On October 17th, the Yangshao Cultural Discovery and the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Modern Chinese Archaeology was held in Sanmenxia City, Henan Province.
Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of the People's Republic of China and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, sent a congratulatory letter to the conference, which made archaeologists feel excited.
100 years ago, also in the late autumn of this, the site of Yangshao Village in Shichi County, Sanmenxia City, ushered in the first shovel of scientific excavation. The beautiful and simple faience pottery with gorgeous patterns broke through the soil, gradually laying out a splendid prehistoric civilization picture scroll dating from 5,000 to 7,000 years ago, and modern Chinese archaeology also began.
After several generations of archaeologists, important cultural relics from different periods have been continuously discovered and excavated. From Yangshao culture and Hongshan culture to Liangzhu culture and Longshan culture, from Gongyi double locust tree and Yanshi Erlitou to Anyang Yin Ruins and Guanghan Sanxingdui... The historical axis of Chinese civilization has been continuously stretched, the credibility of history has been continuously enhanced, and the details of civilization have been continuously enriched.
Scientific archaeological excavations have profoundly changed the Chinese people's understanding of ancestors and history, and have also revealed to the world the long-standing and brilliant Chinese civilization systematically and completely. After a hundred years of history, today archaeology has attracted the attention of all sectors of society, especially young people, and every major discovery has become a hot spot on the Internet, constantly stimulating national cohesion and pride.
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Tracing: Finding the Lost Imprint of Civilization
Located on a loess terrace on the south bank of the Yellow River, Yangshao Village is surrounded by water on three sides and looks up at the verdant Shaoshan Mountain. In the courtyard of the 80-year-old villager Wang Erbao's family, there is still an old cave dwelling. 100 years ago, the Chinese government's mining adviser, researcher of the Geological Survey institute of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, and Swedish geologist Anderson lived here during an expedition, and Wang Erbao's father was one of Anderson's assistants.
Anderson (second from left) at the first excavation in Yangshao Village (file photo). Xinhua News Agency (Provided by the Propaganda Department of the Sanmenxia Municipal Party Committee)
In October 1921, the autumn breeze was slightly cool. With the permission of the Chinese government, Chinese scholars such as Anderson and Yuan Fuli came to Yangshao Village for 36 days of formal archaeological excavations, excavating a total of 17 excavation sites and unearthing a large number of exquisite pottery, stone tools, bone and mussels and other precious relics.
Anderson's former residence in Yangshao Village, Shichi County, Sanmenxia City, Henan Province (drone photo taken on October 15). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li An
Before that, Anderson had already come to Yangshao Village. "In April 1921, Anderson found a stratum where stone tools and faience pieces coexisted on the cliff section of chonggou in the south of the village," said Li Xinwei, a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. ”
Half a year later, excavations led to the discovery of a new type of prehistoric culture and the name "Yangshao". The "Yangshao culture" was not only the first prehistoric culture in China to be recognized through archaeological discoveries, but also filled the gap in the understanding that there was no Neolithic era in China at that time. Scholars generally believe that this is the beginning of modern Chinese archaeology.
Yangshao Cultural Museum in Shichi County, Sanmenxia City, Henan Province (drone photo taken on July 15, 2020). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li An
On the patches of reddish-brown pottery, the vagaries of ornamentation fascinated Anderson, but he misjudged that the Yangshao culture represented by faience pottery may not have had local origins, but was imported from Central Asia.
At that time, the new cultural movement was in the ascendant, and under the impact of the ideological emancipation trend advocating democracy and science, the historical circles set off a "suspicious ancient trend" represented by the ancient history discernment school, and the "Chinese culture in the West" generally recognized by foreign scholars also won the support of many local scholars.
Where did Chinese culture come from? "'Speaking of Chinese Culture to the West' deeply stung many Chinese scholars at that time, and also stimulated their enthusiasm for reconstructing ancient history through archaeological data." Chen Xingcan, a member of the Faculty of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and director of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said, "What kind of humanistic and political landscape there was in ancient China, and when can the origin of Chinese culture be traced back, has become a problem that the Chinese people are eagerly looking forward to solving." ”
Pottery bowl on display at yangshao cultural museum in Shichi County, Sanmenxia City, Henan Province, October 15. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xu Yanan
Shouldering the mission of searching for roots and asking for ancestors and supplementing history, China's first generation of archaeologists Li Ji, Dong Zuobin, Liang Siyong, etc. went to many places to "go up to the poor and fall to the Yellow Spring, and use their hands and feet to find things", and successively excavated important relics such as the ruins of Xiyin Village in Xia County, Shanxi, the site of Yin Ruins in Anyang, Henan, and the ziya ruins of Zhangqiu Chengziya in Shandong.
