As a Chinese, my generation is naturally dominated by red, it is faith, it is the color of blood, it is the color of fire, and it is the main theme of the five-star red flag.
From more than two million years ago, ancient humans proudly lived under the bird's eye view of NiheWan, and on February 3, 2022, under the deep gaze of the ancient ape statue, finally ushered in the Olympic flame worthy of universal celebration, which began to pass from the Nihewan National Heritage Park, symbolizing the torch fire of the origin of human civilization, realizing millions of years of exchange across time and space.
When the Olympic flame burned in the "Nihe Bay, the hometown of oriental human beings", the brilliant fire of oriental human civilization once again attracted the attention of the world.
On March 3, 2022 (Beijing time), the world's top journal Nature magazine set its sights on the Nihewan Basin in Zhangjiakou, China, at the eastern end of the earth, and published an archaeological achievement that lasted nearly 10 years online , "Innovative ochre processing and tool use in China 40,000 years ago" online.
(Distant view of the Site of the Lower Horse Monument)
This breakthrough discovery of the Xiama Monument site in Weixian is the remnant of the earliest known prehistoric human processing of pigments and inlaying small stone tools in the mainland and even East Asia, which is expected to overturn the traditional cognition that "modern populations formed later in East Asia than in the western part of the Old World", and reconstruct the development process of human culture in the Paleolithic era in the East and even the world.
From this moment on, the study of the cultural origins of East Asian people is no longer limited to "what to eat, what to do, how to do, and how to live", but has truly entered the spiritual field of human aesthetics, culture, and beliefs.
"That touch of red"
March 3, 12:23.
In Wangfujing, Beijing, the speedy subway whistles over Line 8. Witness the ancient and modern city of the East of the Earth, with the speed of light and the prosperity of fire.
Closing the mobile phone, Wang Fagang gradually relaxed from excitement and hurry. A touch of red swept past the speeding window.
This very unusual day began on the Internet.
(Southern landform of the Xia Ma Monument site)
In the early morning of March 3, the internationally renowned academic journal Nature published online "China's Innovative Ochre Pigment Processing and Tool Making Technology 40,000 Years Ago". Subsequently, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage held an important progress work meeting on the major project of "Archaeology China" in Beijing, to inform the latest progress of paleolithic archaeological discoveries and research in the Nihewan Basin of Hebei Province, and to publish the breakthrough results of the Xiama Monument site in Wei County, Zhangjiakou.
As the first author of the paper, the young Dr. Wang Fagang gave a lecture on behalf of the domestic and foreign research teams of the project. When facing the authoritative predecessors in the field of archaeology in China, he felt excited and excited, and there was still a little trepidation in his heart.
The first to dial his phone and ask, "What did you think about in the speeding car?" ”
He smiled bitterly and said, "Tired, I want to sleep upside down, I want to go back, I hope time stops." ”
A person who has been in the valley wasteland for too long has an instinctive confusion about the hustle and bustle, and it is located in the nihe bay in the northwest of Hebei, which is such a lonely valley wasteland.
Paleolithic tools, the first chapter in human history, began on the day of the birth of mankind and ended around 10,000 years ago. This long period accounts for more than 99.9 per cent of human history. The deep ravine of mud river bay is the most complete and continuous record of human evolution outside of Africa, known as the "Oduve Canyon of the East".
Like the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, the Nihe Bay Rift Valley system is also a huge scar on the earth, and the geological community has named it "Fenwei Graben". This large-scale fissured settlement zone on the North China plot winds from southwest to northeast. It starts in the Weihe Basin, where Xi'an, Shaanxi, is located, passes north through Yuncheng, Houma, Linfen, Taiyuan, Xinzhou, and Yuanping in Shanxi, and flows north to east, entering the Nihewan Basin. Therefore, the Nihewan Basin in a broad sense, from west to east, includes Datong, Shanxi, Yangyuan, Weixian, Zhuolu, Huailai and Beijing Yanqing Basin in Hebei.
What this area played in the later historical process of the Chinese nation does not need to be repeated.
