Liangzi Ruins of Mida Temple Xuetang, Qingqu Town, Yunyang District (photographed in 2006)
Since the ancient "Yunxian people" in Mituosi Village, Qingqu Town, Yunyang District, were first officially discovered in 1989, more than thirty years have passed in the blink of an eye, during which time the "Yunxian people" have been hyped up, but the reality of the Mituo Temple is still extremely cold. Perhaps the implementation of the plan, like human evolution, may take a long process. After all, archaeology has proved that the village of Midas Temple in Qingqu Town, Yunyang District, is really an unusual place!
We may wish to restore that fifteen years ago, it was the largest archaeological excavation site so far, and let the real materials of the excavation results tell us what is extraordinary about this extraordinary place.
scene:
The site of Xuetang Liangzi (Yunxian people) is located in Midosi Village, Qingqu Town, Yun county (Yunyang District, tongxia), Shiyan City, Hubei Province, with longitude 110 degrees 35'07" east longitude, latitude 32 degrees 50'01"N, about 10 kilometers northeast of Qingqu Town, and about 40 kilometers down the Han River to Chengguan in Yun County. The Quyuan River flows into the Han River from north to south near the site. Local residents refer to the area where the small river flows into the river as the Quyuan Estuary. Because there was originally a Mita temple elementary school on top of the beam where the site is located, this beam is also known as the school beam.
The gravel layers on both sides of the Han River contain many animal fossils, which villagers occasionally find when panning for gold. In May 1989, Wang Zhenghua, a cultural relics cadre of the Yunxian Museum, and Qu Shengmin, a cadre of the Shaoxi County Cultural Center, went to the Quyuan River estuary to conduct a cultural relics census according to the fossil clues they had mastered, and found a basically complete fossil of the ancient human skull - Exian Ren No. 1 skull in a location with more nodule fragments in the middle of Xuetang Liangzi, 40 centimeters below the surface. In 1990, 1991 and 1995, under the auspices of the Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, together with the Yunyang Regional Museum and the Yunxian Museum, four excavations were conducted in Area 1 of the Paleolithic Ruins at the mouth of the Quyuan River in Shaoxian County. In the official excavation in 1990, a more complete fossil of the skull of ancient human beings was excavated in the strata, the Skull no. 2 of Yunxian Ren, and a number of associated animal fossils and stone products were also found. This discovery and research has been valued by counterparts at home and abroad. In December 2006, in cooperation with the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, the Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology formed the Xuetang Liangzi (Yunxian people) site archaeological team to carry out the fifth excavation of the site, the excavation area of 2500 square meters, before 2006 archaeological excavations were carried out in District 1, this excavation was distributed in Area I, 2, 3, 4, of which the excavation area of Area 1 was 500 square meters, the excavation area of 2 and 3 was 1000 square meters, and the excavation area of Area IV was 1000 square meters. The archaeological excavation method refers to the internationally more advanced paleolithic archaeological excavation method, and the small grid exploration square of 1 meter x 1 meter is laid out, and the natural and horizontal layers, depth, coordinates, direction, tendency, inclination, size, date and other on-site archaeological excavation information of the excavated specimens are objectively and in detail recorded.
The area around the mouth of the Quyuan River is the source of the famous "Yunxian people" fossils and associated mammals and stone products. The site consists of pedestal terraces formed by the erosion of the Han River. The Hanshui River Valley itself is a canyon landform composed of metamorphic rock systems from the Western Yun group of the Aurora Period.
The first terrace is the Gaohe FloodPlain, 5-8 meters above the water surface, and only the yellow-brown silt layer is seen in the wild, which is the rise and fall of the water surface of the Danjiang Reservoir.
The second terrace is 15 meters above the water surface and is covered with a layer of yellow-brown sand and calcareous cementation. Below is the gray gravel layer, sandy cement, gravel is mainly composed of limestone, quartzite and sandstone, etc., gravel sorting differences, gravel diameter is different in size, the large one is 30 cm, the small one is 1-2 cm. Generally about 10 cm.
The third stage is 25 meters above the river surface, covered with yellow sandy clay, 9-11 meters thick, below the gray-brown gravel layer, sandy cementation, loose sex, gravel sorting difference, mainly composed of limestone, quartzite, etc., the size of the gravel varies, the large one is 20 cm, the small one is 2-3 cm, generally 5 cm, the grinding degree is good, the thickness is 3-6 meters.
The fourth level of terraces is the site containing "Yunxian people" and accompanying mammal fossils and stone products. Its geological profile, from top to bottom, is:
Layer 4: reddish-brown clay containing ferromanganese components, vertical joint development, black ferromanganese components from top to bottom have a tendency to gradually decrease. Stone products.
Layer 3: grey-yellow clay with a thin layer of calcareous nodules. It produces human fossils, mammal fossils and 2 layers of stone: gray and white fine sand layer, very loose. Mammal fossils and stone products.