For the first excavation of Yin Ruins, Dong Zuobin (right) participated in the survey drawing (file photo). Xinhua News Agency (Courtesy of Anyang YinXu Museum)
"A century of archaeology has uncovered a series of important sites from the Paleolithic to the Bronze Age, established an archaeological staging scale, sorted out the development genealogy, and proved that the development of Chinese culture from ancient times to the present is consistent and uninterrupted." Li Boqian, chief scientist of the Xia-Shang-Zhou Dynasty Project and professor at Peking University's School of Archaeology and Archaeology, said, "Based on archaeological discoveries and the integration of archaeological materials and documentary materials, the Chinese archaeological community has proposed a more credible basic framework for China's ancient history with sufficient basis. ”
Today, the fourth excavation of the Yangshao village site is being carried out in an orderly manner, relying on more and more abundant archaeological materials, the social life of the ancient ancestors has been continuously restored.
Quest: An ever-expanding historical axis
"The discovery of the Yangshao Village site has pushed the history of China's prehistoric social development forward by at least 2,000 years from the xia and shang periods recorded in the literature, and has become an important fulcrum for studying the process of early civilization in China." Chen Xingcan said.
After a hundred years of continuous exploration, the face of Yangshao culture has gradually become clear. As the most widely distributed archaeological culture in China, the Yangshao culture involves 10 provinces and regions, and lasts for more than 2,000 years. Some scholars believe that the Yangshao culture continued to develop steadily in the Yellow River Basin, and exerted strong cultural influence on the four sides, which provided an important foundation for the establishment of a unified civilization later, forming an "early Chinese cultural circle" or "early China" in the cultural sense.
"Repairing the history of the country, writing a sequel", from Li Ji and Liang Siyong to Xia Nai and Su Bingqi, several generations of archaeologists have adhered to the original intention and the blue wisps of the road, and through the discovery and excavation of major cultural relics, the historical axis of Chinese civilization has been continuously extended.
Where do we come from? The "Peking people" at the Zhoukoudian site are not only rare historical evidence of human society on the Asian continent in ancient times, but also illustrate the process of human evolution.
Where was the capital of the Yellow Emperor's time? The discovery of the shuang locust tree site in Zhengzhou has made the "Heluo Ancient Kingdom" about 5300 years old lift the hijab and fill the key materials of the key period and key area of the origin of Chinese civilization.
Double locust tree site (drone photo taken on August 27, 2019). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li An
Is the Xia Dynasty a legend or a real thing? The excavation of the Yanshi Erlitou site outlines the glorious atmosphere of "the first royal capital of China", where the Chinese country completes the transformation from pluralism to integration, and the "earliest China" begins its journey.
Erlitou Xiadu Site Museum (drone photo taken on October 19, 2019). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li An
What does the childhood of Chinese characters look like? The large number of carved oracle bones in Anyang Yin Ruins advanced the history of Chinese letters with written evidence to more than 3300 years ago, and the Shang Dynasty ushered in a moment of revelation.
Through archaeological excavations, China's "million-year-old human history, 10,000-year cultural history, and more than 5,000 years of civilization history" have been empirically confirmed, and the brilliant achievements of Chinese civilization and the contributions made to the progress of human civilization have been continuously revealed, enriching and deepening our understanding of ancestors and history.
Erlitou Archaeological Site Park (drone photo taken on October 16, 2019). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li An
The chimes unearthed from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng in Hubei Province, with the magnificent and majestic "qu hanging" structure, the exquisite structure of "one bell and two tones", and the rich and vivid false gold inscriptions, have aroused the distant imagination of the liturgical music culture of the pre-Qin era.
The excavation of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Pit in the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang in Shaanxi Province has brought back the Qin army, which is "as powerful as a crossbow and like a hair machine", providing valuable physical materials for the study of the history, military system and culture and art of the Qin Dynasty, and highlighting the magnificent atmosphere of the first great unified dynasty in Chinese history.
Terracotta figurines excavated in Pit 1 of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum in Lintong, Shaanxi Province, on May 28, 2007. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Song
In the tomb of Mawangdui Han in Changsha, "Lady Xin Chai" has not decayed for thousands of years, plain yarn Zen clothes, T-shaped paintings, cloud pattern lacquer, Chinese medicine books... Comprehensively presents the "exquisite life" of the Western Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago.
Visitors view exhibits inside the Yangshao Culture Museum on October 15. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li An
A pot, a jar, a makeup, a book, just one object, can turn the dense lead characters in the history books into perceptible existence, telling the real details behind those grand narratives.
