Shanxi Economic Daily reporter Wang Yuan
The reporter learned from the Shanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute that archaeologists found the remains of the Yangshao culture period at the Xiaowang site in Xiangfen County, and a large number of pottery, stone tools, bone tools, etc. were excavated from the site, which provided physical data for the study of the cultural appearance of the middle and late Yangshao culture.
Painted pottery pot Courtesy of Shanxi Archaeological Research Institute
Courtesy of Tao Bao, Shanxi Archaeological Research Institute
Courtesy of Tao Oun Shanxi Archaeological Research Institute
The Xiaowang ruins are located 500 meters northeast of Xiaowang Village, Dengzhuang Town, Xiangfen County, Linfen City, and about 13.5 kilometers southwest of the county seat, with an area of about 21,000 square meters. In July 2016, in order to cooperate with the construction of the Shanxi section of the Qinglan Expressway (Changzhi to Linfen), the Shanxi Archaeological Research Institute, together with the School of History and Culture of Shanxi University, the Linfen Cultural Relics and Archaeology Workstation, and the Xiangfen County Culture and Tourism Bureau, carried out rescue excavations of the Xiangfen Xiaowang site. According to the results of archaeological exploration, there are two ruins distribution areas in the village area of the Changlin Expressway construction control zone, one of which is a relic of the Yangshao culture period, with an excavation area of 225 square meters and 17 ash pits.
The relics unearthed in this excavation are mainly pottery, most of which are living utensils, and a small number of grinding stone tools, bone tools, etc., which can restore fewer utensils. The color of the pottery is divided into orange red, light yellow, dark gray and so on. Most of the recognizable vessel shapes are pottery bowls, stacked lip pots, faience pots, bowls, pointed bottom bottles, etc. Pottery ornamentation can be seen in multi-line patterns, string patterns, line patterns are mostly found on the pointed bottom bottle or flat bottom bottle body, while the string pattern is found in a small number of pottery pot mouth along the lower position. Faience ornamentation patterns are diverse, mainly black color, and a small amount of reddish brown color and white color, ornamental elements can be seen in dot pattern, arc triangle pattern, etc., with a variety of elements combined or single composition pattern decoration on the mouth edge and upper abdomen of pottery bowls, pots and a very small number of clay pots and other utensils.
The Xiaowang ruins are mainly remnants of the middle and late Yangshao culture. Because the excavation area is about 2 kilometers away from the Linfen Taoyuan site in a straight line, and the main cultural features of the two sites are similar, it is speculated that the Xiaowang site may be a small settlement or short-term camp within the cultural radiation range of the Taoyuan site.
Extended Materials:
Pentagonal "mansion" in a peach orchard
October 08, 2021 Source: Henan Daily
Henan Daily client reporter Zhang Tianyi
On October 8th, the 13th lecture of the series of academic lectures on "Archaeological Discovery and Research of Yangshao Culture" co-sponsored by the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Henan Province, the Institute of Archaeology of Shaanxi Province, and the Institute of Archaeology of Shanxi Province, co-organized by the Public Archaeology Center of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the China Archaeological Network, and the Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism of Sanmenxia City, Henan Province, was held for the thirteenth lecture.
Vice President Zheng Yuan is the only female archaeologist in this Series of Lectures on Yangshao Culture. He has long been engaged in field archaeological excavation and research, public archaeological practice research, etc., and often organizes various archaeological public welfare lectures, archaeological culture weeks, archaeological site open days, cultural heritage days and other public archaeology and archaeological volunteer activities.
In the lecture, Zheng Yuan focused on the pentagonal house sites and exquisite faience pottery found at the Taoyuan site in Linfen, Shanxi.
The Linfen Taoyuan Ruins in Shanxi is a Neolithic site located in southern Shanxi Province. In 2016, the first archaeological excavation was carried out, and a number of relics such as the Miaodigou culture, the Xiwangcun type, and the Dongxiafeng type were found, of which the Yangshao culture remains were the richest and typical.
The Taoyuan site excavated stacked house foundations
At the Taoyuan site, not only a separate house similar to a pentagon was found, but also a pentagonal house site stacked up and down, the pentagonal house built first had an area of more than 60 square meters, and later a large house of more than 90 square meters was rebuilt and expanded on the original site. Archaeological discoveries of large semi-crypt sites, the shape of the ground is pentagonal, there are more complete ground, part of the wall, column holes, fire pits and other structures. Among them, the ground is hard and flat, there are many traces of repair; the highest part of the existing wall, about 50 cm from the ground of the site, the wall should be a wooden bone mud wall, the wall base can be seen as a row of column holes, the inner wall is burned and repaired after being coated with grass and mixed with mud, relatively flat; there is a fire pit in the south of the site, which is circular vertical cavity, which should be used by the ancients for heating, lighting and cooking. This is a large neolithic Miaodigou culture site found in Shanxi that has so far been large and well preserved.
Zheng Yuan said that the pentagonal site was built with not only considered solidity, but also considered comfort and aesthetics, which was more elaborate. This kind of pentagonal house has been found in Western Henan and Guanzhong, some large and some small. Some experts believe that it may be a public event place. It was previously speculated that the size of the pentagonal house may be related to the size of the settlement, and the larger the settlement, the larger the house. However, it has recently been discovered that there are pentagonal sites with different large and small sizes in the same site. Did the pentagonal house have a special purpose for the special building, or was it a popular architectural style at the time? Continued research is still needed.
Painted pottery excavated from the Taoyuan site
A large number of pottery fragments typical of the Temple Bottom Ditch period such as red pottery pointed bottom bottles, flat bottom bottles, faience pots, faience pottery bowls, and sand pots have been excavated from the Taoyuan site, and after restoration, a number of large-scale faience pottery with regular shape and rich ornamentation have been found, which belong to the rare faience pottery in the Miaodigou cultural period.
Zheng Yuan said that through the preliminary understanding of the settlement structure, combination of ruins and cultural connotation of the Taoyuan site, combined with the comparative analysis of the remains of similar sites in western Henan and Guanzhong, the Linfen Taoyuan site should be a central settlement site in the Miaodigou cultural period. On the one hand, it is once again confirmed that the Jinnan region is undoubtedly one of the core areas of prehistoric Miaodigou culture; on the other hand, the degree of social complexity reflected in the archaeological discoveries of this period allows us to also see a prototype and rehearsal of the formation of Chinese civilization.