In 2021, six major projects, including the Sanxingdui Shang Dynasty Ruins, were selected

The 2021 Chinese archaeological discoveries were unveiled at the Archaeology Forum of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences held in Beijing.　Photo by Sun Zifa, a reporter from China News Service

Beijing, March 18 (Reporter Sun Zifa) The new discoveries of Chinese archaeology in 2021 were unveiled in Beijing on the 18th, and six major archaeological projects, including the Paleolithic ruins of Piluo in Daocheng County, Sichuan, the Neolithic ruins of Huangshan in Nanyang City, Henan, the Ruins of the Sanxingdui Shang Dynasty in Guanghan City, Sichuan, the Warring States Tombs in Zhangshu City, Jiangxi, the Qinhan Cemetery of the Warring States of Zhengjiahun in Yunmeng County, Hubei Province, and the Tuguhun Royal Tomb Group of the Tang Dynasty in Wuwei City, Gansu Province, were selected.

The Archaeology Forum of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences was held in Beijing on the same day, and Chen Xingcan, director of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, released 6 selected and 6 shortlisted projects for the new discoveries of Chinese archaeology in 2021. Gao Xiang, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and president of the Chinese Academy of History, and Song Xinchao, deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, attended and delivered speeches.

On the same day, the forum was held in a combination of online and offline methods, and representatives of the six selected projects for new archaeological discoveries in China in 2021 respectively introduced the research progress of their respective project excavations, and relevant archaeological experts and scholars were invited to comment.

—— Paleolithic site of Piluo, Daocheng County, Sichuan. Located in Daocheng County, Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan Province, the Paleolithic site of Piluo is located in Daocheng County, Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan Province, with an area of about 1 million square meters and an average elevation of about 3,750 meters, on the tertiary terraces of the Pinghe River, a secondary tributary of the Jinsha River.

In May 2020, the Paleolithic Research Office of the Sichuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology discovered the site during a special investigation of Paleolithic archaeology. In November 2020, the Sichuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and Peking University jointly declared the active excavation work to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, with a declared excavation area of 200 square meters.

At the end of April 2021, the archaeological team, together with the School of Urban and Environmental Sciences of Peking University and the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, formed a multidisciplinary research team to begin the formal archaeological excavation of the Pirao site, and after more than 6 months of excavation work, a series of important gains and understandings were made.

First, the site covers a vast area of about 1 million square meters, and is a rare super-large Paleolithic site at home and abroad. The number of relics is large, and there are more than 10,000 relics systematically collected and excavated in 2021.

Second, rich in cultural connotations, this excavation revealed seven consecutive cultural layers in the eastern foothills of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and found a rare Paleolithic cultural triassic layer (simple stone core stone combination - Ashley technology system - small stone chip stone tool system), of which the third layer is no later than 130,000 years ago.

Third, the remains of the Ashel technique, the highest altitude in the world, have been found, and the stone products such as hand axes and thin-bladed axes unearthed are the most typical, most exquisitely made, most mature technology and most complete combination of Ashel in East Asia.

Overall, the Pilo site is a rare super-large Paleolithic wilderness site with a special spatio-temporal location, a grand scale, well-preserved strata, a clear cultural sequence, rich relics, distinctive technical characteristics, and the superposition of various cultural factors, and its discovery is of great significance.

First, in the eastern foothills of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, seven consecutive stratigraphic accumulations and cultural strata were exposed, and the Paleolithic cultural development process of "simple stone stone piece combination - Ashley technology system - small stone chip system" was completely preserved and systematically displayed, and for the first time, a coherent and iconic Paleolithic specific period of culture sequence in Sichuan and southwest China was established, which set up a reference and yardstick for comparative research of other sites and related materials in the region.

Second, the axe-bearing sites of the Western Sichuan Plateau such as Piluo fill a key missing link in the Asheli technical system, connecting the Asheli cultural transmission belt between the East and the West, which has special value and significance for understanding the migration and cultural dissemination and exchange of ancient people in the East and the West.

