On January 13, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage held an important progress work meeting on the major project of "Archaeology in China" in Beijing, at which four important archaeological achievements such as the Chere Site, the Mahao Site, the Gebu Sailu Site, and the Dangxiong Cemetery were reported. It is reported that the four important achievements of this briefing have further revealed the complex process of prehistoric cultural development on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and empirically proved the history of ethnic exchanges, exchanges, and blending in Tibet.
Dangxiong Cemetery 2020 excavation area M1-M5 total flat map. Courtesy of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage
Excavations at the Chere site explore prehistoric populations
Provide clues to livelihoods in the highlands
Stationing and developing high-altitude areas is a milestone in the development of human evolution and viability, but experts and scholars in different disciplines have put forward different views on the question of "when humans migrated to the plateau on a large scale and adapted to live on the plateau". But now, judging from the relics excavated at the Chere site in Gar County, it shows that ancient humans have experienced at least two repeated occupation processes in this area, filling the gap in the prehistoric archaeological culture of the hinterland of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau dating from 8,000 to 10,000 years ago.
Located on the left bank of the town of Shiquanhe in Gar County, Ali Region, at an altitude of 4,300 meters, the Chere Site of Gar County is a site of early Holocene Paleolithic wilderness. As one of the first systematic excavations of Paleolithic wilderness sites in the western part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China, it also pushed forward the history and culture of Western Tibet to the Paleolithic Era.
Zhang Xiaoling, an associate researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced that the Cheze site has a continuous stratigraphy and a clear age, and has unearthed fine stone tool remains with rich types, distinctive characteristics and clear stratigraphic relationships, which can be used as a basis to initially establish a yardstick for the early Holocene stone tool culture in the Tibet Autonomous Region, and incorporate the large number of fine stone tool technology remains collected on the plateau into a relatively reliable chronological framework.
It is understood that more than 5,000 relics mainly based on stone products have been excavated from the site, and the remains of human activities such as fire ponds and ash pits have been found. More than 2,000 relics have been excavated in a dense distribution area of stone products, which are speculated to be the remains of ancient people making stone tools and buried in situ, and two types of stone tool technology have been found, including stone chip industry and fine stone leaf industry, which are speculated to be the remains of human activities in two different periods.
Stone tools were excavated from the Chere site. Courtesy of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage
"The rich products of fine stone tool technology excavated from the Cheze site provide us with valuable materials for exploring the origin and migration routes of ancient people in the highland hinterland of the early Holocene from the perspective of stone tool technology and archaeological culture." Zhang Xiaoling said that the large number of animal bones and fire remains excavated from the Chere site will also provide important clues for analyzing and exploring the livelihood patterns of prehistoric people in the hinterland of the plateau.
In addition to the excavated cores and stone chips, archaeologists also found the remains of suspected animal footprints in the corresponding excavations, considering the possibility of lack of in situ protection, the researchers decided to bring the remains back to the laboratory for research in the form of plaster bags.
Prehistoric populations were 5,000-4,000 years ago
He has settled in the hinterland of the Tibetan plateau
The Maliang Ruins in Kangma County (4410 meters above sea level) is a prehistoric settlement site dating back about 4,000 years, archaeology has found fire ponds, tombs and other remnants of human life, excavated stone tools, pottery, bone tools, mussel ornaments, talc beads, jade pipe beads and other relics. The tomb shape has two types of sarcophagus tombs and vertical pit tombs, and the pottery decorative patterns are mainly carved and scratched, and the technical style is similar to that of the same period in the Hengduan Mountains.
The Machu site represents a new type of archaeological culture, which is of great significance for establishing the sequence of prehistoric archaeological cultures in Tibet and exploring the extreme environmental processes and strategies of human adaptation to high cold and lack of oxygen. At the meeting, Shagwangdui, a researcher at the Tibet Autonomous Region Institute of Cultural Relics Protection, also gave a detailed introduction to the excavation of the site.
The second phase of the Ma Liang site remains a stone coffin harvested from excavations. Courtesy of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage
"In the two years, a total of 17 exploration parties and trenches were laid out, and the excavation area was 200 square meters. More than 1,186 relics such as pottery, stone, bone, wood, jade, and shell ornaments were obtained from the excavation of the site, and more than 830 samples of charcoal, crop seeds, phytosilicas, soil micromorphology, sediment ancient DNA soil samples, and photolumination were collected. Shakwangdui said.
According to reports, the excavations at the site empirically prove that the prehistoric population settled in the heart of the Tibetan plateau 5,000-4,000 years ago, and found the "historical source" of 5,000-4,000 years ago for the prehistoric culture of central Tibet (the southern Tibetan valley).
The site is different from the Flat Bottom Pottery of the Karo Culture, the Circular Bottom of the Qugong Culture, and the Neolithic Culture of Circle Foot Pottery, and it can be called the "Ma Good Culture". For example, pottery is dominated by flat bottoms, with a small number of circle foot and round bottom vessels; pots, pots, and bowls are the main types of utensils; pottery colors are mainly gray-brown pottery and gray-black pottery; rich carvings, embossings, additional stacking patterns, stampings and other ornaments; stone tools mainly crystal stone leaves; and cultural characteristics such as the stooped straight-legged burial and multi-chamber sarcophagus tombs adopted by sarcophagus tombs show that the Mahao site is a new unique lakeside fishing and hunting-hunting archaeological culture type on the Tibetan plateau.
