yuyao City, Zhejiang Province. They are a rice fields of Hemudu culture and Liangzhu culture. The total initial exploration area is about 900,000 square meters. Archaeology has unearthed large-scale rice field remains from Hemudu culture and Liangzhu culture, dating from about 6,700 to 4,500 years ago. During the Hemudu culture period, only a small amount of rice fields, ridges and ditches were found due to the small excavation area. The ancient rice fields of Shiao site are currently the largest, earliest, and proven to be discovered in the world. According to the most sufficient large-scale rice fields, the rice fields of Liangzhu culture have already appeared with relatively complete road networks and irrigation systems. The origin of this large-scale rice fields may have been more than 6,500 years ago and have continued to develop. This discovery shows that rice farming agriculture is an important economic support for the social development of Hemudu culture to Liangzhu culture, and further deepens the understanding of prehistoric social and economic development and civilization process in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
Under the guidance of settlement archaeological concepts, archaeological work has gradually unveiled the multi-net format layout of the Erlitou site. Since 2021, many cities and rammed earth walls on both sides of Komiks have been exposed, including the doorway on the road on the north side of the palace and the western wall of the palace. It was found that the rammed earth wall on the road on the west side of the palace has extended more than 200 meters northward. Based on this, it is speculated that there is at least one division west of the workshop area, palace area and sacrificial area. For the first time, a relatively abundant pottery remains were discovered in the middle of the northern edge of the site, and pottery kilns, mud pits and mud were unearthed.The blank, burning soil, slag, transforming pottery, a large number of broken pottery pieces, as well as pottery mats, dressing tools, etc., include multiple stages of the pottery making art. Nearly 100 square meters of bone horn tool processing workshop was found in the southwest corner of the palace, and a large number of bone horn relics were unearthed, some of which were marks of hitting, cutting and grinding, showing all aspects of bone horn tool processing. The pottery and bone angle processing sites are important breakthroughs in handicraft archaeology of Erlitou site. Zhao Haitao, an associate researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the new archaeological discoveries of the Erlitou site further revealed the structural layout of the multi-net format, and are an important clue to discussing the early national capital system, handicrafts and social economy, etiquette and funeral systems.
The Gangshang site is located in Chengang Village, Tengzhou City, Shandong Province, with the Dawenkou Cultural City site covering an area of about 400,000 square meters. In 2020, the Shandong Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology conducted archaeological excavations on the northern residential area and the southern tomb area of the Gangshang site, with a total excavation area of about 1,000 square meters. The Gangshang site is the largest prehistoric city site in the period of Dawenkou discovered in Haidai area. Due to the discovery of its high-level tombs and the unearth of jade artifacts, the regional central status of the Gangshang site is particularly prominent. The new archaeological discoveries of the Gangshang site have enriched the understanding of the connotation of the central settlement in the Dawenkou cultural stage in southern Shandong and even the entire Haidai region, and have important academic value for the study of the civilization process in Haidai region. Guan Qiang, deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, said that the State Administration of Cultural Heritage will continue to promote major projects of “Archaeological China”, continuously deepen the “Chinese Civilization Source Exploration Project”, promote the in-depth research on Chinese civilization history, and gradually restore the development process of civilization from trickle to river convergence, and provide strong support for enhancing historical awareness and strengthening cultural confidence.
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