The ruins of the ancient city of Shiya in Shaanxi have always attracted much attention, and a large number of cultural relics have been unearthed in archaeological excavations in recent years, allowing people to have a new understanding of this mysterious ancient city. It is worth mentioning that in May 2021, archaeologists received a "gift", which not only originated from the stone barrier, but also an extremely precious material. What kind of gift is it? If you also want to know, the following Xiaobian will reveal the secret to you.
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Located in Gaojiapu Town, Shenmu City, Shaanxi Province, in the 1970s cultural relics census, experts learned from local residents that there was a "stone city" on the north bank of the Bald Tail River, which is said to have a history of hundreds of years. So, the experts went to the "Stone City" to investigate, and sure enough, they found a stone foundation that looked like a city. In 1976, archaeologists conducted in-depth research and excavations on the "Stone City" to determine that it was a Neolithic urban settlement site, dating back about 4,000 years, and named it the "Stone Valley Site".
What makes the experts feel most incredible is that the ancient city of Shi'e is scientifically planned and orderly, mainly composed of an outer city and an inner city, with an area of about 4 million square meters and an inner city area of about 2 million square meters. In the process of cleaning up the inner city, experts also found an imperial city platform with an area of more than 400,000 square meters, so it is speculated that it was a sacrificial shrine for the ancestors of Shi'an. Over the past 20 years, experts have cleaned up the Imperial City Terrace and its ancillary ruins, found relics such as Shinto, squares and sacrificial pits, and even anything related to the Stone Pass, which can be related to the Imperial City Terrace, such as the mysterious bone sculpture of the shepherd.
In May 2021, archaeologists at the site of Shi'an received a "gift" from a local shepherd. According to the shepherd's recollection, the bone carving was picked up by the bald tail river when he was a child, not far from the Imperial City Terrace excavated by experts now, when he did not know what the bone carving was, he felt strange and took it home to play, and then he got tired of playing and lost it at home, until in recent years, the Shijia site has become a hot spot, and he remembered the bone carving he saw when he was a child. So, he took it and gave it to the expert to see if it was an ancient treasure.
The experts were also interested in the shepherd's "gift", and they observed carefully that the bone carving was very strange, the whole body was dark brown, it looked like a wood carving, but it felt heavy in the hand, and it was not the texture of wood at all. Experts have measured that the carving is about 16.3 cm long, the upper part is round, looking like a human head, but there are no facial features, only a hole with a diameter of about 0.5 cm, while the facial features are carved in the abdomen, the eyes and mouth are also clearly recognizable, and even the "melon face" can be determined, but it is doubtful that there is also a pair of upright ears.
Experts wondered, although the carving is very rough, but the mysterious shape makes the experts feel unusual. Therefore, the experts brought the carving back to the research institute, and later after scientific identification, it was shown that the carving was about 4100 years old, that is, the era in which the ancestors of Shi'an lived, but what surprised the experts even more was that the material of the carving was the ribs of the tiger, which also caused many speculations among experts:
First: Since tiger bone carvings from more than 4,000 years ago can be found, it shows that tigers lived and multiplied in the Shi'a area at that time, but now there are no tigers in the entire territory of Shaanxi, indicating that the environment in Shaanxi has undergone tremendous changes in the past few thousand years, so that it is not suitable for the survival of tigers, and many tigers have become extinct or migrated. Therefore, for us, we must also pay attention to the importance of protecting the environment and not allow the tragedy to happen again.
Second: As we all know, tigers are fierce animals, full of wildness, known as the "king of the land", if the Shi'an people can catch tigers, and even use them for sacrifice, it also shows that the Shi'an people must have extremely strong combat effectiveness, otherwise how can they subdue the tigers? The Shi'an people use the bones of the tiger to make carvings, perhaps to use it to drive away evil spirits and take refuge, or perhaps to show their bravery, in short, for the Shi'an people, the tiger bone is an auspicious thing.
Third: Experts say that tiger bones are as hard as iron, in that era when there was no iron, how did the ShiJia people carve? And this is also an unsolved mystery in front of the experts. Some experts say that perhaps the Shi'an people have a magical carving tool, but so far it has not been found, just as the jade mat found in the Liangzhu site in Zhejiang Province has a fine hair-like carving, and it is still unclear how the ancients did it.
Today, the carving of this tiger bone is still in the collection of the institute, because it still has many mysteries to solve, so it has not been sent to the museum for display. Xiaobian also hopes that in the near future, experts can unearth more cultural relics, solve the mystery of tiger bone carving, and unveil the mysterious veil of the Shi'an people.
Resources:
"Shi'an Kingdom" by Yang Rui, Publisher: Shaanxi People's Publishing House Co., Ltd
Wenlan Hairun Studio Editor-in-Chief Wen Xiucai, this article is written by: Special History Writer: Liu Lijiang's