Third, the site is located on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and the continuous stratigraphic accumulation, intact burial conditions and clear sequence of stone tool technology evolution show the ability, method and historical process of early humans to conquer high-altitude extreme environments. This important archaeological discovery is located in the current international academic circles on the hot topics and key time nodes of human diffusion and adaptation to high-altitude environments, and also provides an important ecological background and chronological yardstick for the coupling relationship between paleoenvironmental changes and human adaptation in the region.

——Neolithic ruins of Huangshan Mountain, Nanyang City, Henan Province. The Huangshan Neolithic site is located on the west bank of the Baihe River in the north of Huangshan Village, Pushan Town, Wolong District, northeast of Nanyang City, and is distributed in and around a small earthen hill with a height of about 17 meters composed of five-level terraces. From May 2018 to December 2021, the archaeological team conducted continuous active archaeological excavations at the site, conducted archaeological exploration of the underground ancient river channel found between Dushan and the two of them 3 kilometers southwest of Yuming Mountain, and conducted a small area survey on both sides of the nearby BaiHe River.

It is determined that the Huangshan site covers an area of 300,000 square meters, is surrounded by three underground ancient rivers and the Baihe River, and consists of two parts, the mountain and the lower parts, which is the largest Neolithic site in the Nanyang Basin. The underground ancient river channel between the site and Dushan 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 3 kilometers northwest, was discovered, and the jade resource supply system between the site, Dushan and Pushan was discovered. At present, the main archaeological achievements include the following seven aspects:

First, archaeological excavations have determined that the Huangshan site is a central settlement site with distinctive characteristics of jade tool making in Yangshao culture, Qujialing culture and Shijiahe culture, with the largest site area, the highest specifications of the ruins and rich connotations in the Nanyang Basin, reflecting the characteristics of the cultural exchange and integration of the north and the south in the late Neolithic period, and providing important materials for discussing the process of social complexity and civilization in southwest Henan.

Second, the neolithic jade ware production remains of the site are supported by Dushan jade as a resource and assisted by jade from other places, which roughly exists in the transformation of the "home-style" workshop group in the late Yangshao culture to the "group" production mode in the Qujialing period. The Large-scale Production of Jade Ware in the Shijiahe Cultural Period also filled the gap in the Neolithic jade handicraft system in the Central Plains and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and together with the remains of bone making, provided an important clue for exploring the specialization of handicraft production and social division of labor at that time.

Third, the Yangshao Cultural Fang Residential Building Complex is one of the best preserved prehistoric building complexes in China, with high walls, complete internal facilities, and a large number of relics preserved in situ, vividly reproducing the original scenes of the ancients making jade tools and life. In particular, the F1 area in the large-scale long room of the "front square and rear dwelling style" exceeds 15 khu square meters, which is extremely rare.

Fourth, it was revealed that the qujialing high-grade tomb area, represented by the large-scale tombs of a large number of pig mandibles, jade, bows and arrows, ivory vessels, and a small amount of pottery, was well preserved and the members of society were hierarchical. The discovery of bundled bone needles that may have a weaving function provided an important material for prehistoric textile archaeology in China.

Fifth, the remains of the prehistoric wharf nature were found for the first time in the Central Plains, which together with natural rivers, artificial rivers and ring moats constituted a waterway transportation system, reflecting the ancients' attention to and ability to use water resources.

Sixth, because Dushan jade has a strong identification, Lingbao Xipo Cemetery, Gongyi Shuanghuaishu Ruins, Baokang Mulintou Ruins, Shayangcheng River Ruins, Huaibin Sand Tomb Ruins, nanyang Basin and its surrounding Xixia Old Tomb Ruins, Huaichuan Xiazhai, Zhen'an Guocheng and other sites excavated a number of Dushan jade artifacts similar to the Nanyang Huangshan Ruins, suspected of being "Huangshan-made", which may reflect that the scope of exchange of jade ware produced at the site has exceeded the Nanyang Basin and reached a large area in western Henan, southeastern Henan, and the north bank of the Yangtze River.

