The Zhoushan Islands have made new archaeological discoveries. Experts from the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Zhejiang Province recently released that the Wangjiayuan site in Baiquan Town, Dinghai District, Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province, has typical Hemudu cultural characteristics and is the earliest human activity site found in Zhoushan Area. This discovery traces the history of the Zhoushan Islands back to the early and late stage of the Hemudu culture more than 6,000 years ago.
Archaeological site of the Wangjiayuan site. Photo by Wang Siyuan
The site of this archaeological excavation is located in the vegetable field near the Wangjiayuan Community in Baiquan Town. In September this year, the Zhejiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Zhoushan Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology jointly launched the archaeological survey and exploration project in the Zhoushan main island area, relying on the registered cultural relics protection points to conduct archaeological exploration in the surrounding area of Baiquan Town, and finally selected a piece of land near the town's cross road site that was not hardened. After exploration, it was preliminarily confirmed that there are more than 7,000 square meters of Hemudu cultural sites on the land, and the preservation is ideal.
According to Zhu Xuefei, the person in charge of the archaeological site and a librarian of the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, from the perspective of the site site, the remains formed by the long-term production and life of the ancestors are very deep. The dissecting groove longitudinal surface can be divided into four distinct layers, namely the topsoil where green grass grows, the Song Dynasty cultural layer, the Hemudu cultural layer (late period), and the Hemudu cultural layer (early). Among them, there may be relics related to the "dry-column houses" in the Hemudu cultural layer (early period).
"At present, no site of human activity has been found in Zhoushan earlier." Zhu Xuefei said that according to the analysis and comparison of the soil layer and excavated artifacts at the site, the lowest cultural layer belongs to the late stage of the early Hemudu culture, which is 6000 to 6500 years old.
Inside the anatomical ditch at the site, the archaeological team found nearly 20 relatively complete pottery and stone tools, most of which came from the early and late stages of the Hemudu culture. The pattern on the charcoal pottery kettle excavated this time is a common string pattern in the Hemudu culture. In addition, among the pottery pieces sorted out, some are pierceable rope cow nostrils shaper ears, some are printed hard pottery born in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and some are from pottery beans (an ancient food vessel) bean handles, and fish hands with the shape of chicken crowns. Zhu Xuefei said that the typical Hemudu cultural relics found in the Wangjiayuan site are empirical evidence of human activities that crossed the sea, opened up sea frontiers, and explored islands more than 6,000 years ago.
At present, the archaeological exploration work is nearing the end, and archaeologists will sort out the investigation report after the preliminary restoration of pottery and other relics. Zhu Xuefei said that the focus of the next archaeological work will focus on the surrounding of the cultural site, investigate the scope of activities and sources of the ancients, and deeply study the marine culture and prehistoric marine civilization.
Open a prehistoric "blind box"
Narrator: Zhu Xuefei, librarian of Zhejiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
In the past two years, we are gradually restarting the field archaeological work of ancient cultural sites in the Zhoushan Islands. With the support of the Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics, the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Zhoushan Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology have carried out archaeological surveys year by year, regularly and systematically, interspersed with the assessment of cultural relics protection areas and archaeological excavations in coordination with capital construction.
Part of the pottery pieces excavated from the Wangjiayuan site. Provided by Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Before I went to carry out archaeological investigation, my impression of the prehistory of Zhoushan came entirely from the Neolithic artifacts displayed in the Zhoushan City Museum and the Ma Ao Museum. They are more concentrated in the ruins of the Cross Road in Baiquan Town, Dinghai District, the Dinghai Horse Ao Area, and the Sunjiashan Ruins in Qushan Town, Daishan County.
At that time, I mainly did not understand two points: First, I obviously did not see any typical Cultural Relics of Hemudu, where did the name of Zhoushan 'Hemudu on the Sea' come from? Second, there is such a typical Liangzhu culture jade tool, why has it not been included in the expression system of Liangzhu civilization? Of course, this does not in any way prevent me from believing that the Hemudu culture and the Liangzhu culture are two important fulcrums for tracing the historical origins of the Zhoushan Islands.
At the edge of the beach of Jihu Lake in the sea northeast of Sijiao Island, we excavated the first sand dune known in Zhejiang, the Huangjiatai site. Layers of shells are interspersed with the daily utensils of the ancestors, vividly and intuitively reproducing the picture of prehistoric humans eating small seafood in groups. The main body of the Huangjiatai site belongs to the Liangzhu culture period, but its population maintains the basically extinct Rope pattern tradition in the Liangzhu culture. Later, sites with the same connotation were explored in the foothills of Tiger Head Mountain and several passes on Qushan Island, not far from the sand dunes. We believe that these "Liangzhu people on the sea" branded with rope patterns are by no means small groups and small teams to carry out island landing activities, they are interrelated and support each other, and they march towards the island in a planned and large-scale manner, and build the barren camp into a happy land in their hearts.
The ruins of the Cross Road have been found in the town of Baiquan in the past, and the excavated specimens are in the style of the late Hemudu and Majiabang cultures. This time, after investigation and exploration, it was found that in the town center adjacent to the cross road, one of the only two remaining vacant lots was preserved with more than 7,000 square meters of cultural accumulation. We named it the Wangjiayuan Site after the nearby community. By carefully cleaning up the profiles in a farmland, we found a prehistoric accumulation of two stages under the Song Dynasty's disturbance layer. In the accumulation of the earlier stage, a typical Hemudu culture appeared with charcoal black pottery kettles, and the accumulation of the later stages superimposed on it could directly benchmark the cultural appearance of the second layer of the Hemudu site. In this way, the cultural factors of Hemudu in the Zhoushan Islands finally have a clear source.
According to this analysis, on different islands, the limited living space and the distribution of fresh water led to a certain commonality in the choice of sites for early humans - most of them were not too close to the sea, at least there was a barrier between them and the seawater. Moreover, the ruins are often not a single occurrence, and once one is found, there are others nearby. For example, Baiquan Cross Road and Wang Jiayuan, Sijiao Huangjiatai and Tiger Head, Xiaosha Street Camphor Tree Stump and Sha yue Village, Ma Ao Liang Hat Pengdun and Yangtan Dun, especially in many contiguous pieces on Qushan Island.
Imagine how the first ancestors who landed on the Zhoushan Islands more than 6,000 years ago experienced great hardships. If it is forced by the pressure of survival and the natural environment, there is enough land on the mainland to support them, so why risk life and death to cross the ocean? I would rather believe that it was a group of the best people in the Hemudu period, extremely intelligent and courageous, who mastered the most cutting-edge technologies such as astronomy, hydrology, navigation, shipbuilding, etc., and had the determination to expand the territory and explore from top to bottom.
How meaningful it would be if archaeological excavations of a series of typical sites in the Zhoushan area could be done in the order of the times and established the historical and cultural axis of the island. (Compiled by reporter Zeng Yi)
(Article source: Guangming Daily electronic edition Photo from: Guangming Daily, November 27, 2021 04 edition)