□ reporter Xue Lijuan intern Ji Menglin
▲ The Sacred Fire Square at the site of Xihoudu
As the birthplace of Chinese civilization, Yuncheng is located in the middle reaches of the Yellow River Basin and has witnessed the historical development of the Yellow River Basin. According to the cultural evidence of many sites, as early as a million years ago, our industrious and brave ancestors created a splendid ancient culture in this vast land.
In the 1960s, archaeologists found evidence of the earliest use of fire by humans 2.43 million years ago in a place called Xihoudu on the banks of the Yellow River. At this point, the ancient ruins of Xihoudu have taken off the cloak of being dusted by history, and displayed the culture and wisdom created by ancient humans in front of the world. On October 21, the reporter and his party came to the ruins of Xihoudu in Ruicheng to explore the place where human ancestors once cut thorns, cut grass and trees, and worked hard.
There is the earliest evidence of the use of fire in humans
▲Stone stele of Xihoudu site Photo by Xue Lijuan
The site of Xihoudu is located in the southwestern tip of the Province at the bend of the Yellow River - about 7 kilometers north of the town of Fenglingdu in Ruicheng County, on the left bank of the Yellow River.
It is reported that the geological age here is the early Pleistocene, about 1.8 million years ago, and it is the earliest human foot ground discovered so far Chinese mainland. In January 1988, it was announced by the State Council as a national key cultural relics protection unit.
Under the leadership of Liu Guorong, the person in charge of the Xihoudu Ruins Scenic Area, the reporter first came to the exhibition hall. The exhibition plate on the wall of the exhibition hall records the archaeological excavation process of famous archaeologists such as Jia Lanpo and Wang Jian, and many stone products and ancient vertebrate fossils are displayed in the exhibition cabinet.
The site of Xihoudu was discovered in October 1959. From 1961 to 1962, archaeologist Wang Jian led an archaeological team to discover a number of human cultural relics and animal fossils here, including hand-made scrapers, choppers and three-sided large pointed tools.
"The section and tip of the three-sided large pointed device have clear traces of artificial blows, and the bottom is easy to hold, which is a tool for the ancients to dig up the soil. Scrapers cut sticks and deer skins, choppers cut trees, and stones are different in thickness, volume and weight. Liu Guorong introduced the stone tools displayed in the display cabinet one by one.
Some fossil specimens with black, gray and gray-green colors have also been found in the cultural layer of the Xihoudu site, most of them are mammalian ribs, antlers and horse teeth, and after research and testing, it has been confirmed that these different colors of bones, horns and teeth are burnt bones. These burnt bones are evidence of the use of fire by humans. Antlers with artificial cut marks have also been found here. Archaeologists believe that this should be the starting point of human civilization and the "place where the holy flame of mankind is lit."
According to Liu Guorong,
Because some traces of water erosion were found in the gravel layer of the Xihoudu site, after the initial excavation, some historians felt that the ancient relics such as stone tools and fossils found at the Xihoudu site were washed away by the water flow, and the conclusion of Xihoudu as an ancient site was not very recognized. Therefore, in 2005, Wang Jian's son Wang Yirenzi inherited his father's business and led an archaeological team to excavate the Paleolithic site for more than 50 days. He accurately GPS located the excavation points around the site and found that these stone tools and fossils were very densely distributed, without the trend and law of water erosion.
This excavation once again proved that there are traces of human life at the Xihoudu site, and more than 1,500 stone tools and fossil specimens were obtained.
Liu Guorong told reporters, "Last year, the French journal Anthropology published relevant research results and found that the stone products of Xihoudu were newly determined to be 2.43 million years ago." This archaeological discovery further enriched the source value of the Yellow River civilization.
The sacred fire square full of design
On the wall of the exhibition hall, the reporter also saw a diagram introducing the evolutionary process of human beings. Humans evolved from the "Century Ape" with the characteristics of higher primates about 45 million years ago to modern humans, and went through four stages of development: Australopithecus, Homo sapiens, Homo erectus and Homo sapiens. Traces of human life found at the Site of West Houdu occurred approximately during the Homo erectus period, 1.8 million years ago. In addition to being the oldest Paleolithic site in China, it is also one of the typical representatives of the cultural remains of the early Ape Man stage in China.
Entering the scenic spot, along the steps all the way up, Liu Guorong introduced that there are 180 steps leading to the Sacred Fire Square, and this design also echoes the long road that human evolutionary civilization has derived from 1.8 million years ago.
