Continuing the historical context shows the style of civilization

Pictured: The western façade of the ruins of the Koyak Kuduk Beacon. Pictured: Gold artifacts unearthed from the Gangchon Tomb. Pictured: Winged beast pattern and phoenix pattern brocade half arm excavated from the Tuguhun royal tomb group in the Tang Dynasty. Pictured: Bronze statues unearthed from the sacrificial area of the Sanxingdui site. Pictured: A three-dimensional model of the Mingzhongdu ruins. Pictured: Pickaxe excavated from the Pirro site. Pictured: Lacquer bowl excavated from the Zhengjiahu cemetery. Pictured: Remains of the Ruins of Chicken City. Pictured: Yu Huang excavated from the Huangshan site. Pictured: Artifacts excavated from the Gangshang site. Courtesy of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage

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On March 31, the top ten new archaeological discoveries in China in 2021 were announced. The selected project is a vivid interpretation of the origin of early human beings, prehistoric culture and the development of Chinese civilization, and the historical process of a unified multi-ethnic country. Modern science and technology help research, multi-disciplinary, multi-professional cooperation and other wide applications, reflecting the innovation breakthrough and vigorous development of archaeological undertakings such as mainland archaeology, field archaeology and scientific and technological archaeology.

From March 30 to 31, the final evaluation meeting of the top ten new archaeological discoveries in China in 2021, sponsored by China Cultural Relics Newspaper and China Archaeological Society, was held in the form of an online conference. Sichuan Daocheng Pirao Ruins, Henan Nanyang Huangshan Ruins, Hunan Lixian Jimingcheng Ruins, Shandong Tengzhou Gangshang Ruins, Sichuan Guanghan Sanxingdui Ruins Sacrifice Area, Hubei Yunmeng Zhengjiahu Cemetery, Shaanxi Xi'an Jiangcun Tomb, Gansu Wuwei Tang Dynasty Tuguhun Royal Family Tomb Group, Xinjiang Weili Keyak Kuduk Beacon Ruins, Anhui Fengyang Ming Zhongdu Ruins and other 10 projects were selected as the top ten new archaeological discoveries in China in 2021.

The selected project is a vivid interpretation of the historical process of the early human origin, prehistoric culture and development of Chinese civilization and the unification of multi-ethnic countries on the mainland, showing the colorful, long-standing and profound Chinese civilization.

Fill in the gaps in archaeological research, there are worldwide archaeological discoveries

The Pirao site in Daocheng, Sichuan Province, revealed more than 6,000 stone tools excavated from seven cultural layers. This is the Paleolithic site with the largest area, the most complete strata preservation and the richest and most diverse cultural types found in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau so far, and it is also the world's first archaeological discovery of typical Asheli technical system remains in high-altitude areas, filling the gap in the paleolithic archaeology of the region and even the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The Ashel technique is a sign of the peak of the development of early human intellectual skills, which has attracted the attention of the international archaeological community. "The discovery of the Pilo site provides very important new evidence for the complete restoration of the tenacious survival and development history of early humans in high-altitude extreme environments." Wang Youping, a professor at Peking University's School of Archaeology and Archaeology, said: "This is a worldwide archaeological discovery. ”

The site of Jimingcheng in Lixian County, Hunan Province, has discovered the earliest and most complete wooden structure building foundation in China, clarifying the overall layout of the Jimingcheng settlement in its heyday. A number of important ruins were revealed in the city site, and their scale and volume were so large and well preserved that they refreshed the history of mainland wooden architecture. In addition, the reconstructed rice at the site weighs 22,000 kilograms, the accumulation of chaff in a large area, and a series of large-scale building pedestals, which are also rare major discoveries in field archaeology in recent years.

The Gangshang Ruins in Tengzhou, Shandong Province, are the largest site of the Dawenkou cultural period seen in the Haidai area. The discovery of a large city site at the Gangshang site, together with a complete set of ceremonial vessels represented by pottery, jade, bone and tooth ware. Chen Xingcan, director of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said: "This is the first archaeological discovery of the late Dawenkou city, the city site is nearly rectangular in plan, the trench is close to the outside of the city wall around a circle, including the trench, the east-west length is about 800 meters, the north-south width is about 550 meters, and the area is 400,000 square meters." ”

Archaeological discoveries at the ming zhongdu site in Fengyang, Anhui Province, have more completely revealed the layout of the palace site and some of the ancillary buildings in the former ming and zhongdu districts, adding information on the key links in the transformation of the ancient Chinese capital from the Song and Yuan dynasties to the Ming and Qing dynasties. Yan Yalin, director of the Department of Archaeology of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, said that the archaeological work of Mingzhongdu clarified the layout of the main hall and auxiliary buildings of the former Dynasty of Mingzhongdu, reflecting the inheritance and innovation of the palace system and planning ideas of the Yuan Dynasty, and the far-reaching impact on the planning mode of the palaces in the north and south of the Ming Dynasty, and further deepening the understanding and research of the Ming and Zhongdu.

