The top ten new archaeological discoveries in the country in 2023 have been announced, and the coverage of time and space is unprecedented.
Text/Yangcheng Evening News All-Media Reporter Literature and ArtistBabaylan
Photo/Guangdong Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Cinema From March 21 to 22, the 2023 National Top Ten Archaeological New Discoveries Hosted by China Cultural Relics Newspaper and the Chinese Archaeology Society was held in Beijing. After project report meeting and comprehensive review, the judges finally voted to select the top ten national examinations in 2023. Guan Qiang, deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and vice chairman of the Chinese Archaeology Society, announced the final results and were selected as the top ten items: Bashan Ruins in Yishui, Shandong, Jiqiutou Ruins in Pingtan, Fujian, Mopanshan Ruins in Langxi, Anhui, Qujialing Ruins in Jingmen, Hubei, Wangzhuang Ruins in Yongcheng, Henan, Shangdu Shuyuan Street Cemetery, Zhengzhou, Shaanxi, Zhaigou Ruins in Qingjian, Gansu, Sijiaoping Ruins in Chencun, Chencun Porcelain Site in Chenzhou, Shanxi, and Shipwreck Site in Lupo, Northwest South China Sea.
Yanshanzhai changed the academic community’s understanding of the origin process of Lingnan civilization.Komiks
The reporter learned from the final review meeting that Neolithic archaeology achieved fruitful results in 2023, so the competition for projects during this period was particularly fierce. Among the 22 final review projects, 8 of the 22 final review projects belonged to the Neolithic Age, and 4 were finally selected. Chen Xingcan, a representative of the judges’ expert, and a researcher and director of the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, emphasized that the 22 projects entering the final evaluation have important academic value and great scientific significance, regardless of whether they are finally selected or not.
Chen Xingcan took the “Guangdong Yingdeyan Mountain Village Site” in the Neolithic Age as an example and believed that the Yanshan Village Site changed the understanding of the origin of civilization and the social complexity of the Lingnan region. “We used to lack the understanding of Lingnan in the past. Now, it has entered a complex social stage 4,800 years ago, and the origin of civilization has entered the stage ofThe Cheng and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are actually synchronized, which has greatly changed our understanding of the degree of social development in this region. “He said.
In answering reporters’ questions, he also introduced that the 22 projects shortlisted for the final review this year cover a wide range of time and space, ranging from 100,000 years to the “Hongshi Mazi Site in Panshi City, Jilin Province” eighty or ninety years ago. This is unprecedented in terms of time. At the same time, 22Komiks projects range from the southeast coast to the northwest border, from the 4,700-meter Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to the 1,500-meter underwater shipwreck underwater on the northwest slope of the South China Sea, with a vast space range. The 22 final review projects also reflect outstanding characteristics such as multidisciplinary cooperation, fine excavation, and unprecedented improvement in cultural relics protection awareness.
The earliest complex society that can be confirmed in Lingnan area
Yanshanzhai site is located in Lan Village, Qingtang Town, Yingde City, Qingyuan City, Guangdong Province. It is located in the middle of the northern mountain area of Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta, with an area of about 100,000 square meters.
From 2019 to 2023, Guangdong Province CinemaThe Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, in conjunction with Sun Yat-sen University, Peking University and other units, continued to carry out active archaeological excavations of the sites, with an excavation area of 2,900 square meters. It cleared out important relics from the Neolithic Age to Xia and Shang dynasties, including tombs, ash pits, ash ditches, column holes (groups), stoves and burnt mounds, and unearthed more than 4,300 samples of various cultural relics such as jade, pottery, grinding stone, bronze, human bones and plant remains.
According to the project leader and director of the Pre-Qin Archaeology Research Institute of Guangdong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the archaeological excavation of the Yanshanzhai site has achieved many aspects of harvest. The most important harvest is the discovery of large cemeteries in the late Neolithic Age at the Yanback site. The exploration confirmed area is about 5,000 square meters, the exposed area is 1,200 square meters, and the tomb is cleaned. 93 burials of Babaylan were buried, and more than 1,200 burial objects such as jade, pottery, and stone tools were unearthed. The cemetery showed clear zoning and grouping plans, and it was the largest and most clear structured and layout of Shixia cultural cemetery so far.
The burials in different areas and groups of the Yanbei Cemetery showed significant gaps in the rich and poor and grade differences. Among them, there were as many as 145 M16 burial objects with the highest rank, including 5 jade axes and 74 stone cemeteries, while the M26 was buried at the same time. The Yanbei Cemetery was clear.The land reflects the accelerated social differentiation around 4,800 years ago, and the formation of institutionalized funeral customs. This is the earliest complex society that can be confirmed in the Lingnan region during the origin stage of Chinese civilization.