The Site of Gebuselaru is the construction of the Xiangquan River Valley
Provide physical information
After 4 years of rescue archaeological excavations, archaeologists excavated 21 tombs, 4 stone remains and 2 stone walls, with an excavation area of about 1453 square meters. The site of Gebu Sairu in Zada County, about 10 kilometers north of the county seat of Zada in the Ali region of the Tibet Autonomous Region, is a site from the late Bronze Age to the early Iron Age.
Two periods of tombs were found at the site, the first period is 3600 to 3000 years old, mainly stone chamber tombs, and the second period is 2700 to 2100 years old, mainly cave tombs.
The first stone chamber tomb of Gebseiru. Courtesy of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage
Shakwangdui said that the first phase of the tomb is mainly based on shallow, small-scale stone chamber tombs, and there are no cave tombs and vertical pit tombs. Judging from the characteristics of the combination of stone chamber tomb shape, burial customs and burial utensils, the first phase of the remains reflect the culture of animal husbandry and hunting economic characteristics, which is a relatively independent archaeological culture known to Tibet from the late Neolithic period to the early metal age transition stage, and has a closer relationship with the tombs of the same period in Xinjiang. The age and shape of the tombs are similar to those of the early stone chamber tombs at the Qugong site in central Tibet, which provides important information for discussing the origin and development of stone chamber tombs on the Tibetan plateau.
The first issue of Gbuselus faience. Courtesy of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage
The second phase of tombs is dominated by cave tombs, and the earliest single- and double-chamber cave tombs popular in the Xiangquan River Basin can be seen. The combination of tomb shapes, burial customs and excavated artifacts reflects the obvious characteristics of local archaeological culture, which are consistent with the archaeological and cultural features of the early tombs of Piyang, Sanda Dragon Fruit and Quta Cemetery, which are also distributed in the middle reaches of the Xiangquan River Basin.
Shakwangdui said that the Gebu Sairu site is of great value for studying the exchange and migration of people in the Xiangquan River Basin, and the formation and development of regional culture. The archaeological remains of the morning and evening periods provide scientific and rich physical materials for the construction of the history of the prehistoric social development of the Xiangquan River Basin and even Tibet.
When the relics unearthed from the Xiong Cemetery are of various ethnic groups
Important empirical evidence of communication and integration
The Dangxiong Cemetery in Dangxiong County is a Tubo period cemetery dating from the 7th to 9th centuries AD. Archaeology has found 52 sealed earth tombs, including two major categories of stone chamber tombs and earthen pit tombs, there are anthracite walls around the tomb, and the burial style is mainly for the secondary burial of bone picking, and animal martyrdom is more common. More than 300 pieces (sets) of various utensils such as gold and silverware, beads, pottery, and Go pieces have been unearthed.
Cypress floor plan at the top of the M2 burial chamber of the Male Cemetery. Courtesy of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage
At the meeting, Tashi Tsering, a librarian of the Institute of Cultural Relics Protection of the Tibet Autonomous Region, introduced that the archaeological excavation of the Dangxiong cemetery is a rescue archaeological excavation work carried out in conjunction with the construction of large-scale projects, and it is also the first archaeological work in Tibet to carry out an overall excavation of the sealed earth cemetery of the Tubo period with a relatively complete and complex structure.
When the male cemetery M2 unearthed stony black and white Go pieces. Courtesy of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage
When male cemetery M3 unearthed male lion bird pattern gold ear spoon. Courtesy of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage
The golden ear spoons with lion bird patterns and stone black and white Go pieces excavated from the Dangxiong Cemetery on the Tang Dynasty Ancient Road show their relevance to the Central Plains culture and the archaeological and cultural characteristics of other surrounding areas, showing the interaction and integration of early cultures. At the same time, the cultural characteristics such as duck-billed flow single-ear flat bottom jars, agate, coral, turquoise and other beads, various types of bronze and iron utensils excavated from the archaeology of The Dangxiong Cemetery, as well as the pottery pieces of painted ochre figures discovered for the first time in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, provide important physical materials for further understanding the archaeological and cultural outlook and funerary system of the Tibetan Tubo period in Tibet, and are of great significance for studying the history of the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and Tibet and discussing the history of material and cultural exchanges.
Tashi Tsering said that the archaeological work of the Dangxiong cemetery has further revealed the funerary customs and systems of the Tubo culture, and the excavation of stone black and white Go pieces, lacquer fragments, textiles, etc. shows a close connection with the Central Plains culture, which is an important empirical evidence of the exchanges and blends of various ethnic groups.
Reporter │ Zhang Jianlin
Editor│ Chen Jing, Liu Mengjie
Proofreader - Chen Diyan