Seventh, the important relics that have been cleaned up are all protected on site in a timely manner, and the multi-level well-preserved prehistoric cultural relics have major academic research and display and utilization value.

——Sanxingdui Shang Dynasty Ruins in Guanghan City, Sichuan Province. The archaeological excavation of the Sacrifice Area of the Shang Dynasty Site of Sanxingdui is one of the implementation contents of the major project "Archaeology of China" of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, "Research on the Civilization Process in Sichuan-Chongqing Region". Since the start of excavation in March 2020, the distribution range and internal pattern of the sacrifice area have been preliminarily clarified, and 6 new "sacrifice pits" have been discovered, and the field excavation work of K3, K4, K5 and K6 has been completed, and the excavation work of K7 and K8 has also passed the halfway point.

Adhering to the working concept of "subject presetting, protection synchronization, multidisciplinary integration, and multi-team cooperation", the Sichuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology has joined hands with 39 domestic scientific research institutions, colleges and universities and science and technology companies represented by the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the School of Archaeology and Literature of Peking University to jointly carry out archaeological excavation, cultural relics protection and multidisciplinary research in the Sanxingdui site sacrifice area, especially the six newly discovered "sacrifice pits".

Up to now, the stratigraphic relationship, accumulation formation process, shape structure, and burial status of relics in the six "sacrifice pits" have been basically clear, and more than 200 pieces of gold, bronze, jade, pottery, etc. have been excavated, and more than 500 ivory have been extracted. Among them, important cultural relics include gold masks, bird-shaped foil ornaments, bronze-crowned kneeling portraits, kneeling portraits with twisted heads, standing portraits, human heads, masks, "altars", jade zhang, ge, chisels, sacred tree patterns, vessel seats, stone ge, pottery dwarf collar urns, pointed bottom cups, silk fabric residues, ivory, ivory carvings, etc., some relics from the shape, ornaments, etc., from the perspective of modeling, ornamentation, are unprecedented.

The archaeological excavation of the sacrificial area of the Sanxingdui site is of great and far-reaching significance, mainly including:

First, the newly discovered ruins and relics have further enriched the cultural connotation of the Sanxingdui site, and will also promote the study of the rituals and sacrifice systems of the Sanxingdui site and the ancient Shu civilization, filling the gap in previous research.

Second, it further explains the basic understanding that "ancient Shu civilization is an important part of Chinese civilization". A large number of relics excavated from Pits No. 1 and No. 2 excavated in 1986 combine the cultural factors of ancient Shu civilization, Central Plains civilization and other regions in China, indicating that ancient Shu civilization is an important part of Chinese civilization. Several new artifacts unearthed this time, such as the bronze statue of the kneeling figure and the bronze round mouth square statue unearthed by K3, the jade and silk fabrics unearthed from K4, and the gold mask and ivory carving unearthed from K5 further confirm this understanding.

——Tomb of the Warring States of The State Character Mountain in Zhangshu City, Jiangxi Province. The Guozishan Warring States Tomb was discovered in 2013 and is a subsidiary remain of the Tsuku acropolis, a central site of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty in the Qingjiang Basin. Zhuwei City is located in the southwest of Hongguangtang, Pengze Village, Daqiao Street, Zhangshu City, Jiangxi Province. The city site is located on the edge of the second-level terrace on the south bank of the Ganjiang River, directly overlooking the Ganjiang River Valley. The site is 410 meters long from east to west, 360 meters wide from north to south, and covers an area of 140,000 square meters. The site of the city is surrounded by a towering wall, and the highest point in existence is 2 meters. The moat on the outside of the city wall is clearly recognizable. Around the city site, there are a large number of city sites, ruins, tombs, etc. of the same period, forming a settlement group with the acropolis as the core. Around the city site, there are Guozishan Tomb Group, NiutouShan Tomb Group and Guo Feng Tomb Group. Located west of the Acropolis, the Guozishan Tomb Group consists of four large tombs of similar shape and scale, of which the Guozishan Tomb is M1.