Geologically, more than 100 million years ago, the earth's crust in this area was active, and the fault settlement intensified, forming a fault basin. In the Cenozoic Era, especially in the Quaternary period, the crustal movement of the Rift Valley in Nihe Bay was more intense, and the rate of subsidence and settlement of the basin was accelerated, evolving into a vast lake, becoming the Garden of Eden for the survival of ancient humans...
This is the most wonderful picture, but what is the truth?
In the late autumn of last year, invited by the celebration of the "Centenary of the Discovery of Mud River Bay", he once again set foot in this "hometown of oriental human beings" and arrived at the epoch-making Xiaochangliang site on a cold morning. Its name has been engraved on the first step of the bronze Yongdao at the China Millennium Monument in Beijing. Standing on the top of the mountain, overlooking the valley, the clouds are low, and the heavens and the earth are vast.
On that day, Wang Fagang was three meters away, looking at the desolate and familiar gullies under his feet, and he was also concentrating on reverie.
I don't know if at that moment, he was thinking about "that touch of red" 40,000 years ago.
Stone inlay for blade!
March 4, 10:11 a.m.
Tender buds and turui, green bamboo lightly dragged, Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, as always, quiet.
Arrive on the sixth floor, the Herbarium of the Mud River Bay Research Center.
A fine stone leaf stone tool (part of the bone stalk remaining on the surface)
In the center of the room, a long wooden table with rows of shelves against the wall. On the tables and shelves, large and small white storage boxes contain stone products excavated from the Nihewan Basin.
The Stone Age is divided into two parts: old and new. The Paleolithic period is very long, dating from around 3 million to 10,000 years ago, and ancient humans only used stone strikes to make stone tools. Paleolithic archaeology, first of all, to find the ancient human made stone, they record the story of ancient humans. Then, through the analysis and research of stone products, we explore the preferences in raw material selection, manufacturing methods and processing and repair processes, and find the characteristics and evolution of manufacturing technology in different periods.
"The blade is sharp, be careful with the stroke."
Zhang Wenrui gently removed a small piece of stone from a small bag. He is the president of the Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and is a rigorous and calm person.
It was small, three or four centimeters long, several millimeters wide, a thin slice, and the blades on both sides were dazzlingly bright, reminiscent of a knife for cutting potatoes. "This is the fine stone leaf, which belongs to the typical class of fine stone tools and represents the most advanced manufacturing process of paleolithic tools." Zhang Wenrui used the pen in his hand to illustrate the painting and make a bundle: "In this period, human beings have been very clever, embedding fine stone leaves into wood or bones, and in this way, making composite tools, they have become the 'knives' of ancient humans." ”
The "knife" is like a willow leaf, but it is heavy, holding it in the palm of your hand, and dare not touch it. Xie Fei, an archaeologist present, and others laughed. Since ancient times, celebrities have loved stones. As the chief scientist of the Oriental Human Exploration Project in Nihe Bay, Hebei Province, Xie Fei is different from others who simply appreciate stones, and he is more intoxicated with digging stones, smashing stones and splicing stones with his own hands.
Because, in the prehistoric cultural remains, the basis for reflecting human beings themselves and their development and progress mainly depends on the comprehensive analysis of the ancient human way of life, food structure and processing and manufacturing stone tools. The production of stone products was a touchstone for measuring the ability and wisdom of human beings at that time, and an important embodiment of the further improvement of productivity.
The earliest study of stone products in China began at the Ruins of Cen Jia Wan in Nihe Bay.
The Cen Jia Wan site, 1.1 million years ago, unearthed 897 specimens of stone artifacts during excavations in 1986 and is known as the "processing plant" of ancient human stone tools. From 1990 to 1991, Xie Fei and others screened the stone products in Cen Jia Wan and identified 131 specimens of stone products that could be combined, which were divided into 49 groupings.
"Natural stones are cracked, some become stone tools, and some are scrap materials. We re-spelled it to reverse the process of playing at that time. Xie Fei said. Since the original shape of the stone is not known, nor how much is lost, and each stone has multiple sections, it requires strong observation, imagination and patience.
From simple to complex, ancient humans have bravely moved forward in the journey of fighting against nature, and stone tools have also moved from single to composite. The technical thinking of the combined tool laid the foundation for another technological leap in the late Paleolithic Nihe Bay- the emergence of the "fine stone tool" process technology, which is of epoch-making significance. This "high-precision" technology has broken the convention of directly using stone tools by ancient humans for 2 million years and sounded the "outpost of civilization".