The achievements of science and technology archaeology are outstanding, and multidisciplinary research is widely used

Important cultural relics unearthed from the six newly discovered sacrificial pits in the sacrifice area of the Guanghan Sanxingdui site in Sichuan province include gold masks, bird-shaped foil ornaments, and bronze-topped kneeling figures, which further enrich the cultural connotation of the Sanxingdui site. It is worth mentioning that using the new concept of "subject preset, protection synchronization, multidisciplinary integration, and multi-unit cooperation", the innovative use of modern multi-functional protection platform, constant temperature and humidity archaeological excavation module, on-site emergency protection experimental platform, multi-functional archaeological excavation operating system, remote control system, uninterrupted high-definition digital recording system, etc., has had a positive and far-reaching impact on the development of Chinese archaeology, field archaeology and scientific and technological archaeology.

Hubei Yunmeng Zhengjiahu Cemetery unearthed a number of precious writing materials, rare funerary paintings and exquisite lacquered wood utensils, which revitalized the historical scenes of important nodes in the process of the unification of the Qin and Han Dynasties, and vividly demonstrated the historical process of the gradual integration of Qin culture and Chu culture, the unification of Han culture and the integration of Chinese civilization. In archaeological excavations, while excavating, sorting out, multidisciplinary testing and research are carried out simultaneously. Relevant archaeologists also actively carried out public publicity and displayed archaeological results in a timely manner.

The Great Tomb of Jiangcun in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, determined the exact location of the Tomb of Emperor Wen of Han, negated the traditional understanding that the "Phoenix Mouth" was the tomb of Emperor Wen of Han, further negated the speculation that there was a cliff tomb in the Tomb of emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, and solved the problem of the name of the Eleventh Tomb of the Western Han Dynasty. Among them, the objectives of archaeological exploration are clear and the means are diversified, combining traditional archaeological exploration with geological exploration by radon measurement method, geomagnetic radar and other scientific and technological means. The on-site cultural relics protection plan is scientific and reasonable, which lays a foundation for the protection, utilization and display of the site, and is of great significance for guiding the protection of the Baling Great Ruins and the construction and display of the National Archaeological Site Park.

The Huangshan ruins in Nanyang, Henan Province, are a central neolithic settlement involving jade making with Dushan jade and stone as resource support and other local jade as the auxiliary, filling the gap in the Neolithic jade handicraft system in the Central Plains and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Among them, the scientific and technological archaeological achievements are outstanding, and important achievements have been made in dating, plants, human bone DNA, and lithology analysis of jade tools.

Song Xinchao, deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, said that modern science and technology have put wings on archaeology. In archaeological discoveries, multidisciplinary, multi-professional, multi-departmental cooperation, multidisciplinary research is widely used.

Frontier archaeology flourished, showing a process of ethnic convergence

This time, the Ruins of Yulik Kuduk Beacon in Xinjiang and the Tuguhun Royal Family Tomb Group of the Tang Dynasty in Wuwei, Gansu were selected as the top ten new archaeological discoveries, reflecting the achievements of archaeological work in the border areas.

The site of Xinjiang's Yulikk Kuduk Beacon is another major discovery in Recent Years in China's Frontier Archaeology and Silk Road Archaeology, which is of far-reaching significance.

The site of beacon is the former site of the Tang Dynasty "Sand Pile Beacon", which is the first active archaeological excavation of the Tang Dynasty Beacon in China, which systematically reveals the whole picture of the Beacon Site and provides a wealth of first-hand physical materials for the study of the ancient border military construction on the mainland. The excavated documents are the largest batch of Tang Dynasty documents excavated from archaeological sites so far, and the documents are rich in content, and many of the contents are discovered for the first time, which has high historical research value.

The Tuguhun royal tomb group of the Wuwei Tang Dynasty in Gansu Province, represented by Murong Zhi's tomb, is the largest and best-preserved tang dynasty high-grade tomb group found west of Chang'an. The tomb unearthed more than 1,000 pieces of various cultural relics, including epitaphs and silk fabrics, revealing the historical facts of the integration of the Tuguhun people into Chinese civilization from the literal and physical level, and is a typical case in the process of the construction of the Chinese national community.

Dong Xinlin, director of the Hantang Archaeological Research Office of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, introduced that during the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, the archaeological work in the border areas flourished, revealing in depth the historical process of the formation and development of the unified multi-ethnic state on the mainland. ”

It is reported that since 1990, the top ten new archaeological discoveries in the country have gone through a process of more than 30 years. A total of 32 archaeological projects were selected for this year's selection and promotion activities, and 10 projects were selected after preliminary evaluation and final evaluation.

Song Xinchao said: In the near future, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage will issue and implement the "Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for Archaeological Work," focus on tackling major historical issues, and strive to make new breakthroughs; implement the "archaeology first, then transfer" system to protect and inherit the historical context; vigorously develop scientific and technological archaeology and promote the application of modern science and technology in archaeology; strengthen the building of the contingent of institutions and continuously strengthen professional forces; deepen international archaeological cooperation and exchanges, promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, and strive to build archaeology with Chinese characteristics, Chinese style, and Chinese style.

People's Daily ( 2022-04-01 12th edition)