Since 2017, with the support of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Guozishan Archaeological Team composed of the Jiangxi Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Zhangshu City Museum has carried out systematic exploration, excavation and research on the Guozishan tomb and the surrounding areas. At the same time as the excavations, multidisciplinary collaborative research and the intervention of cultural relics protection measures from the excavation site were carried out simultaneously. After nearly 5 years of excavation, the archaeological excavation of the Guozishan tomb has achieved important stage results.

First, it is inferred from the inscriptions and relics excavated in the tomb that the tomb era is the middle of the Warring States period.

Second, Guozishan M1 is the largest archaeological excavation in Jiangxi so far in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty tomb. The tomb is surrounded by a ditch, the scale is grand, the multi-chamber structure of the double tomb passage is used, the burial utensils are of high specifications, and the burial varieties are complete, indicating that the tomb owner has a high status status. According to the overall characteristics of the tomb and the excavated inscription data, it is speculated that the owner of the tomb may be closely related to the Yue royal family. The Acropolis was the regional political center of Yue culture during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.

Third, the tomb reflects the characteristics of the integration and coexistence of multiple cultural factors. The tomb has prominent Yue cultural factors, such as the surrounding ditch, the rafter board covered with wood veneer, the use of ship-shaped coffins and burial of primitive porcelain, geometric printed pottery, Yue-style copper ding, copper dove staff, etc. At the same time, it is accompanied by a considerable number of Chu cultural factors, Qunshu cultural factors and its own unique cultural factors.

Fourth, the excavation of the Guozishan tomb is a major breakthrough in the archaeology of the Eastern Zhou Period in Jiangxi in recent years, filling the archaeological gap of the Eastern Zhou Period in Jiangxi, and providing key data for the construction and improvement of the genealogy of archaeological cultural sequences in the two-week period in the region.

Fifth, in addition to the excavation of the tomb body, a comprehensive excavation of the cemetery was also carried out to understand the situation of the ditch and the passage, and to explore whether there were auxiliary buildings on the south side. Based on the clues provided by early aerial and satellite images, targeted drilling was carried out in the surrounding areas, and the Site of Maoli Mountain and Chapanshan City were discovered; combined with the previously discovered yingpanli and other city sites, it was confirmed that there was a group of city sites along the secondary terraces of the Ganjiang River Valley with the construction of the Acropolis as the core, which provided a new clue for exploring the settlement layout of the area.

Sixth, the excavation of the Guozishan tomb laid a solid foundation for the final characterization of the site of the Acropolis and the discussion of the settlement layout and social structure of the Qingjiang Basin during the two-week period.

Seventh, the excavation of the Guozishan tomb is a new breakthrough in the archaeology of Yue and Yue cultures, which has opened up a new situation for the study of Baiyue culture, and is of great value for the study of the relationship and political pattern evolution of Wuyue chu in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty of the Jiangxi region as the "Wu tou Chuwei", and provides direct evidence for the exploration of the process of "chinese civilization pluralism and integration" in the region.

