Opening remarks
In the Neolithic Age, the dawn of civilization has begun to appear in Dongguan: the Oyster Gang site is known as the first village in the Pearl River Delta, the village head site is the largest excavation area of the early Bronze Age site in Guangdong Province, and the "first well in Guangdong" was found in pig ridge in Baizhoubian Village, Dongcheng District... With a large number of archaeological discoveries, the buried historical sites of Dongguan have shed layers of veils, telling the long historical context of Dongguan from all angles.
Dongguan is a rising modern city, and the process of modernization makes it difficult to avoid homogenization of the city. Evoking the local humanistic spirit, excavating the historical relics of the city, and sorting out the archaeological resources of Dongguan are of great significance for Dongguan to build cultural symbols that are different from other cities. From the collection of historical relics and golden stone archaeology by Dongguan literati during the Republic of China period to the rich archaeological discoveries today, Dongguan people have never stopped "searching for roots".
The site of Humen Village's Toubeiqiu was selected as a national treasure unit in October 2019.
In October 2019, after the Cuntou site was selected as a national treasure unit, Li Bingqiu, then director of the Culture, Literature, History and Ethnic religion committee of the Dongguan Municipal CPPCC, invited Li Yan, an associate researcher of the Guangdong Archaeological Research Institute, to introduce what kind of value the Cuntou site had and why it could be selected as a national cultural relics protection unit. In June 2020, the Cultural Weekly introduced the relevant content to readers under the title of "Listening to Archaeologists Tell the Story of the Village Head Ruins", and began to plan a series of special reports on "Archaeology in Dongguan".
In July 2020, through the introduction of Li Bingqiu, The Culture Weekly had the honor to invite Zhong Chuangjian, former director of the Dongguan Museum, Li Runquan, deputy director of the Dongguan Museum, Zhang Guanghua, director of the Research Department, and Ye Zhixiang, director of the office, four older generation of cultural and museum workers who participated in witnessing the archaeological excavations in Dongguan for nearly half a century, to listen to them tell a story of Dongguan's archaeological past.
Combing the cultural context of Dongguan from different angles and showing the history and culture of Dongguan is the goal and driving force for the progress of "Culture Weekend". By visiting the village head site and listening to the work of the older generation of cultural and cultural workers, we were deeply moved, hoping to tell the archaeological story of Dongguan for more people, invited archaeologists and cultural workers who had participated in the excavation of important archaeological relics in Dongguan, and presented professional and boring archaeological knowledge to readers through a simple and easy-to-understand form, narrowing the distance between the public and archaeology, connecting the present and past of Dongguan, so that more young people can understand archaeology and love archaeology. Because of the strong professionalism of archaeology and the short writing time, it is inevitable that there will be errors and omissions in the article, so please criticize and correct it.
Trace the roots to the past and ask the present
Modern archaeological achievements in Dongguan
On January 7, 1993, a piece of wood fossil carrying nearly 60 million years ago was found at a construction site in Fucheng Street (now Dongcheng Street) in Dongguan City, when the person in charge of the construction site reported the relevant situation to the municipal cultural relics department in time, so that this precious wood fossil could be properly preserved.
In order to excavate the secret of this wood fossil, Cai Chongyang and Jin Jianhua, geological paleontologists who participated in this archaeological excavation, as well as Zhong Chuangjian, Li Runquan, Li Heqing and other staff of Dongguan Museum, cooperated with the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to observe and study the internal structure of the silk carbonization material on the surface of the main trunk of the wood fossil using instruments such as magnifying glass, stereoscopic dissection mirror and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and found that this is a new species of spruce in the late Cretaceous period. It was named Dongguan spruce type wood (new species).
This wood fossil, named Dongguan spruce, is of great significance for the division and comparative study of Cretaceous strata in Dongguan and South China, as well as the study of paleobotaneous geography, paleoclimate and geological development history in the area. Through archaeology, Dongguan's past is transmitting its meaning in the form of material culture.
Exploring the Light of Civilization: The Neolithic Shell Hill Site in Dongguan
As a study of past existence, archaeology can also be used to investigate the real world.
