One early morning about 100,000 years ago, in the hinterland of Shandong, where water and grass are abundant, Homo sapiens began their day's activities with tools such as "ivory shovels", and in the distance, it seems that the neighing of ancient rhombodons and wild horses can be heard...... The distant and mysterious picture of ancient human life is becoming more and more clear in front of the world as archaeological work continues to advance.
The top ten new archaeological discoveries in the country in 2023 were recently announced in Beijing, and the Yishui Bashan ruins in Shandong Province were selected. The Bashan site group is a general term for more than 80 Paleolithic relics centered on the Bashan site in Yishui County, Shandong Province, and its discovery and research have preliminarily constructed an archaeological and cultural sequence of 100,000 to 10,000 years ago in the upper reaches of the Yihe River.
"We are very excited that the Bashan ruins can stand out!" said Li Gang, project leader and research librarian at the Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.
Aerial photography of the landform of the Bashan site.
This major discovery in Paleolithic archaeology began in July 2020. At that time, due to several days of rainfall, the Bashan Reservoir on the main stream of the Yi River in Yishui County opened its flood gates and discharged floodwater, and an ivory was accidentally washed out of the bank of the Yi River. This huge object that has gone through vicissitudes of life attracted the attention of the local cultural relics protection department, and the staff then contacted the Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.
"When we got to the site, we found that in addition to the ivory, there were stone tools used by humans. Li Gang said that when he came to the site, combined with the characteristics of the terrain, he immediately judged that this was a very important Paleolithic site based on experience. The Yihe River usually enters the flood season in early July every year, and in April 2021, the archaeological team carried out rescue excavation work on the Bashan site.
After three consecutive years of excavation work, the excavation area of the Bashan site is 225 square meters, and more than 40,000 pieces of cultural relics have been unearthed and collected, including 30,000 pieces of stone products, more than 10,000 pieces of animal bones, and a small number of organic specimens such as bamboo and wood. The lower cultural layer concentrated on the excavation of 8 ancient rhombodont mandibs and some bone tooth horn products.
On May 12, 2021, project leader Li Gang (right) cleans up an unearthed ivory spade.
Ivory spade.
Li Gang still remembers the excavation process of the representative "ivory shovel". On May 12, 2021, an archaeological team member was cleaning the lower cultural layer of a trench at the Bashan site when he suddenly shouted loudly. "An elephant's incisor and a molars appeared in the cultural layer. Li Gang said. The thicker end of the incisor looks like it has been polished by hand, and the scratches on the cross-section appear to be regular, suggesting that it is a tool used by humans.
Later, it was confirmed that this large dentate spade-shaped vessel with obvious traces of artificial beating was discovered for the first time in China, and its location was determined to be about 100,000 years ago.
Shuimen Ruins, Shuiquanyu Ruins, Yihetou Ruins...... The archaeological team expanded the scope of investigation with the Bashan site as the center, and successively discovered more than 80 sites in the middle and late Paleolithic periods and the transitional stage of the old Neolithic period, forming a huge site group. From the perspective of the development process of paleolithic technology, it can be divided into four periods, the first three periods are marked by the development of stone core-stone chip technology, and the fourth period reflects the technical characteristics represented by boat-shaped fine stone cores.
The stratum of the Bashan site group unearthed some stone products of the fourth phase of the cultural map.
"The simple stone core-stone flake technology with vein quartz as raw material in the Bashan site group has been found to be consistent with the cultural characteristics of related relics in North China, Central China, South China and other regions in the same period. Li Gang said.
"The discovery and continuous expansion of the Bashan site group has further expanded the distribution range of prehistoric relics in Shandong. Sun Bo, president of the Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said, "Nearly 50,000 stone products and animal fossils reveal the consistency of Paleolithic cultural traditions in North China, Central China and even South China in the Late Pleistocene, indicating that the characteristics of Chinese culture are pluralistic and integrated and long-term continuous development have appeared as early as the Paleolithic Age." ”
At present, the construction of protection cofferdam reinforcement and floodway widening have been implemented around the Bashan site group. With the joint efforts of many parties, the Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology took the lead in building the first large-scale indoor archaeological cabin for paleolithic sites in China, and held expert demonstration meetings for many times. Sun Bo said that the excavation and systematic investigation work will continue to improve the level of research, interpretation and utilization of the Bashan ruins.
(Source: Xinhua Vision)