——Qin Han Cemetery of the Warring States of Zhengjiahu, Yunmeng County, Hubei Province. Zhengjiahu Warring States Qin Han Cemetery is located in Chengguan Town, Yunmeng County, Hubei Province, distributed in the southeast suburbs of the Chu King City site, about 3,000 meters west of the Sleeping Tiger Cemetery. Since May 2020, in order to cooperate with the municipal construction of Yunmeng County, with the approval of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Yunmeng County Museum have jointly formed a team to carry out excavations. The excavation of the cemetery is divided into three areas A, B and C, and a total of 196 tombs in areas A and B will be excavated in 2020, all of which are small tombs of the Chu culture since the late Warring States period, mostly in a north-south direction. In 2021, 116 tombs in Area C will be excavated, of which 14 are water-filled tombs, all of which are pit vertical cave tombs, no tombs, more eastward; the burial style is more upright, there are a small number of flexed limb burials, the burial tools are divided into single coffins and a coffin; the tomb shape system, coffin structure, combination of burial products, and martyrdom customs are all small and medium-sized tombs of Qin culture, and the tomb owners should be related to the Qin people and their descendants after the Qin army occupied Anlu in 278 BC, and the chronology span is from the late Warring States period to the early Western Han Dynasty.

The multidisciplinary testing studies carried out include carbon fourteen dating, human bone archaeology, animal archaeology, plant archaeology, paleomatry analysis, isotope analysis, residue analysis, composition analysis, process research and abdominal parasite detection, etc., with remarkable results. For example, the use of multiple isotopes to reconstruct individual migration behavior and life history clearly reveals the close interaction between the north and the south, and provides scientific and technological support for understanding the population integration situation at that time.

The main takeaways from this excavation are as follows:

First, a number of precious written materials were unearthed. In addition to the M277 excavation of the dispatch strategy and the Bronze Ding inscription, the late Warring States tomb M274 unearthed a long text wooden 瓠 (a kind of polygonal body wooden mu, the full text of about 700 words, the font is typical Of Qin Li, the Chinese record of the counselors to lobby the Qin king to sleep in the army Liyi, the style and style of the similar to the "Warring States Policy". The urn is the earliest and longest wooden urn seen so far, with a rare shape and rich connotation, involving archaeology, paleography, paleography, ancient history and many other fields, and has great academic value. It is not found in the records of the world, but it provides a new type of literature on strategy and questioning, enriches the political history materials of the late Warring States period, and is a precious text for the study of social thought at that time.

Second, a number of rare burial utensils woodblock paintings were unearthed, dating from the end of the Warring States period - the Qin Dynasty and the Qin and Han Dynasties. The themes are all the first to fill the historical gap in the materials and types of Qin and Han paintings in the Warring States, which is an important discovery in the history of Chinese art and of great significance for tracing the formation of Chinese tomb murals. The qin culture characteristics in the theme are distinct, which provides important materials for the study of qin people's funeral customs, religious thoughts, costume culture and artistic modeling.

Third, a large number of exquisite Qin cultural lacquerware were unearthed, which were extremely well preserved, many of which were exquisite in craftsmanship, unique patterns, rich in cultural connotations, and the age was concentrated before and after the Qin Dynasty, providing important materials for the study of the production and circulation of Qin Dynasty lacquerware, arts and crafts, and the history of the development of Chinese lacquerware.

Fourth, clean up a number of rare Qin culture water-filled tombs, and provide important materials for studying the funerary customs, living conditions and cultural changes of the Qin people.

Fifth, it revitalized the historical scenes of important nodes in the process of the great unification of the Qin and Han Empires. Yunmeng is the strategic point of the Qin people to unify the south, the Zhengjiahu cemetery and the Chu Wangcheng city site and its surrounding sleeping tiger land, Longgang, Jiangguo, Datutou and other cemeteries form an organic whole, the chronology is concentrated in Baiqi to the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, these tomb owners are mostly Chu, Qin, Han Huandi - the Qin and Han Empire unification process of the witness, multidisciplinary research also clearly reveals the frequent migration and interaction of the northern and southern populations at that time. These materials vividly show the historical process of the gradual integration of Qin culture and Chu culture, unification with Han culture and integration into Chinese civilization, and provide typical cases for studying the formation of a multi-ethnic unified state in China from the late Warring States period to the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, the process of the great unification of Chinese civilization and the national identity reflected behind it.