Su Bingqi, a modern Chinese archaeologist, once proposed the "Full Sky And Stars Bucket Theory", arguing that thousands of Neolithic sites in China can be divided into six major plates. Including the Neolithic sites of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong in southwest China, the Central Plains culture represented by the Yangshao culture, the Culture of Shandong, Northern Jiangsu and Eastern Henan represented by the Dawenkou Culture of the Taishan Region, and the culture of Hubei and its neighboring regions represented by the Bashu Culture and the Chu Culture, which together constitute the process of the origin, formation and development of a pluralistic And integrated Chinese civilization.
Compared with the vast Chinese mainland, the pearl river delta has a very characteristic natural environment, so that its Neolithic archaeology has distinct characteristics in the entire Chinese archaeological community, which has aroused widespread concern in the academic community. Located on the east bank of the Pearl River Estuary, Dongguan, with its superior natural environment, has left behind a wealth of Neolithic shell hill sites such as wanfu'an ruins, Oyster Gang ruins, Cuntou ruins, Yuanzhou ruins and Longyangang sites, and Dongguan has become a "fragrant feast" in the survey of prehistoric sites in the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong. Mo Zhi, Zhu Feisu, Gu Yunquan, Qiu Licheng, Long Jiayou, Liu Chengji, Li Caiyao, Li Ziwen, Feng Mengqin, Cui Yong, Li Yan and other first-line cultural relics archaeologists in Guangdong Province who often visit Dongguan for archaeological excavations have also formed an indissoluble relationship with Dongguan.
In July 1956, the Cultural Relics Task Force of the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Culture cooperated with the Department of History of Sun Yat-sen University to form a census team for cultural relics in eastern Guangdong and found 11 sites in Bao'an and Dongguan counties. In 1960, the Guangdong Provincial Cultural Relics Administration Committee discovered the ruins of Wanfu Nunnery in Qishi Town, Dongguan City. From July to August 1961, the Guangdong Provincial Cultural Relics Management Committee, Jinan University and the History Department of Guangdong Normal College formed the Guangdong Cultural Relics Task Force and found a Neolithic site in Longjiang Village, Dongguan County; in the same year, the Cultural Relics Team of the Guangdong Provincial Museum found cultural relics on a hill about 300 meters east of Yuanzhou, Dongguan, and did a test excavation, named the Miaobianwang Site.
Dongguan Oyster Gang Site Museum presents the situation of human ancestral society for the citizens. Photo: South City Archives
Due to various conditions at that time, the Neolithic sites discovered in Dongguan in the 1950s and 1960s were not deeply excavated. The Oyster Hill site, which archaeologists hail as the "first village in the Pearl River Delta", was discovered by amateur archaeologists in Dongguan.
Old photographs from the excavations at the Oyster Gang site. Photo: South City Archives
According to Feng Mengqin, a researcher at the Guangdong Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the Oyster Gang site was discovered by amateur archaeologists in Dongguan in the 1980s and is located in Nancheng Sheng and Oyster Gang Villages. In 1990, the Guangdong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Dongguan Museum conducted a survey, and then the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Guangdong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology jointly investigated the site.
From April to July 2003, after many investigations, the Oyster Gang site finally ushered in detailed exploration and test excavation, and the archaeological team composed of the Guangdong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Dongguan Municipal Museum achieved fruitful results. One of the most interesting is the earliest relatively complete human skeleton of the Pearl River Delta archaeological discovery excavated at the Oyster Gang site, Feng Mengqin wrote in the archaeological survey report "The Main Harvest of the Oyster Gang Site Excavation": "It can be called the ancestor of the Pearl River Delta", which provides physical anthropological information for the study of the racial characteristics and sources of the ancestors of the Pearl River Delta.
Fangzhu Cave found at the Oyster Gang site. Photo: South City Archives
According to archaeologists, the oldest part of the Oyster Gang site has been 5500-6000 years old, although the site exposed area is not large, but the cultural connotation is relatively rich, excavated ash pits, tombs, ditches, houses, stone tools, pottery, oysters, bone tools and other ancestral remains, outlining a relatively complete primitive social scene, the entire Pearl River Delta prehistoric archaeology has reference and comparative significance. On this basis, the Oyster Gang Site Museum was built in the Nancheng District of Dongguan City, so that the ancient cultural relics of the Oyster Gang Beiqiu Site can be permanently preserved, and the ancient cultural heritage is activated, showing the life situation of the ancestral society of mankind for the citizens of Dongguan.