In front of you, these slender small stone tools are from the 12 square meters excavation area of the Xia Ma Monument site.
From the perspective of the beating technology and processing, the overall technology is relatively simple, mainly smashing. However, in terms of size, more than 50% of stone products, including it, are less than 20 mm and are elongated. Some of the surfaces remain part of the bone stalk, plant fibers, and traces and residues from drilling, cutting meat and plants.
What does this mean?
In order to interpret this batch of stone tools, the researchers carried out residue and micro-trace analysis based on the analysis of stone tool types. The results clearly indicate the behavior of "tying, bundling". Some of the small stone tools were formed by ancient humans through the mounting of handles to form composite tools, and stone tools as a whole were used to drill holes, process fur, cut plants, cut animal soft tissues, etc., showing a new type of complex technical ability.
What kind of scene is that?
40,000 years ago, 12 square meters – combined with the records of field excavations, a hazy picture is slowly sketched in the mind: hitting, grinding, chiseling, binding, cutting... Ancient humans, sitting around the fire, each showing its own ability, each performing its own duties, the flames are red, reflecting each other, a primitive picture of "breathing around the furnace and sharing prey".
Millstones!
March 4, noon, 12:31.
The hand, for the first time, touched that red.
A faint reddish color, like the petals of the moon that have been stained by rain and dew. Attached to a long strip of stone the size of a fishing plate, next to it is a pebble with a partially polished surface, which is heavy to begin with. On the other side, there is a small black-brown and red fragment – it is said that it is a small piece of hematite (ochre).
Hematite processing related relics (red dyeing area) and relics
The origin and evolution of modern human beings has been a global academic hotspot for more than 30 years.
"Pigments" are of great archaeological significance, especially in the field of prehistoric archaeology. The emergence of "pigment" means aesthetics, taboos, beliefs, sacrifices and other spiritual connotations. This sense of community is generally based on human gathering. Through the "elements of modern behavior" such as pigment use, artistic creation and composite tools, it is an important means to carry out relevant research by tracing the formation, diffusion, communication and "behavioral modernity" of early modern populations.
Time, travel back years... Head southeast to Wei County. The southeast edge of the Mud River Bay Basin.
At the end of 2013, the Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology carried out systematic excavations of the site of the Xia Ma Stele discovered earlier. The excavation area is only 12 square meters, but in the darkness, there are extraordinary clues. The site is 290 cm thick and the main cultural layer is located in the sixth layer of accumulation, which is extremely rare in situ burial - fire ponds, ashes, stone tools, bone tools, fossil fragments, and hematite pigment processing remains, all of which have been solidified for eternity.
Insider lookout doorway. Fire pits and ashes indicate that ancient humans used fire here. And hematite powder?
"In view of the scarcity of the site and the extraordinary nature of the clues, we quickly organized domestic and foreign scientific research institutions to jointly carry out research." Zhang Wenrui said.
Subsequently, the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Max Planck Institute for the History of Man (MPI) in Germany, the University of Bordeaux in France, and the Institute of Paleoecology and Human Evolution (IPHES) in Catalonia, Spain, joined in to jointly carry out international cooperation research.
High-precision accelerator mass spectrometry carbon XIV, photorefloistry dating, Bayesian model calculation... The results show that the main cultural layer of the Xiama monument site was formed 41,000-39,000 years ago, in the river floodplain environment. At that time, the climate was cool and dry, the grasslands were lush, and the surrounding mountains were covered with coniferous forests. Horses and deer gallop through the grasslands, and weasel burrow in the meadows. A combination of sedimentology, pollen analysis, and zooarchaeology suggests that ancient humans may have lived on the terraces of the Huliu River.
Raman spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, electron microscopy scanning... Scientific and technological testing and analysis confirmed that there is a dyeing area enriched with hematite in the site, and there are many small stones of different sizes and mineral compositions in the dyeing area, which are hematite (ochre). Microscopic analysis further revealed that its larger surface had obvious traces of repeated friction. The long, obviously red-stained stone was limestone, and its surface was red with hematite debris, about 200 microns in size, like a strand of hair. The part of the polished pebble, although there is no obvious residue on the surface, is most likely used as a hammer or pestle.
