In the process of archaeological excavations, some surprising discoveries are often unearthed in humble tombs or sites, so that experts dare not despise any of the ruins, and if they are not careful, they may miss the great discoveries. For example, in the humble Mijiaya site, experts thought that there would be no discovery, but they did not expect that there were two "firsts", which also caused great heated discussion in the academic circles. What exactly was the discovery? If you are also curious, the following Xiaobian will reveal the secret to you.
(All pictures in this article, all from the network, thanks to the original author, if you infringe your rights, please contact the author of this number to delete.) The picture has nothing to do with the content, please do not enter the seat)
The Mijiaya ruins are located in the eastern suburbs of Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, distributed in the area of Mijiaya Village on the west bank of the Xunhe River, covering an area of about 2,000 square meters. In the early 1920s, the Swedish archaeologist Anderson investigated in China, he spent most of his time in the Xi'an area looking for ancient ruins, and found a lot of faience pottery in Mijiaya Village, and later he joined hands with Chinese archaeologists to excavate, and finally determined that this is a Neolithic cultural site, dating back to about 5,000 years. According to the excavated faience pottery, it is also determined that it is also part of the Yangshao culture, but because it was found in Mijiaya Village, it was named the Mijiaya Site according to archaeological practice.
Perhaps because the Mijiaya site is small in size and there are not many excavated cultural relics, experts have not paid too much attention to it, resulting in the Mijiaya site has been in a state of no one,000, until 2003, when the relevant state departments organized archaeological experts to excavate and protect it. In the process of this excavation, the experts also harvested not small, unearthed all kinds of faience pottery, stone tools and jade and other funerary items more than 300 pieces, in addition to 118 ash pits and 8 house ruins, not only basically figured out the distribution of the Mijiaya ruins, but also had a more in-depth understanding of the living conditions of the ancestors of Mijiaya at that time. However, just when archaeologists regretted not finding the treasure, one expert was surprised to see some carbide particles in the ash pit, which were indeed wheat after careful analysis.
The discovery of wheat delighted the experts, indicating that the ancestors of Mijiaya had planted wheat more than 5,000 years ago, more than 1,000 years earlier than the previous experts believed that wheat cultivation history. Then, perhaps motivated by the discovery of wheat, they soon found a pottery funnel that had been excavated and restored after months of restoration. It has a diameter of about 12 centimeters, the bottom of the fine mouth is about 8 centimeters long, it is worth mentioning that in the fine mouth there is also a solid substance after the carbonization of wheat rot, so experts feel very confused, what is this funnel for? Why is there wheat rot?
After in-depth research, the experts came to an incredible conclusion, this funnel is the tool used by the Mijiaya people to brew beer. First of all, the discovery of wheat at the Mijiaya site is already an indisputable fact, so there is a precondition for brewing beer, perhaps the Mijiaya people accidentally found that wheat rotted to produce a liquid with aroma, and then collected the liquid with a funnel, and then diluted by water to get a drink, that is, the beer that we modern people drink. Previously, no trace of beer had ever been found, so the ancients of Mijiaya also became the first ancestors to brew beer, and also overturned the erroneous conclusion that beer was introduced to China from the West.
In addition to brewing beer, the ancestors of Mijiaya also invented an ancient first. In the process of further excavations, experts found that the soil under the ruins of some houses was actually living soil, that is, soil that had been processed after being artificially turned over, and that the soil was hard and difficult to insert with a small shovel. In this regard, the first reaction of experts is rammed earth, that is, the use of stones to make the soil strong, which is an important step in laying the foundation in buildings from ancient times to the present. However, what you need to know is that the Mijiaya site is a house more than 5,000 years ago, indicating that the ancestors at that time had learned to lay the foundation, which was also the first time to find it in the prehistoric site, which surprised the experts, and even some experts at first suspected that they were wrong in their judgment, and finally after in-depth excavation, it was determined that it was rammed earth more than 5,000 years ago.
Experts did not expect that in the small ruins that have been unattended for more than half a century, two "firsts" can be found at the same time, and it also has a major impact on later archaeological discoveries, which also makes experts sigh. Whether it is the "earliest brewing beer" or the "earliest rammed earth", it can make this humble Mijiaya site stand out and become one of the "top ten discoveries in the country" at that time. From this, it also shows that we cannot despise any site, such as the discovery of the Mawangdui Han Tomb in Hunan, although The main burial chamber of Li Cang was stolen, but the experts found a large number of burial items in his wife's small tomb, and even found the ancient corpse of Lady Licang.
Archaeology is like this, we must be serious and careful, do not expect too much from large sites and large tombs, do not underestimate small sites and small tombs, always maintain a normal mentality, all sites and tombs are treated equally, in order to see different treasures in the excavation again and again...
Resources:
"Xi'an Mijiaya Ruins" by Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute, Publisher: Science Press
Wenlan Hairun Studio Editor-in-Chief Wen Xiucai, this article is written by: Special History Writer: Liu Lijiang's