A 1989 photograph of archaeologist Wang Xuerong excavating at the head of the village. Photo: Li Yan
In October 2019, after 32 years of excavation, collation and research, the Cuntou site was selected as a national key cultural relics protection unit. The ruins of the village head are located on the east bank of the Humen estuary of the Pearl River, in the southeast of the Pearl River Delta Plain, nearly 30 kilometers north of Dongguan City. In the winter of 1987, the Guangdong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology discovered the ruins of the village during the archaeological investigation and exploration carried out in cooperation with the construction of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Expressway, and then the Guangdong-Shenzhen-Zhuhai Expressway Project Construction Headquarters allocated special funds, led by the famous Chinese archaeologist Zhu Feisu, Li Yan, Wei Guiyao, Liu Chengji, Long Jiayou, Wang Hongxing, Li Heqing, Zhong Chuangjian and other experts and staff of the Guangdong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the Guangdong Provincial Museum and the Dongguan Municipal Museum jointly formed an excavation team. Two salvage excavations were carried out at the site from August 1989 to May 1990 and from March to July 1993.
Crystal seals were unearthed at the village head site. Photo: Li Yan
The village head site covers an area of more than 10,000 square meters, excavation and cleaning up the relics and relics of the Ming Dynasty and the Shang Dynasty, and has now excavated one-third, the excavated relics are rich, the artifact combination form is clear, the archaeological stratigraphy of the site is obvious, it is one of the best-preserved and richest prehistoric village ruins in the Lingnan region, and has added a number of important physical materials to the study of the characteristics, chronology and periodization of the early bronze culture in the Pearl River Delta region, as well as the cultural relations with eastern Guangdong, northern Guangdong and western Guangdong. It is of great significance for the establishment of the pre-Qin cultural sequence in the Pearl River Delta region.
In the eyes of archaeologists, Dongguan in the Neolithic period is like this: from the easternmost qiaotou town to the west, from the remnant hills of the Lotus Mountains to the broad alluvial plain, the plain occasionally has isolated hills, which is the suitable location condition for the birth of the Neolithic shell hill site. Shell hill sites are a kind of ancient human habitation sites, mostly located along the sea, lakes and rivers, widely distributed around the world, characterized by a large number of shells left over from ancient humans. The shell mound sites in the Pearl River Delta region are distributed on the higher terraces and mounds on the plain, which is exactly in line with the geographical environment of the shell mound sites excavated in Dongguan.
Zhu Feisu (left), the leader of the archaeological excavation at the village head site, is at the village head site. Photo: Li Yan
From March to April 1995, in order to collect data on the relationship between prehistoric culture and environment in the Pearl River Delta region, the Guangdong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, led by Zhu Feisu, cooperated with Zhao Hui of the Department of Archaeology of Peking University, Yuan Jing of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Zhao Shande of the Department of History of Jinan University to form the Pearl River Delta Prehistoric Relics Survey Team, which conducted a detailed archaeological survey of 24 prehistoric sites in the Pearl River Delta region, including Dongguan. The shell hill ruins on the east side of the Pearl River Delta surveyed this time are all in the territory of Dongguan City on the south bank of the East River, in addition to the above-mentioned Oyster Gang ruins and village head sites, as well as the Wanfu Nunnery site and the newly discovered Longyangang ruins and Yuanzhou ruins in this survey.
Faience pottery pieces were unearthed at the manfukuan site. Photo: Archaeological Discoveries and Research in Dongguan
After the discovery of the village head site, Zhu Feisu led the excavation team to investigate and review the site of Longyangang Beiqiu in Shipai Town and the site of Wanfu'an Beiqiu in Qishi Town, and obtained a batch of new materials. Wanfu'an site is located in Qishi Town, Jiangbian Village north of a low terrace, in 1960 has been investigated and excavated, the strata accumulation is relatively thin and single era, the relics are characterized by fine rope pattern sand pottery and clay colored pottery, its absolute age is about 5,000 years ago, and the Oyster Gang site is the earliest human activity relics in Dongguan.
Located in the north of Shajing Natural Village, Miaobianwang Village, Shipai Town, the Longyanggang Shell Hill Site was found during the archaeological survey of the Pearl River Delta Prehistoric Ruins Survey Team that the geographical environment of the site is similar to that of the Wanfu'an site. Due to the development and construction, the topography of the site has changed a lot.