"However, how can we rule out that this stained area is caused by human factors rather than natural formation?"
This is the question of many people. After all, hematite is widespread in nature.
Wang Fagang once again explained his doubts: by extracting the soil of the red area and the soil of the same layer in the surrounding area, after multiple means of analysis, the results were consistently showed that only the stained area was enriched with hematite, and other areas were not rich in hematite. Later, through magnetic analysis, it was also confirmed that the composition ratio of hematite in this area was much higher than that in the surrounding area.
Embedding all this research and reasoning in time and space, the day 40,000 years ago, became rich and vivid: the lake swayed, the campfire roared, people sat around the fire, performing their duties, some were making tools, some were grinding hematite pigments with pebbles, some simply picked up large pieces of ochre and rubbed it repeatedly on the limestone, the faint red halo remained, the light red powder seeped into the soil, the faint red dots on the forehead, cheeks, maybe lips...
The aesthetics of man!
March 5, 5:03 a.m. Lunar calendar, Sting Day.
"Who am I?" Where am I from? Where am I going? ”
The red morning sun smudges the awakened East. Socrates' question has so far no solution.
(Simulating the grinding behavior of ancient humans)
Yes, there are no words in ancient times, even some simple depictions are rare, even if human bone fossils are found, it is only to provide some physical anthropological information, from the excavated relics or bones, etc. to push the living condition, from the material remains to explore the human behavior, culture, and even thoughts behind them, no doubt like a puzzle.
As a result, the discovery of the Site of the Lower Horse Monument is even more remarkable. Perhaps, you can do a combing image like this: walking upright, different from the beast; playing stone tools, different from instinctive ignorance; "elephant table", witnessing gathering and cooperation;
So until this time, it was discovered that "pigment" meant "aesthetic and leisure". This is a cultural realization of human beings.
This faint red hematite powder, the most widely used pigment by ancient humans since the Paleolithic Age, has been found in petroglyphs, tombs, and even indigenous life around the world in later generations. Previously, archaeology around the world has shown that the use of pigments is not only in China, but also in South Africa, East Africa, and Central Asia, there are about the same era or earlier.
It is true that the specific situation may be different, but one thing is certain: ancient humans at that moment, with aesthetics, reverence and other psychological and spiritual aspects of the pursuit. This is extraordinary.
Peeling back the cocoon, seeing through things, and then seeing the spirit, seeing the aesthetics, and seeing the faith.
Therefore, after nearly 10 years of international cooperation research, Xie Fei said: "We have revealed a 40,000-year-old activity surface, where human beings produced and lived. Through research, we have brought human behavior to life at that time. Humans make stone tools here, hunt... At the same time, being able to process hematite pigments, having the pursuit of beauty in the spiritual field, or the awareness of spiritual worship, knowing how to smear, color, and aesthetic, human beings have entered a new stage in the evolution of civilization. Social structure and cultural formation may also undergo major changes. ”
It is a more subtle, vivid, contoured and meaningful picture.
"Sitting on the bench for ten years cold", the real good results are hard work and perseverance.
From a professional perspective, the Hama Monument site reveals the complex cultural evolution of modern East Asians, synchronized with the technological and cultural development of peoples in western Eurasia, and is likely to have cultural and genetic exchanges with other groups (such as denisovans), and reflects a local mosaic of "cultural and technological innovations". The particularity of this cultural landscape revealed is different from the continuous cultural evolution previously thought, and it is also different from the cultural pattern of modern people spreading in Eurasia. Once again, the manifestations of the complexity of modern human technology and behavior are not uniform, and the technical factors (such as stone leaves, etc.) popular in the west of Eurasia cannot be used as a standard.
"It was a disruptive discovery." Zhang Wenrui said.
For a long time, due to the lack of such archaeological remains in China and even East Asia, scholars generally believe that modern populations formed later in East Asia than in the western part of the Old World. The astonishing discovery of the Xiama Monument site has advanced the history of early human use of pigments in East Asia to 40,000 years ago, and has also greatly advanced the history of artistic creation, aesthetics and cognitive expression of ancient humans in the East, which is expected to completely change the traditional understanding of the global academic community.
