Henan Daily Zhang Tiyi Wen Xiaojuan
On February 26, 2022, the preliminary evaluation results of the 2021 National Top Ten New Archaeological Discoveries were announced, and 20 projects were shortlisted for the final evaluation of the Top Ten New Archaeological Discoveries in China in 2021. Among them, the Huangshan Ruins in Nanyang, Henan Province, were shortlisted.
The Huangshan site is located in the northeast of Nanyang City, Wolong District, Pushan Town, Huangshan Village, on the west bank of the Baihe River, distributed in and around a five-level terrace composed of 17 meters high small earthen hills. From May 2018 to December 2021, the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Nanyang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology jointly conducted continuous active archaeological excavations at the site, archaeological exploration of the underground ancient river channel found between Dushan and the two of them 3 kilometers southwest, and conducted a small area survey on both sides of the nearby Baihe River. This archaeological project confirms the long history of Dushan jade mining excavations in Nanyang.
After archaeological exploration and investigation, it was determined that the Huangshan site covers an area of 300,000 square meters, surrounded by three underground ancient rivers and white rivers, composed of two parts, the mountain and the lower parts, and is the largest Neolithic site in the Nanyang Basin, with the nature of a central settlement. The underground ancient river channel between the site and Dushan mountain and the two ancient jade mining sites of Dushan were discovered, and the underground ancient river channel between Pushan, which is rich in White Jade and Quartz, was found 3 kilometers northwest, and the supply system of jade resources between the site and Dushan and Pushan was completed.
In the early tombs of the Yangshao culture, a piece of Dushan jade was unearthed, indicating that Dushan jade may have been made at this time. In the foundation of the late Yangshao culture, it was found that there were grinding stone piers, jade tools, jade sandstone tools, a small amount of bone tools and Monosite stone materials, and some ground remained "sandstone pulp" deposits of ground remains of grinding jade, indicating that the long house was mainly inhabited, and had a certain workshop function, grinding jade stone tools, also producing bone hammers and bone cones, and playing jade stone tools in individual buildings.
Stone Tools (Courtesy of Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology)
During the Qujialing culture period, 5 jade workshop sites were found. Among them, F9 is about 14.5 meters long from north to south and 4.2 meters wide from east to west, and there are remnants of rectangular column holes and more than 10 neatly arranged stone grinding piers and rootstocks; F33 remains 11 stone grinding piers arranged in an orderly manner. Archaeology has found 3 irregular ash pits and 1 workshop of Shijiahe culture, and sandstone tools, individual jade remnants and sandstone slurry layers have been excavated, indicating that jade tools were still being made on a large scale during this period.
The relics found in the Huangshan site are mostly sandstone jade tools. Incomplete statistics, a total of more than 23,000 pieces were unearthed, namely nearly 1,800 grinding rods, 5,672 grinding blades, 308 grinding setbacks, 13 drill bits, 3 drill pipe caps, 272 stone hammers, 20 stone balls, more than 50 complete grinding piers, and more than 15,000 residual grinding piers. In addition, more than 300 pieces of stone blanks, 274 pieces of stone cores, 1021 pieces of artificial stone chips, and about 300 pieces of stone tools were produced. The texture of the stone tools is mainly monosite, mainly agricultural tools, tools and weapons, including shovels, shovels, knives, axes, hammers, chisels, cymbals, and so on. The jade is mainly Dushan jade, followed by yellow wax stone, quartz, Han white jade, calcite, etc., and some are agate, tremolite, serpentine, mica. Jade includes cymbals, hammers, axes, shovels, hammers, chisels, wrenches, beads and so on.
Yu Huang (Courtesy of Henan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology)
After the analysis of the composition of the sandstone pulp, it was found that most of the remaining slurry accumulation was a mixture of Dushan jade and sandstone grinding stone powder, which provided key evidence for the determination of the nature of the jade workshop.
Yu Yu (Courtesy of Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology)
According to reports, the archaeological findings have determined that the Huangshan site is a central site of neolithic Yangshao culture, Qujialing culture and Shijiahe culture involving the nature of jade tool making, with the largest area in the Nanyang Basin, the highest specifications of the ruins, and rich connotations, reflecting the social complexity and civilization process of the cultural exchange and integration of the north and the south at that time, is a key site to explore the origin and cultural development of civilization in the Nanyang Basin and jianghan plain, and is also a key site for the study of Chinese civilization, which is a major discovery of neolithic archaeology in the mainland. The neolithic jade ware production remains of the site are supported by Dushan jade and stone as resources, and jade from other places is assisted, and there is a law of transformation from the family-style workshop group in the late Yangshao period to the factory intensive production mode of the Qujialing period, and the large-scale production of jade ware in the Shijiahe period can fill the gap in the Neolithic jade handicraft system in the Central Plains and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.
Originally published on February 26, 2022 Henan Daily client )