During the investigation of the Longyangang site, under the guidance of an enthusiastic villager, the Pearl River Delta Prehistoric Ruins Survey Team discovered the Yuanzhou ruins at a site with a very rich shell accumulation about 400 meters west of the Longyangang site. The middle between the Longyangang site and the Yuanzhou site is only separated by a cottage.
Blue-striped grey clay pots were unearthed at the Yuanzhou site. Photo: Archaeological Discoveries and Research in Dongguan
In 1961, the cultural relics team of the Guangdong Provincial Museum found cultural relics on a hill about 300 meters east of Yuanzhou in Dongguan, and did a test excavation, naming it the ruins of MiaobianWang. After the discovery of the Shell Hill site in Yuanzhou, Dongguan, led by Zhu Feisu, archaeologists from the Guangdong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology such as Zhao Shande and Wu Haigui, and Wang Hongxing and other Dongguan Museum staff formed an archaeological team to excavate the Yuanzhou site from January to March 1998.
After nearly half a century of unremitting efforts by archaeologists, the information of the ancestors carried by the Neolithic Shell Hill site in Dongguan has now slowly appeared in front of people's eyes. Taking how to choose the place of residence as an example, after the collation, research and division of archaeologists, the early part of the Dongguan Wanfu'an site, the late part of the Longyangang site, and the Yuanzhou site are classified as terrace-type shell hill sites, which have a larger land hinterland, rich variety of food resources, and more convenient land transportation, which is a more ideal place for people to choose a place to live; the early part of the Dongguan Oyster Gang site, the late part of the village head site, belongs to the coastal shell hill site, the number of such sites is small, and it is close to the sea. In the Pearl River Delta, there are only three places in Xinhui Luoshanzui and Dongguan Oyster Gang and Cuntou. The Dongguan Oyster Gang ruins sit on a high and steep coast, while the village head ruins are on a headland-like terrace in the bay. The information conveyed by the topographical features of the shell hill site proves that the cultural development of the delta region is mainly promoted through the deep development of natural food resources by the ancestors.
Touch the roots of the context: archaeological discoveries in Dongguan from shang to modern times
Including the Dongguan Cuntou site in the broad vision of Chinese archaeology, we will find that the Cuntou site belongs to the early culture of the Bronze Age, and the ceremonial instruments such as ShiYazhang and Ge-class weapons excavated from the site that were influenced by the Central Plains Shang culture confirm that Dongguan has stepped into the threshold of early Lingnan civilization during this period.
Although Dongguan in the pre-Qin period has no literature to examine, the small amount of archaeological data unearthed through archaeological excavations can still provide people with a pre-Qin Dongguan outline for people today.
In addition to the village head site, archaeologists also found a Shang Dynasty site in Banyan Shuling, Dalong Village, Xiegang Town, Dongguan, but no detailed excavations were carried out, only one tomb was cleaned, and one piece of pottery kettle and one circle foot pot were unearthed. The remains of the Pillar Cave were also found in the site, and weapons and tools such as Stone Ge and Stone Gong were collected.
In Baizhoubian Village, Dongcheng District, Dongguan, the ruins of Pig Ridge, Xiakou and Shijiaotou, which belong to the Zhou Dynasty, were found, and the three sites are not far from each other, all located on the south bank of the south tributary of the Dongjiang River. From February to April 2006, archaeologists excavated the site of Pig Ridge, cleaned up a total of 3 wells in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, which is the earliest well found in Guangdong Province so far, Qiu Licheng, director of the First Research Office of the Guangdong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, called it "the first well in Guangdong" at that time, and identified the Site of Pig Ridge as a settlement where the ancestors lived and lived from the late Warring States period to the early Han Dynasty.
Fu Sinian once said: "Shang poor bi fell into the Yellow Spring, and moved his hands and feet to find something." This means that the underground physical historical materials found by archaeology are taken as an important basis for the revision of the history of the country, and many archaeological discoveries in Dongguan are examples of this sentence. In April 1966, Dongguan's "Zhenxiang Pagoda" was finally revealed in the archaeological excavations, and several physical historical materials that were different from the documentary records were provided for literary and historical scholars, so that people had a new understanding of it.