Perhaps, we can summarize it this way: around 40,000 years ago, it is a key node in the formation, diffusion and behavior modernization of modern populations. Under the auspices of Hebei archaeologists, the all-round extraction of human behavior information contained in the Xiama Monument site not only subverts traditional cognition, but also has great value for interpreting the evolution of modern humans in East Asia, which is conducive to in-depth understanding of the global scientific problem of modern human evolution research.
"Plum blossom fragrance comes from the bitter cold", consolidating a research requires fine, long scientific research and repeated research - international, comprehensive, interdisciplinary, multi-platform collaboration.
This 12-square-meter series of research, connecting Chinese and foreign scientists, organizing the top scientific research departments, still took nearly 10 years. Song Xinchao, deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, commented: "The multidisciplinary, international and cross-platform collaborative work model shows the new concept and trend of the development of Chinese archaeology in the new era. ”
For this pale red, 10 years of time, through 40,000 years...
Return to the Garden of Eden!
Inside and outside the door, there are two worlds: prosperity and silence, modern and ancient.
Xie Fei walked in front, thin and tall as a flag, and never looked back. Zhang Lifang, Zhang Wenrui, Wang Fagang... The group talked, walked out of the conference room, and walked through the courtyard of fine bamboo, opposite the bustling city. The modern civilization of the 21st century and the ancient culture of 40,000 years ago, here, formed by this group of archaeologists.
"This zone will continue to surprise us."
At 16:41 on March 3, Zhang Lifang, director of the Hebei Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau, left this meaningful word in the WeChat circle of friends. The area he was referring to was not only the site of the Xiama Monument and the Sanguan area, but the entire Nihewan Basin and the northwestern Hebei region.
A grand and vast future that carries the dreams of generations of archaeologists.
The discovery and study of Mud River Bay has just gone through a hundred years, and it is a flash. The Nihewan Basin has long been out of the narrow concept, and more than 500 Paleolithic sites have been found from the middle of the Early Pleistocene to the end of the Late Pleistocene: The Maquangou Ruins Group, the Maliang-Hougou Ruins Group, the Xujiayao Ruins, the Banjingzi Ruins, the West Baimaying Ruins, the Oil House Ruins, the Hutouliang Ruins...
These important discoveries have basically constructed a time-space framework for the development and evolution of Paleolithic culture in the Nihewan Basin for nearly 2 million years, and are also the places that can best reflect the magnificent process of the ancestors of the Chinese nation in reproduction and innovation and development.
The cultural roots of more than one million years, the beginning of civilization in tens of thousands of years, the ancient country of 5,000 years, and the entity of Chinese unification for two thousand years - the famous archaeologist Su Bingqi summarized the basic framework of the history of the Chinese nation into four major stages:
The archaeological evidence used in the first phase is the site of Donggutuo;
The second stage uses the Hutou Liang site;
The third stage puts the archaeological data and documentary records of Weixian and Zhuolu in the most conspicuous position. It can be seen how important the ancient culture and ancient civilization founded by ancient humans in Nihewan over the past 2 million years are to the construction of the historical framework of the Chinese nation.
Now, finally, this red color has arrived.
This smear engraved the name of the archaeologist in Hebei in the world's most authoritative journal ,Nature.
This smear more vividly explains the paleolithic human culture, technology and environment, aesthetic and spiritual world of the mainland Paleolithic, and its small step is a big step for mankind.
This smear breaks the old international stereotypes, extends the axis, enhances the credibility, enriches the connotation, activates the scene, and makes unique contributions to the search, deciphering and interpretation of human civilization and Chinese civilization.
The red fluttered like a flame and flew into the distance.
We took a big stride, followed by thousands of ravines, straight to the babbling water and the lake on the edge of the dense forest, and saw the magical, shocking, and magnificent scene of the late Quaternary Late Pleistocene: the campfire was burning vigorously, the prey was roasted fragrantly, the first technological revolution in human history appeared, pottery, agriculture, and animal husbandry would spew out, and mankind was waiting to break through the Paleolithic tools and enter the Neolithic Age.
The old civilization starts from here, and the new civilization continues from here...
(The main content comes from Hebei Daily)