Layer 1: Gravel layer. The earthquake-era metamorphic rock system (sww90) is predominantly calcareous schist with a weathered surface
The fossil materials of the two skulls found at the site of Xuetang Liangzi (Yunxian people) have attracted the attention of many experts and scholars at home and abroad, and the research results are also very fruitful. There are three different views on the paleoanthropological study of the fossil material of these two skulls: 1. The skulls found in YunXian belong to the Australopithecus type (Jia Lanpo, 1991); 2. Belong to the Homo erectus type (Li Tianyuan et al., 1990-1991, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999); 3. Belongs to the early Homo sapiens type (Zhang Yinyun, 1995).
There are many mammal fossils found in the early archaeological excavations of Xuetang Liangzi (Yunxian ren) site 1, and after preliminary identification, there are roughly the following species: bamboo rat, blue field golden snub-nosed monkey, neckless violent porcupine, tiger, leopard, Pei's cat, Java jackal, dog-like badger, Tibetan black bear, Sang's hyena, giant panda Wuling mountain subspecies, saber-toothed tiger undecided species, oriental saber-toothed elephant, Sanmen horse, Chinese ji, Chinese rhinoceros, Li's wild boar, piglet, beautiful black deer, Yunnan water deer, devil's undetermined species, bighorn deer undetermined species, shorthorn li cattle, buffalo undecided species.
The most important feature of the Yunxian fauna is that the fauna has the colors of the north and south fauna, which includes the typical species of Sanmen horse, Li's wild boar, short-horned lily cattle and bighorn deer in the fauna of North China, and the giant panda, Chinese ape, Chinese rhinoceros, piglet and devil belonging to the giant panda saber-toothed elephant fauna in South China, which shows that the Yunxian fauna has the characteristics of mixing south and north. At the same time, there are a few tertiary remnants of the fauna such as saber-toothed tigers and typical species of the early Quaternary period such as Yunnan sambar deer, beautiful black deer and Sang's hyena, which show the characteristics of this fauna in the earlier era.
Before 2006, a total of 291 stone products were found, of which 207 were excavated, and there were 7 types of stone products in the disturbing layer, including stone cores, stone chips, choppers, scrapers, stone hammers, fragments (fragments) and stones with strike marks (gravel).
In the fifth excavation since December 2006, 992 archaeological specimens have been excavated in District 11, 700 have been excavated in The Dish Area, 349 have been excavated in Area V, and more materials will be excavated in future excavations. After preliminary observation, stone products are roughly divided into stone cores, stone chips, smashers, scrapers, stone hammers, pickaxes, fragments (fragments) and stones with strike marks (gravel), among which there are many more exquisitely processed pickaxes and half-hand axes. It is worth noting that although the four excavation areas of the Xuetang Liangzi (Yunxian people) site are all on the same earth beam, the distance between the excavation areas is far, such as I1 and 1 areas are more than 100 meters away from the 1st district where the skulls of Yunxian people 1 and 2 were found, and area IV is closer to district 1 but is on a lower three-level terrace, these excavation areas have excavated a wealth of stone specimens and fossil specimens, and in the excavation we found that the strata containing stone products and animal fossils were piled up to 9 meters thick, which shows that The Xuetang Liangzi ( Yunxian people) the accumulation of preserved ruins is very impressive in both area and thickness.
Relevant experts have studied the stone products excavated from the Xuetang Liangzi (Yunxian people) site and found that the stone products of the Xuetang Liangzi (Yunxian people) site have more in common with the stone products found in the vast areas of the south: the hammering method is the mainstay, you have more stone tools and less stone chips, there are a certain number of two-sided tools, and there are few stone chips such as pointed tools and typical end scrapers. There are also differences between the two: the site of Xuetang Liangzi (Yunxian) found a lot of scarred countertop stone cores, which is a kind of repair countertop, and it seems that specimens of repair countertops have not been seen in the earlier stone products of the southern region. In comparison: the commonalities between the two are greater than the differences. Judging from the available materials, the stone artifacts found at the Xuetang Liangzi (Yunxian people) site are relatively close to the stone artifacts found in the vast southern region, and it seems that they can be attributed to the same cultural tradition. In this tradition, the materials at the site of Xuetang Liangzi (Yunxian people) have sufficient dating evidence, and the dating evidence of other sites is scarce or there are still certain problems. With the development of the fifth archaeological excavation of the Xuetang Liangzi (Yunxian people) site, the large number of new materials will further promote the study of the paleolithic cultural landscape of the Xuetang Liangzi (Yunxian people) site.
Cultural Era and Staging Issues:
Judging from the accompanying mammal fossils, the mammal group found at the Xuetang Liangzi (Yunxian people) site is very close in nature to the discoverers of Lantian Gongwangling and Shanxi Yincheng Hehe, and their ages are roughly equivalent, and they can be classified as the late Pleistocene, roughly 1 million years ago.