The Humen Yasha Hat Eastern Han Tomb unearthed a pottery house. Photo: Archaeological Discoveries and Research in Dongguan
In March 1989, Niucaoling unearthed the first Eastern Han tomb in Dongguan, and in November 1990, the Humen Eastern Han Tomb discovered a rare burial item in the Eastern Han tombs in Guangdong at that time, which provided new information for the study of the history of the Han Dynasty in Dongguan and filled in the gaps in relevant historical materials.
Based on the world behind us, archaeology shows the social situation of Dongguan in various periods from another perspective for people today. The long historical context of Dongguan has left a wealth of tomb sites from different historical periods, such as the discovery of a Song Dynasty brick chamber tomb in Shengheyuanling, Huangcun Town, Dongguan City in June 1972, more than 70 Song to Qing Dynasty tombs found along the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Expressway from October to December 1987, the Discovery of the Luo Hengxin Family Tomb in Huangcun District of Dongguan City in April 1988, the excavation of the Fuziling Ancient Tomb Group in Fucheng In October 1997, and the discovery of a Song Tomb by the Lotus Reservoir in Xianxi Village, Chang'an Town, Dongguan City in April 1999...
The tomb of the Lo Heng Sin family unearthed a bowl of blue and white flowers. Photo: Archaeological Discoveries and Research in Dongguan
Among these excavated tombs are the tombs of famous historical figures and their families in Dongguan, such as the tomb of Li Chunsuo, the son of the famous theorist Li Yong of the Song Dynasty in Dongguan, the tomb of Xu Zhaokui's mother Wang, and the tomb of the Luo Hengxin family, which provide rich and true information for the study of local history, local figures and folklore.
The tomb of the Lo Heng Sin family unearthed a bronze mirror of "the most joyful for good". Photo: Archaeological Discoveries and Research in Dongguan
Around the 1990s, due to infrastructure needs, the Guangdong Provincial Museum sent Cui Yong and Liu Jian'an to join hands with Wang Qifen, Wang Jian, Zhong Chuangjian, Li Heqing and others of the Dongguan Municipal Museum to carry out a rescue excavation of Li Chunsuo's tomb in Matiling Township, Huangcun District, Dongguan City. In the "Briefing on the Excavation of li chunsuo tomb in the Song Dynasty in Dongguan City" written by Cui Yong, director of the Underwater Archaeology Center of the Guangdong Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, archaeologists have conducted a detailed examination of the relevant historical records of Li Chunsuo, a historical celebrity in Dongguan, through the inscriptions of "Li Chunsuo's Epitaph", "Meiwai Li Cemetery Table" and "Biography of Song Meiwai Virgins".
Li Chunsuo was a dongguan native of the late Song dynasty and early Yuan Dynasty, and there are biographies in the "Biography of Guangzhou Characters" and "Dongguan County Chronicle", and he once compiled the "Wenxi Collection" and the "YongGui Collection", which was deeply respected by the people of Dongguan. His epitaph and the "Qinxuan Ji Meiwai Li Cemetery Table" both call li Chunsuo's tomb a joint burial tomb, but through archaeological excavations, it was found that this was a single burial tomb, which is inconsistent with the above documents, and Cui Yong speculated that it was caused by Chen Lian, the author of the Qinxuan Collection. In addition, Cui Yong wrote: "The 'epitaph' records that Li Chunsu died in May of the year of Yuan Zhen, but according to the "Brief Chronology of Chinese History", Yuan Zhen did not have a year of Pentagram, and Li Chunsuo should have died in the second year of Dade (1298 AD). Regarding Li Chunsuo's death year, the "Biography of Guangzhou Characters" and the "Dongguan County Chronicle" are not recorded, and the "Qinxuan Collection" and "Wenxi Collection" cannot be verified. This excavation has filled in the gaps in historical materials. ”
A "white glazed appliqué bottle with cap" excavated from the ZhongSongxue family cemetery in Xiangtangling, Liaobu Town. Photo: Archaeological Discoveries and Research in Dongguan
Physical materials, as a result of human actions, reflect human activities. All kinds of pottery, porcelain and other daily necessities excavated together with the tomb are also the main components of Dongguan archaeology. On February 26, 2003, a pair of "big next year made" "white glazed decal with cap bottles" were unearthed from the cemetery of Zhong Songxue family in Xiangtangling Village, Liaobu Town, Dongguan City. At that time, Mr. Shi Shuqing, chairman of the State Cultural Relics Appraisal Committee, and his party were traveling to Guanguan, and they appreciated it as a "national treasure!" And personally wrote an appraisal opinion: "Yu, Li Tailin, Zhang Yan zhujun came to dongguan museum." Inheriting the Ming Dynasty white glazed appliqué with cap bottles unearthed on February 27 in pairs, sighing as a rare product, it is an important discovery in the history of China's ceramics. "The pair of white glazed decals with caps unearthed in Dongguan became a precious record of the white glazed appliqué porcelain fired in the folk kilns during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, and was later rated as a national first-class cultural relic."