Visitors photograph reliefs inside the Yangshao Culture Museum on October 15. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li An
"Discovering and constructing the historical context of the origin and development of Chinese civilization is the fundamental task of Chinese archaeologists." Wang Wei, member of the Faculty of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and chairman of the Chinese Archaeological Society, said, "Feeling, interpreting and publicizing the brilliant Chinese civilization is not only the mission of Chinese archaeologists, but also our honor. ”
Advance: Chinese Archaeology in full bloom
In mid-air, buzzing drones continue to circle and shoot; on the ground, the robotic arm of 3D laser scanning equipment flips up and down; outside the exploration square, a new archaeological greenhouse rises from the ground, and even comes with its own monitoring and early warning system; in the laboratory, carbon fourteen dating, DNA analysis and other technical applications are even more dazzling... At that time, it may have been difficult for archaeologists riding donkeys and holding hands and shovels to imagine that Chinese field archaeology would become so full of technology.
Staff at the site of the fourth archaeological excavation at the Yangshao Village site (photographed on October 15). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xu Yanan
"Although Mr. Xia Nai introduced carbon-14 technology into the archaeological and cultural circles as early as the 1960s, multidisciplinary interdisciplinary research and the application of high-tech means have become the norm, thanks to the guidance and demonstration of two national projects." Li Boqian said.
Visitors view the Exhibited Bujia at the Yin Ruins Museum in Anyang, Henan Province, on October 12, 2018. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li An
In 1996, the Xia-Shang-Zhou Dynasty Project was officially launched, which was the first multidisciplinary and cross-disciplinary joint research project in China to tackle archaeological topics. Five years later, the Chinese civilization exploration project, which attracted the participation of more disciplines and used more modern science and technology, was launched. Today, scientific and technological archaeology has reached an unprecedented breadth and depth, and has achieved fruitful results in high-precision dating, human bone research, material property analysis, isotope analysis, remote sensing monitoring and so on.
Over the past 100 years, modern Chinese archaeology has started without understanding, painstakingly explored, and always forged ahead. Especially since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee has placed the protection and utilization of historical and cultural heritage in a more prominent position, and modern Chinese archaeology has ushered in a golden period of vigorous development.
The work system has become more and more sound, the professional team has continued to grow, the scale of work has been expanding, and a series of major archaeological achievements have been revealed. At the same time, the once unpopular disciplines are "hot" and become "xianxue", and "self-brought traffic" continues to arouse public attention: topics such as Liangzhu application for heritage and Sanxingdui are frequently searched, cultural and creative products such as "archaeological blind boxes" are in short supply, and many national archaeological site parks and site museums have become Internet celebrity punch cards... The silent historical and cultural relics are engaged in a vivid and vivid dialogue with the public across time and space.
YangshaoCun National Archaeological Site Park in Shichi County, Sanmenxia City, Henan Province (drone photo taken on October 15). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li An
"The fruitful results of a century of archaeology have consolidated the cornerstone of national cultural self-confidence." Tian Kai, director of the Henan Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics, said, "Looking closely at the road traveled by Chinese civilization, it is natural to have cultural self-knowledge, cultural pride and cultural self-confidence. ”
Facing the world, Chinese archaeologists have continuously accelerated the pace of "going out", from wandering on the edge of international archaeology to stepping towards the center of the world stage. Under the guidance of the "Belt and Road" initiative, China has sent more than 30 archaeological teams to carry out cooperative archaeological projects abroad, covering more than 20 countries and regions around the world, and has established long-term cooperative relations with many foreign scientific research institutions and museums.
Tourists visit Chema Pit inside the ruins of the Ancestral Temple in The YinXu Palace in Anyang, Henan Province, on October 14, 2018. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li An
"Archaeology 'going out' has promoted the exchange between Archaeologists in China and scholars from all over the world, and the international academic discourse and influence of Chinese archaeology have been continuously improved, and the contributions of Chinese archaeologists have been made to practicing the concept of 'community with a shared future for mankind'." Wang Wei said.
History and civilization are the roots and veins of a country and a nation. It is archaeology that is retrieving for us the "puzzle" that is related to the historical heritage and the roots of civilization.
"Facing the future, Chinese archaeologists will continue to carry forward the academic tradition of 'discussing history with matter and seeing people through things', take it as their mission to build archaeology with Chinese characteristics, Chinese style and Chinese style, and promote China's progress from an 'archaeological power' to an 'archaeological power'." Chen Xingcan said.
Text reporters: Wang Ding, Gui Juan, Shuang Rui, Yuan Yueming
Video reporters: Ren Zhuoru, Yuan Yueming