Aerial view of the ruins of Cam Ranh Temple (North-South)
The distribution of tombs at the archaeological site of the Kinransa Temple site
Archaeological site of the site of Kinransa Temple
The remains of ancient human children excavated at the site of Kinransa Temple
Flexion burial in the tomb of the site of Cam Ranh-ji Temple
The tomb at the site of Cam Ranh Temple is buried with a straight limb on its back
Archaeologists take the tomb
The ruins of Jinlan Temple are located in the north of JinlanSi Village, Shitan Town, Zengcheng District. In cooperation with the construction of the Guangzhou-Shantou high-speed railway (Shitan section), from November 2020 to May 2021, the Guangzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology conducted archaeological excavations on the site of Jinlan Temple, found more than 500 square meters of shell mound accumulation cultural layer, cleaned up 44 tombs in the late Neolithic period (around 4000 years ago), 2 tombs in the Warring States period, and ash pits, pillar caves (more than 1200), walls, ash ditches, wells and other relics in various periods, and excavated 208 pieces/sets of pottery, stone tools, porcelain, wadang and other cultural relics. In addition, there are 42 human remains and animal skeleton specimens in the late Neolithic period, which provide extremely important materials for studying the changes in the Pearl River Delta and reconstructing the history of human production, life and cultural development in the Pearl River Estuary area in the late Neolithic period.
How early are the earliest prehistoric sites in Guangzhou? Between 1958 and 1961, the Guangdong Provincial Museum Cultural Relics Task Force, the Department of History of Sun Yat-sen University, and the Department of History of Jinan University conducted three excavations of the site of Jinlan Temple, and found the remains of faience pottery dating back about 6,000 years. The site of Jinlan Temple is the earliest prehistoric shell hill site in Guangzhou, and its successive relationships of superimposed cultural layers provide important stratigraphic evidence for the chronicle sequence of archaeology in the prehistoric period of Guangdong.
Late Neolithic M8 is buried with pottery beans
Late Neolithic stone rings
Late Neolithic jade core
In this excavation, 22 tombs in the late Neolithic tombs have burial items, the number is 1 to 6 pieces, there are kettle + bean, Ding + bean, Ding + bean + bey, kettle + bowl + stone gong + stone ring and other combinations, there are also separate burial of pottery kettles, beans, circle foot jars or spinning wheels, etc., mostly practical utensils, fragment burial phenomenon is more common.
Of the 42 human skeletons found in the late Neolithic tombs at the site of Kinransa Temple, 2 were buried on their backs with flexed limbs, and the rest were buried on their backs or sideways with straight limbs. Flexed limb burial and straight limb burial appear in the same site, which is very rare in the Ring Pearl River Estuary and even in the Lingnan region, suggesting the existence of cultural diversity, which is of great significance for the restoration and study of the ethnic morphology and population migration interaction in the Ring Pearl River Estuary area in the pre-Qin period.
Judging from the animal skeletons excavated from the site of Cam Ranh Temple, there are more than 15 species of fish, mainly semi-brackish water-brackish water, including silkfin seabream, spiny snapper, etc.; reptiles include turtles, turtles, etc.; mammals include deer, pigs, jackals, etc. 6,000 years ago, Cam Ranh Temple belonged to the estuary and near-shore area, rich in aquatic resources, freshwater shellfish gathering and fish fishing were the main sources of food for the ancestors, and sometimes hunting for food.
Shells and animal bones unearthed at Cam Ranh Temple. Pan Weiqian in "Tracing Yangcheng - New Archaeological Discoveries in Guangzhou in 2021"
Earlier, Yi Xibing, president of the Guangzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said in an interview: "The archaeological excavation results of the site of Jinlan Temple this time far exceed expectations. He said, "With the construction of the Guangzhou-Shantou high-speed railway (Shitan section), our excavation area is about 800 square meters, and according to the current landform, the entire site area is estimated to be 30,000 or 40,000 square meters or more." At present, it seems that the northwestern part of the site is a burial area, and the settlement where the ancestors lived is likely to be in the southeast of the burial area, that is, at a high place. What is valuable is that this area has not undergone large-scale infrastructure construction, and it is all traditional residential buildings, and the original environment is well preserved. In the next step, we will strive for opportunities to carry out more work on the village of Cam Ranh Temple, one is to conduct a comprehensive archaeological survey of the site and select suitable areas for exploration; the other is to investigate and study the traditional houses and immovable cultural relics of the village of Cam Ranh Temple; and third, we also hope to do some anthropological investigations. All in all, the ruins of Cam Ranh Temple are worth looking forward to. ”
Associate Professor Yu Chong of the School of Sociology and Anthropology of Sun Yat-sen University conducted a preliminary identification and study of the animal bones excavated from the site of Zengcheng Jinlan Temple, and believed that from the animal bones excavated from The Jinlan Temple, there were more than 15 species of fish, mainly brackish water-brackish water, including seabream, spiny seabream, etc.; reptiles included turtles, turtles, etc.; mammals including deer, pigs, jackals, etc., showing that the site of Jinlan Temple belonged to the estuarine and near-shore environment at that time, and the mode of life should include fishing, gathering, hunting, etc. She pointed out that the follow-up research directions include the restoration of fish body length and stable isotope research, and the fishing and hunting behavior of the late Neolithic period in the Ruins of Jinlan Temple and the Pearl River Estuary area is comprehensively explored through the above methods.
The team of Professor Li Fajun of the School of Sociology and Anthropology of Sun Yat-sen University reported the preliminary anthropological research results of human bones excavated from the site of Jinlan Temple. The 46 tombs excavated from the excavation of Jinlan Temple are mainly single burials, of which 13 are males and 6 are females, and most of them are underage individuals under the age of 12. Taking M1 as an example, through research, it was confirmed that the individual was female, aged 40-45 years old, buried on his back with a straight limb, and there was no sign of tooth extraction, and his skull showed the characteristics of long skull type, broad nose type, low orbital type and protruding jaw type that ancient humans in the prehistoric period in South China had. These phenomena will help to further explore the complexity of ancient human cultural activities and genetic exchange at Cam Ranh Temple. In addition, the research team also introduced the results of the virtual reconstruction of the M16 skull, the scheme and design of the behavioral reconstruction based on the geometric morphology of the patella, and the observation of the burial phenomenon of M22 human bones.