The anti-British historical relics left by Chinese people in Humen, Dongguan, are an important part of Dongguan archaeology. Photo: The Opium War Museum
During the Opium War, the anti-British historical relics left by the Chinese people in Humen, Dongguan, are an important part of Dongguan archaeology. Today, the surviving anti-British historical sites include the former site of Lin Zexu's Xuyan Pond, the old site of Humen Fort, the anti-British iron cannon of Humen Fort and the tomb of the anti-British martyrs, on the basis of which the Opium War Museum was built, telling the tourists who came here that the Chinese people were not willing to submit to the spirit of resistance of imperialism.
Archaeological research on the historical sites of the Humen Anti-British Resistance began as early as the 1960s. Du Yongzhen, former deputy director of the China History Museum and a research librarian, completed the article "Preliminary Investigation of the Anti-British Cannons of Humen Fort and the Forts of Humen Haikou" after inspecting the sites of Humen Forts, which was published in Cultural Relics in 1963.
In the 22nd year of Qing Daoguang, Foshan built 6,000 Sima Jin breech iron cannons. Photo: The Opium War Museum
From 1973 to 1974, Mo Zhi, a famous archaeologist in Dongguan, Fang Songqing, former deputy director of the Dongguan County Cultural Bureau, Pang Hanzhong, former director of the Humen Anti-British Memorial Hall, Zhong Chuangjian and Wang Guanghe, staff of the Dongguan County Museum, Qiu Licheng, Yang Shaoxiang, Cao Zijun and others of the Guangdong Provincial Museum Cultural Relics Task Force, conducted the investigation and excavation of the old site of Lin Zexu's YanyanDi, the old site of Humen Fort and the tomb of the anti-British martyrs, and completed the "Examination of the Historical Sites of the Anti-British Resistance in Dongguan, Guangdong during the Opium War", "Humen and the Opium War", and "The Smoke Cloud of the Opium War" and other articles explain this special historical period from an archaeological point of view.
Extension
The adherent of Dongguan archaeology
"We took over Jin'aozhou Tower in the 1990s. At that time, the fence around the tower was gone, and the wooden staircase was mostly decayed. After going up, I found that there were many bats on the top of the tower, and various stone sculptures were scattered in the garden. Later, we spent half a year to carry out preliminary renovation, re-planned the surrounding environment of the tower, and collected all the stone carved cultural relics scattered on the land of Dongguan into the park. Recalling the past of managing the Jin'aozhou Pagoda in those years, Zhong Chuangjian, former director of the Dongguan City (County) Museum, Li Runquan, deputy director of the museum, Zhang Guanghua, director of the Research Department, and Ye Zhixiang, director of the office, were proud to spend the least amount of money more than 20 years ago to complete the collection, management, protection and display of cultural relics.
Located in the Jin'aozhou Pagoda, a tributary of the East River.
Dongguan City (County) Museum, as the main force of archaeological discoveries in Dongguan for nearly half a century, with the support of the Cultural Relics Management Department of Dongguan City (County), actively cooperated with the excavation and collation work of the Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and other institutions, and carried out a complete protection, management and exhibition of cultural relics excavated in Dongguan according to local conditions and multi-party cooperation. "We have always hoped that through our own efforts, we will preserve the style of Dongguan's cultural relics and sites, so that today's children can see the past Dongguan." Zhong Chuangjian said that out of their love for their hometown and their feelings for Dongguan's cultural relics, they have always been exploring how to do the best in the protection, management and exhibition of cultural relics.