Take the river water to drink, choose the loess cave group, hunt in the mountains and rivers, cut the animal skins with the made stone tools, throw the meat on the fire and grill, and take cooked food and feast. Sculptures such as roasting meat and dancing around the fire along the way to the Sacred Fire Square also vividly display the scenes of the Xihoudu people living here.
The Sacred Fire Square is designed and built from the three narrative inspirations of "The Discovery of Fire", "The Etiquette of Fire" and "The Taming of Fire", and uses spatial experience to present the process from the arrival of the sacred fire to the departure of human civilization. The overall building features a cave-themed hilltop experience hall to wrap around the original fire pit. Densely packed cobblestone roads and caves and stone ladders at your feet take visitors away from the modern scene and into pristine caves.
Up the stairs, the narrow gap in the cave is the divine stroke of the construction of the Xihoudu site - "a line of heaven". The naturally shaped cave is broken by the "first line of heaven" with strong artificial traces, and when you look up, the gaps in the building echo with the sunlight, and this groundbreaking line becomes the manifesto of civilization.
▲The "First Line of Heaven" of the Xihoudu Ruins This article is photographed by trainee reporter Zhu Chaoyiding
On March 28, 2019, the Second National Youth Games held a sacred flame collection ceremony at the Xihoudu site. The moment when the sacred flame is taken is when the angle of sunlight roughly coincides with the "first line of heaven". The fire of modern sports inherits the ancient fire of human civilization, and between the electric light and flint, Xihoudu has once again become the focus of everyone's attention.
Come to the outdoor fire platform, and then look at the entire Site of Xihoudu, facing the Yellow River, looking south to Mount Hua, and backed by Zhongtiao Mountain. The overall building of the Sacred Fire Square follows the characteristics of the local topography and landform, imitates the building materials of the loess wall, and uses the original, mysterious and rough scene design to integrate the Sacred Fire Square with the surrounding environment, giving people a different experience of history and appreciation of nature in this place where Yue Du looks at each other.
The architecture of xihoudu ruins scenic spot is designed and expressed through cascading loess elements, and the overall feeling is simple and natural, full of mystery, which is easy to bring visitors into the original situation and experience the simplicity of nature and the mystery of monuments.
The square is full of tourists taking pictures, sketching students and photography enthusiasts, only to see them stop to watch and take pictures, and their faces are full of bright smiles. The ingenious architectural design derived from the rich cultural history of the Xihoudu site has gradually become a new trend of Internet celebrity punch cards, which is the result of the perfect combination of ancient history and modern heritage.
The origin of the place name of Xihoudu is a legend
Looking down from the Sacred Fire Square, you can see the stone stele outside the gate of the Xihoudu Ruins Scenic Area. According to reports, these words at the Xihoudu site were designed and written by Mr. Hou Yimin, a famous painter and oil painter in China. He has participated in the design of the third and fourth sets of renminbi and won the Lifetime Achievement Award of the 2nd China Art Award.
There is also a magical legend about the origin of the place name of Xihoudu.
According to legend, when Ji Chang, the Marquis of Xibo, returned to Xiqi from the Central Plains, he passed by this place (formerly known as "Ren Pimple Ridge") to educate the people and spent some time here with his mother. When Ji Chang left, he gave a lot of money to the villagers. With these belongings, the villagers built a Temple of Xibohou in the village and changed the name of the village to "Xihoudu Village". After the Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Shang, the Temple of Xibohou was changed to the Temple of King Wen, and the incense was continuously burned until modern times, when the temple was destroyed by war.
Darwin wrote in The Origin of Man: "Fire is probably the greatest discovery of mankind beyond language to date. "The discovery of the Xihoudu site has pushed the history of ancient Chinese fire forward by 1.1 million years from the Zhoukoudian Beijing Ape Man 700,000 years ago." Here, for the first time, the intimacy between fire and human beings is verified.
The discovery and use of fire has taken human evolution a great step forward. The apes bid farewell to each other, and from then on bid farewell to the barbaric era of Ru Mao drinking blood. 1.8 million years ago, the ancient Xihoudu people cut thorns in the land of southern Jinnan, ignited the spark of Chinese civilization, and wrote a rich and colorful stroke in the evolutionary history of ancient humans. The fire of survival and wisdom of ancient human beings once burned here for a long time and endured for a long time.
The site of Xihoudu is a precious legacy left by ancient humans to future generations. With the continuous emergence of new archaeological discoveries and new research results, the cultural outlook of the Xihoudu site has become clearer, and the academic status and social value have become more prominent. Walking into the site of Xihoudu, following the footsteps of ancient humans, and exploring the mysteries of human evolution is the wish of every tourist who comes here today. More unsolved mysteries need to be explored and thought by future generations, which is also the charm of the Xihoudu site.