Pei Ligang people with a clear division of labor
On April 2, 1977, the cold wind whizzed on Pei Li Gang in Xinzheng City, Henan Province, and Li Tie Egg was leveling the land despite the wind and sand as usual. while! A high-pitched voice jumped out of the soil, and the hoe bounced up, And Li Tie Egg knew that this was a stone egg, and his arms were numb, fortunately, the hoe was not broken. Li Tie Egg was about to plan out the newly emerging stone but found that the stone was getting longer and longer, and it was actually a stone slab, and there were four "short legs" on one side. He quickly threw the hoe, grabbed the "short leg" and slammed it hard, and the stone slab was pulled out.
"Well, isn't this a stone millstone?" A few days ago, Xue Cadre of the Xinzheng County Cultural Center also said that when such cultural relics are discovered, they should report to him as soon as possible. Li Tie Egg turned the soil over again, and a stone grinding rod appeared, "This should also be carried to Xue Cadre." He found an old sack, loaded it with a stone grinding plate and a stone grinding rod, asked the captain of the production team for leave, and carried the sack to the county seat.
Stone millstone excavated from Pei Ligang Village
What Li Tie egg did not know was that his small move would change the history of Chinese civilization.
In fact, this is not the first time that Pei Ligang Village has excavated stone grinding discs and stone grinding rods, but this time it has finally unveiled the mystery of the Pei Li Gang site, so that the Pei Li Gang culture, which has been submerged by mud for 8,000 years, has finally seen the light of day, and also allowed the history of China's Neolithic period to advance from the Yangshao culture by at least 2,000 years, which is one of the earliest civilizations bred in the Yellow River Basin known.
Stone millstone excavated from Pei Ligang Village
The stone grinding disc and stone grinding rod that Li Tie Egg accidentally discovered are a very characteristic combination of agricultural tools in Pei Ligang culture. Primitive agriculture is an important symbol of the origin of civilization, which marks that human beings have observed the surrounding climate and crops for a long time, and it also shows that at that time, human beings stopped and stopped migrating frequently, and chose this place with gentle terrain, fertile soil, suitable climate and four distinct seasons as a place of residence within the impact fan of the ancient Yellow River, and then began their civilization. In several subsequent excavations of the Pei Li Gang site, archaeologists have found that the ancients had already planted millet and millet, which are now millet and rhubarb rice, as one of the main foods here. Not only that, the Pei Ligang people also built semi-crypt-like houses and pottery kiln caves for storing grain and meat for the autumn harvest.
Agriculture changed the way of life and way of thinking of the Peiligang people, who settled here, lived in groups, and gradually began to have a social division of labor. Archaeologists found that stone grinding discs and stone grinding rods never appear in the same tomb as stone shovels and stone sickles, although there is no evidence that stone grinding discs and stone grinding rods are made by women, but it seems that grain threshing and grinding starch are more suitable for women's work, and farming and harvesting is a male social division of labor.
Map of the Pei Li Gang Ruins
To the west and south of Pei Li Gang Village, there are Qinshui and Huanshui, which are now the Shuanghuan River, which flow slowly, and we can't help but imagine that the former Pei Ligang people may have chosen to settle here because of these two rivers. Looking back at the sunset on the river, the Yangshao culture, which is later than the Pei Ligang culture in 2000, strolls along the river, and they come to us with more artistic and more proof of the level of economic development of the Handicraft Industry in the Neolithic Period.
Anchor 丨 Li Li
Audit 丨 Chen Rui
Producer 丨Fan Yizi
Co-ordinator 丨 Luo Jingyue
Copywriter, responsible editor 丨 Luo Jingyue
Art design 丨 Yang Hua Zhao Mo
Audio 丨Zhang Shijian Zhang Yufeng
Proofreading 丨 Meng Jing
Reference 丨 《Exploring Pei Ligang》
Produced by The New Media Center of China Water Conservancy Newspaper (Film and Television Production and Broadcasting Center).
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