According to Yan Guilin's (1993) paleomagnetic study of the fourth-order geomagnetic profile of Xuetang Liangzi, most of the accumulation of the site of Xuetang Liangzi Xuetang Liangzi (Yunxian people) is in songshan reverse polarity, that is, earlier than 7 years ago.
Years. Although the stone products found by Xuetang Liangzi come from the lower, middle and upper cultural layers, they can all be regarded as the products of the same stage, and they are all cultural relics made and used by yunxian people. The age of the stone products found can be attributed to the late Pleistocene, and its cultural age belongs to the early Paleolithic period, roughly equivalent to the discoverers of the Lantian Gongwangling and the Yaocheng Hehe, and the discoverers of the Beijinger site of Zhoukoudian, the Dazhi Stone Dragon Head in Hubei and the Guanyin Cave in Guizhou.
The discovery of the site of Xuetang Liangzi (Yunxian) and its significance:
Among the many sites in the early Pleistocene, the situation is not the same: at the same time, only Wushan Keel Slope, Yuanmou Shangnabang, Lantian Gongwangling, Yunxian Quyuan River Estuary, Yunxian Meipu five places were found at the same time; In some places, only human fossil materials and no stone products are found; There are several sites with good stratigraphic paleontological evidence, but unfortunately the number of stone artifacts found is too small, and it is difficult to further discuss their cultural characteristics; There are several sites where a considerable amount of stone artifacts have been found, but not many mammal fossils have been found, and further work is needed on the issue of dating. Among so many discoveries, the discovery of the Xuetang Liangzi (Yunxian people) site is relatively prominent: it has a clear stratigraphic relationship, a considerable number of mammal fossils, a certain dating data, two fairly complete human skull fossils, rich stone products and a considerable amount of preserved accumulation, providing good conditions for further excavation, search for more materials and explore relevant academic issues. Among the paleoanthropological sites found in China, the significance of the Xuetang Liangzi (Yunxian people) site is second only to the Zhoukoudian Peking Man site in terms of the comprehensiveness, completeness, richness, academic problems that may be solved and sustainability.
The discovery of yunxian human fossils is one of the most important discoveries in China's paleoanthropology in the past decade, and it has always touched the heartstrings of Chinese and foreign paleoanthropologists. The heated discussion on the status of the Human Fossil System in Yunxian Fully demonstrates their concern and importance. In paleoanthropology, the discovery of Yunxian people is not only a new material that adds human fossils, but also its morphological characteristics provide another important example for exploring the attribution of system status and the evolutionary patterns of ancient Chinese humans.
The stone artifacts found at the site of Xuetang Liangzi (Yunxian people) provide important information for discussing the origin and development of the southern gravel culture in Paleolithic archaeology, and provide meaningful information on the relationship between the early Paleolithic cultures in the south and the north. The stone artifacts at the Site of Xuetang Liangzi (a native of Yunxian County) seem likely to combine isolated north-south dualities into one, and may play a role in further understanding the characteristics of China's Paleolithic culture.
From the perspective of technical type, the stone products of the Xuetang Liangzi (Yunxian people) site contain several factors of interest, some of which have certain local characteristics, and some factors are widely distributed, which is of great significance for determining industrial characteristics. These technical type factors have both southern characteristics, northern characteristics, and even southwest characteristics. This may be a cultural phenomenon that deserves attention and further exploration. The mosaic results of the stone products show that they are made in situ and buried in situ, which helps to explain the nature of the site According to the strata and excavation conditions, the stone products of the Yunxian people are found in the "laterite" accumulation, "yellow accumulation" and gray-white fine sand layer, while the "yellow accumulation" is the mainstay. At the Xuetang Liangzi (Shaoxian) site, the contact relationship between the "laterite" accumulation and the "yellow accumulation" is clear, which establishes an example for the dating and division of the Southern Quaternary accumulation. To some extent, it partially solves the problem of the era of stone products found in the accumulation of "laterite".
The results of mammal fossils have shown that the fauna of Yunxian (Yunyang District) has the characteristics of a north-south transition area, which is important information for exploring the evolution and migration of the early Pleistocene fauna in China, and the changes in climate and environment.
This is the archaeological site of thirty years ago. The results proved that the importance of the Xuetang Liangzi (Yunxian people) site is second only to the Zhoukoudian Beijinger site. The skull fossil of "Yunxian people" is a national treasure among national treasures, and his epoch-making significance lies in his powerful proof that "Yunyang in Hubei is the hometown of mankind"! It should be noted that the fossils unearthed in Zhoukoudian are only "skulls", while the "skull" fossils unearthed at Midas Temple are more complete. It is particularly regrettable that the fossil skull of the Peking people was lost in the War of Resistance Against Japan and has not been heard from so far.
Aokumita Temple is looking forward to really getting hot!
(Photo/ Yang Zhenglin Reference "Yunyang Archaeology", etc.)