——Tomb group of Tuguhun royal clans in the Tang Dynasty, Wuwei City, Gansu Province. The tomb group is located in the southwest of Wuwei City, Gansu Province, at the northern foot of Qilian Mountain, mainly distributed in the south of Thenanying Reservoir in Wuwei Nanshan District, on the hill on the north bank of the middle and lower reaches of the Binggou River and the Dashui River. In recent years, led by the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the Tuguhun Archaeological Project Team has been established to continuously carry out archaeological investigation, excavation and research work.

In 2019, the project team excavated the tomb of Murong Zhi, the king of Tuguhun Xi (the third son of Murong Nuobao), which is the only well-preserved tomb of the Tuguhun royal family found so far, and a large number of burial items have been excavated from the tomb. At the same time, the tomb unearthed epitaphs are a combination, the era is clear, the content is rich, the first mention of the "Great Khan Mausoleum" in the Nanshan District of Wuwei, the left side of the epitaph is also engraved with two lines of unread text, which may be Tuguhun native ethnic script. In 2020, while completing the protection and restoration of 301 pieces (sets) of cultural relics excavated from Murong Zhi's tomb, large-scale investigation and exploration work was carried out in the Wuwei area, and a total of 23 Tuguhun royal tombs were found and confirmed.

In 2021, with the main goal of exploring the specific location and layout characteristics of the "Great Khan's Mausoleum" and enriching the cultural connotation of the Tuguhun royal tomb group, the archaeological team excavated three newly discovered tombs in the Changling-Machangtan area in the Wuwei area, and unearthed more than 290 burial items. It can be seen from the "Tomb of Mrs. Dang of Mrs. Feng Yijun" excavated from Machangtan M2 that the tomb group is the tomb of the Tugu Hun Pengzi family in the early and middle Tang Dynasty.

Through continuous archaeological work, the tombs of the Wuwei Tuguhun royal family can now be preliminarily divided into three major mausoleum areas, namely the Chashan Village District represented by Murong Zhi's tomb (the "Great Khan Mausoleum") area, the Qingzui-Lama Bay Area ("Yanghui Valley" Mausoleum Area) represented by the tombs of Princess Honghua and Murong Zhong, and the Changling-Machangtan District ("Baiyangshan" Mausoleum Area) represented by the Dang Tomb. The tomb group as a whole shows the distribution characteristics of "large concentration and small dispersion" and the tomb site selection characteristics of "Niugang Remote Area, Horse Mane Open Grave, and Ground Dragon Pile". The tombs all have the basic characteristics of high-grade tombs in the early and middle Tang Dynasty, mainly based on the Tang Dynasty burial system, and have both Tuguhun culture, Tubo culture and northern grassland culture factors.

The discovery of the Tuguhun royal family tomb group in the Tang Dynasty of Wuwei, Gansu Province, vividly reveals the historical facts that the Tuguhun ethnic group has gradually integrated into the Chinese civilization system in the past hundred years since its return to the Tang Dynasty, provided an important foundation for promoting the sustainable development and protection and utilization of the Tuguhun royal family site group in Wuwei region, and provided a new research direction for the enrichment and improvement of the Silk Road cultural system.

The six shortlisted projects for new discoveries in Chinese archaeology in 2021 include: Neolithic rice field site in Shi'ao, Yuyao City, Zhejiang Province, Neolithic site in Zhangjiachuan County, Gansu Province, Neolithic Site in Jimingcheng, Lixian County, Hunan, Jiangcun Tomb in Xi'an City, Shaanxi, Nanchao Buddhist Temple Site in Xiying Village, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, and Beiting Ancient City Site in Jimsar County, Xinjiang.

It is understood that the Archaeology Forum of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences was founded in 2002, is sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Archaeology Magazine agency of the New Era Chinese Archaeology Academic Forum, is China's latest archaeological information exchange platform, the display stage of major archaeological discoveries and the academic podium of new archaeological progress, aiming to promote archaeological academic exchanges and promote the prosperity and development of China's archaeological cause in the new era. (End)