In February 2003, a female ancient corpse from the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty was unearthed in Qiaotou Town, Dongguan, and soon after, another ming dynasty male ancient corpse that was well preserved for more than 400 years was unearthed in Daling Mountain, which attracted great attention from all walks of life. In order to preserve and exhibit it for a long time, Dongguan Museum cooperated with the Human Anatomy Department of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University to help them complete the conservation research and application project of biological plasticization technology for ancient corpses, which was the first case in China and even the world at that time, and created a chronicle in human archaeology.
Publishing a more systematic introduction to the relevant collections of dongguan archaeology has always been the wish of the older generation of Dongguan wenbo people. At the end of the 1990s, when book publishing was far less convenient than it is today, the Dongguan Museum consulted with the Dongguan Municipal Committee of The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference on Literature and History to compile a book on the archaeological materials of the Dongguan area. After several twists and turns, this "Dongguan Archaeological Discovery and Research" was finally released in 2013.
Archaeological Discoveries and Research in Dongguan
In recent years, the Dongguan Wenbo Exhibition Venue, which has sprung up like a mushroom, is showing the history of Dongguan and the efforts made by dongguan wenbo people from all angles, and the Dongguan Museum has also published books such as "Civilization Under the Shovel by Hand - Exhibition of Cultural Relics and Archaeological Achievements in Dongguan Over the Years", "Research on Pottery in the Pre-Qin Dongjiang Delta", "Modern and Contemporary Cultural Relics Collected by Dongguan Museum", "Dongguan Ancient History" and other library books. Today, these books have become one of the important windows for understanding the archaeological discoveries of Dongguan, integrated into the long-standing Context of Dongguan.
Human beings
Dongguan people who are active in the field of epigraphy and modern archaeology
From the traditional historical fieldwork a hundred years ago, to the development of epigraphy research, and then to today's modern archaeology, Dongguan has emerged a group of literary and historical scholars who attach importance to traditional historical fieldwork, or epigraphers who take excavated artifacts as the research object, or archaeologists who study the physical remains of ancient human society through archaeological excavations, who have made due contributions in their respective fields of study, and together with many Dongguan people who love cultural relics, tell the archaeological past of Dongguan folk.
Since modern times, Dongguan scholars have been active in the Field of Chinese Archaeology based on both epigraphy and modern archaeology, among which Chen Botao, Rong Geng, Zheng Shixu, Mo Zhi, Zhang Zhenhong, Zhang Shouqi, Rong Yuan, Yang Baolin and other well-known scholars have become an important part of the development of modern Archaeology in China.
Chen Botao
1855—1930
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Dongguan Tanhua Chen Botao was a scholar who attached great importance to traditional historical fieldwork, and when he was responsible for compiling the "Dongguan County Chronicle", he traveled through the urban and rural areas, ruins, temples, archways, tombs and other traces of above-ground culture in Dongguan at that time, and in the "Construction Strategy", "Monument Strategy", "Golden Stone Sketch" and other volumes of the county chronicle, the "Town Elephant Pagoda", Li Chunsuo's Tomb and other temples, arches, epitaphs and inscriptions that can reflect the historical evolution of Dongguan have been recorded, leaving valuable materials for Dongguan's literary history.
Yung Gung
1894-1983
In June 1934, Rong Geng, a famous Chinese paleographer, together with Xu Zhongshu, Dong Zuobin, Gu Tinglong, Shao Zifeng, Shang Chengzuo and others, initiated the organization of the Jinshi Society, and Zhang Yinlin, Zheng Shixu, Rong Zhaozu and other Dongguan scholars were also among them. In September of the same year, the Jinshi Society changed its name to the Archaeological Society, elected Rong Geng, Xu Zhongshu, Liu Jie, Tang Lan, Wei Jiangong and other five people as the executive members of the Archaeological Society, edited the journal "Archaeology", and later invited Guo Moruo to join the Association, becoming the first archaeological organization in China.
Zheng Shixu
1897—1952
Zheng Shixu, a famous Chinese historian, has translated many books introducing the preservation of cultural relics, archaeological methodologies and the current situation of archaeology in museums in Britain and Japan, and has made great contributions to the preservation of Chinese historical objects and the dissemination of archaeology.
From 1952 to 1955, the Ministry of Culture (Administration of Social and Cultural Undertakings), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Institute of Archaeology) and Peking University jointly held four training courses for archaeologists, which are now known as the "Huangpu Phase IV" of archaeology, of which Dongguan archaeologist Mo Zhi is the fourth batch of students. For nearly half a century, Mo Zhi's archaeological footprints have spread throughout the Pearl River Delta region, and he is the earliest modern archaeologist in Dongguan.