At the same time, the dating data of the Rock Behind Tombs are concentrated between 5,000 and 4,000 years ago, which updates the previous understanding of the upper and lower limits of the Shixia cultural era. Through the multi-level dissection of typical tombs, the burial process was completely restored, and a clearer understanding of the burial customs of Shixia culture was found.
The most important archaeological discovery of Lingnan Neolithic Age
The Yanshanzhai site, which is being continuously excavated by the industry, has been widely recognized by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage in 2021 as a major project achievement of “Archaeological China”.
Liu Suoqiang pointed out that the archaeological achievements of the Yanshanzhai site confirm that Lingnan has entered a complex social stage about 4,800 years ago, and show the role of diversified integration in the civilized process of Lingnan region, and also reflect that Lingnan has a regional social complex model different from the Yangtze River Basin.
Not only that, abundant rice remains were found in the tombs, buildings and ash pit ruins of the Yanshanzhai site, indicating that the middle reaches of the Beijiang River where it is located is a crucial intermediate node on the rice farm agricultural transmission route from Lingbei to northern Guangdong and then to the Pearl River Delta. It is also an important node for Lingnan to integrate into the process of integration of Chinese civilization. The discovery helps to reinterpret the Shixia culture and the status of the Lingnan region in archaeological cultural areas.
The reporter learned that since the selection of the top ten archaeological new discoveries in the country in 2023, the participation news of Yanshanzhai ruins has been closely watched by the Guangdong archaeological industry. At present, the Yanshanzhai site is still being excavated, and as its archaeological and research work continues to be launchedThe exhibition will continue to be a strong competitor to this important national archaeological award in the future.
The excellent base for students majoring in archaeology to move into the fields
Yanshanzhai Site is a cooperative project between the Guangdong Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the School of Sociology and Anthropology of Sun Yat-sen University to jointly build the “Guangdong Field Archaeology Research Base”. Since 2020, students of Sun Yat-sen University majored in archaeology have successively gone to the Yanshanzhai site to complete field archaeology internships.
The reporter learned that field archaeology internship is a professional compulsory course for undergraduates of Sun Yat-sen University’s Department of Archaeology. It is usually conducted in the first semester of junior high school and lasts for one semester. The Yanshanzhai site covers ancient tombs and living functional areas. Teachers and students from Zhongda mainly carry out practical training in field archaeological excavations in the living functional areas.
Zhou Fanwen said that there is currently a large gap in front-line archaeological talents, so archaeology students are required to master the basic operating procedures for field archaeological excavation before graduation. During the six-month internship, students entered the construction site for field archaeological excavation in the first three months, followed by the unearthed artifacts, and finally formed internship results that were preliminary judgments on the age, nature, and cultural appearance of the excavated area.
In addition, teachers Komiks will also encourage students who want to continue their studies and guide them to use first-hand archaeological data to carry out follow-up research. Zhou Fanwen believes that such training is very helpful for students to carry out higher-level research in the future and is their first ladder toward the academic hall.
Zhou Fanwen also said: “Our students are not very lucky to be able to contact the archaeological excavation of the Yanshanzhai site at the introductory stage. This is an archaeological site selected as the major project of ‘Archaeological China’. On-site participation undoubtedly provides them with the most complete and systematic training.”
Continue to promote the construction of Qingtang Archaeological Site Park
The archaeological excavation team of the Yanshanzhai site, and its members also include staff from local cultural and museum institutions. Liu Jianwen, director of Yingde Museum, is one of them and has participated in a lot of practical work. Liu Jianwen said that local museums are more about assisting sex workBabaylan works, such as providing restoration sites for unearthed cultural relics, coordinating the relationship between the archaeological team and local villagers, etc. He emphasized: “The hardest archaeological excavation work is done by professionals. What we can do is to provide them with the most convenient logistical support.”
But as a native of Yingde, Liu Jianwen is deeply proud of his hometown that he has such a major archaeological discovery. He told reporters: “I am very honored to be able to participate in such an important archaeological excavation project. This is a rare opportunity in our career for grassroots cultural and museum workers. At the same time, we also feel a great responsibility and will help to continue to excavate the site, as well as protect, interpret, display and other work.” Liu Jianwen also said that the local area is actively promoting the construction of the Qingtang Archaeological Relics Park. It is reported that the standard scope of Qingtang Archaeological Site Park is centered on the distribution of the remains of Qingtang ruins and Yanshanzhai ruins. It was approved by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage in 2022 to be included in the fourth batch of National Archaeological Site Park project list.
“From Guangdong Province to Qingyuan City and then to Yingde City, leaders at all levels attach great importance to the progress of Qingtang Archaeological Site Park. The investment required for park construction is very large and involves coordination and linkage between multiple parties, so it cannot be achieved overnight. I believe that the public and the media attach great importance to the rock Komiks Copyright Site and the ‘Early Lingnan Origin Exploration Project’ will create a better research and construction atmosphere.” Liu Jianwen said.