On May 15, 2010, he took photos at the site of Bailian Cave in Liuzhou. (Second from left is Zhang Zhenhong)
Since graduating from university in 1963, Dongguan archaeologist Zhang Zhenhong has been committed to the study of Chinese prehistoric archaeology, won the first "Pei Wenzhong Scientific Contribution Award of the Chinese Academy of Sciences" in 2002, and has made outstanding contributions in the academic fields of modern human origin and Paleolithic archaeology, Mesolithic culture research, Quaternary paleontology research, hong Kong and Macao archaeology.
In his academic career of more than 50 years, he has traveled to Guangxi, Hainan, Guangdong and other ethnic minority gathering places, and the research results on the history of the hainan island people, the Yan family and the "ethnic archaeology" still affect the future generations of scholars.
Rong Yuan, a bibliographer of Jinshi in Dongguan, wrote a series of domestic archaeological reports in the Journal of Yanjing, compiled the "Catalogue of Stone Carvings and Grasses Collected by the Yanjing Literature Library", edited the "Bibliography of Jinshi Books" and "Supplement to the Bibliography of Jinshi Books", and devoted his life's energy to the cause of Jinshi Archaeology.
Mr. Yang Baolin lectured at the scene.
Since the 1960s, The Dongguan scholar of literature and history, Yang Baolin, led his students to begin fieldwork in history, collecting and preserving a number of arches, scriptures, stone tablets and tombstone inscriptions on the ground in Dongguan that have now been destroyed or lost, and spent decades dedicated to the collection, collation and research of Dongguan's literature, history and folk culture.
Dongguan has a long cultural vein, under the influence of the sage Shangwen Shangyi atmosphere, folk cultural relics enthusiasts and collectors, in the early 1980s and 1990s, Dongguan Tea Mountain, Baizhoubian and other places to carry out development and construction of a large number of cultural relics, there appeared to Tan Zhiheng as the representative of a group of folk amateur archaeologists and protectors, they are keen to collect more enthusiastic donations, the cultural relics scattered in the folk at that time played a protective role, is the guardian of Dongguan folk cultural relics.
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The "Big View" of Dongguan Archaeology
In March 2020, the China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS), the "heavy weapon of the country", located in Dongguan, welcomed a condensation of underwater cultural relics from the South China Sea. This is the first time that the Chinese spallation neutron source (CSNS) has been applied to archaeological research, which can enable cultural relics to transmit and analyze their internal complex structures without complete damage, providing a new high-tech means for archaeological research.
From the study of epigraphy that has been handed down and unearthed from ancient artifacts, to the intersectional discipline that combines natural scientific research methods and technical means today, archaeology has more and more branches of environmental archaeology, plant archaeology, animal archaeology, and geological archaeology. As a small topic of archaeology, Dongguan archaeology needs to be understood from a broad perspective and different perspectives.
In order to show the "big vision" contained in Dongguan archaeology, the "Archaeology in Dongguan" series plans to launch "Prehistoric Pearl - Dongguan Beiqiu Site, which gave birth to the first person in Guangdong", "The World Behind The World Behind - Dongguan's Identification and Plasticization and Preservation of Ancient Corpses in the Ming Dynasty", "Migration and Management of Cultural Relics - Taking the Northern Song Dynasty 'Elephant Pagoda' and Jin'aozhou Pagoda as an Example" and "National Treasures That Are Nearly Broken!" The excavation story of the white glazed appliqué with cap bottle in the Ming Dynasty", "Remembering History - Qing Dynasty Humen Fort Site", "Eclectic Strengths - The Connection between Dongguan Archaeology and Chinese Archaeological Celebrities" and other topics, through anthropological archaeology, scientific and technological archaeology, public archaeology and other perspectives, show Dongguan's archaeological positioning in the East River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Guangdong Province and even the whole country in the form of stories, and take archaeology as the clue to lead readers to peek into dongguan's past life and present life.
Written by | Li Tonghui
Planning | Zeng Lili
Consultant | Lee Byung-joo
Co-ordination | Li Tonghui
Edit | Gong Yichao
Executive | Li Tonghui Zhang Xiaomin Gong Yichao Zhang Xiaoyun