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 Art Photo/Guangdong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
From March 21 to 22, the final review of the top ten archaeological new discoveries of the 2023 National sponsored 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 new archaeological discoveries in the country 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. The top ten projects selected were (sorted by year and night): Yishui Bashan Site Group in Shandong, Ping, Fujian, Mopanshan Site Group in Langxi, Anhui, Qujialing Site in Jingmen, Hubei, Wangzhuang Site in Yongcheng, Henan, Shangdu Academy Street Cemetery, Qingjian Zhaigou Site in Qingjian, Shaanxi, Sijiaoping Site in Li County, Gansu, Chencun Porcelain Site in Chencun, Huozhou, Shanxi, and the northwest land slope of the South China Sea.
YanshanBabaylanZhai changed the academic community’s understanding of the origin process of Lingnan civilization
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, an expert representative of the judges, 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 the Lingnan area. So now we have entered a complex social stage 4,800 years ago. The origin of civilization is actually synchronized with the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, which has greatly changed our understanding of the degree of social development in this area. Cinema” he said.
He also introduced in response to reporters’ questions that the 22 projects shortlisted for the final review this year cover a wide range of time and space, from the “Tibet Gejimeilongdapu Cave Site” in the Paleolithic Age 100,000 years ago to the “Hongshi Mazi Site in Panshi City, Jilin Province” eighty or ninety years ago. This is unprecedented in terms of time. Meanwhile, 22 projects range from the southeast coast to the westIn the northern border, from the 4,700-meter Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to the 1,500-meter underwater shipwreck under the northwest slope of the South China Sea, the space range is vast. The 22 final evaluation projects also reflect outstanding characteristics such as multidisciplinary cooperation, meticulous excavation, and unprecedented improvement in cultural relics protection awareness.
The earliest complex society that can be confirmed in Lingnan area
The Yanshanzhai site is located in Lan Village, Qingtang Town, Yingde City, Qingyuan City, Guangdong Province. It is located in the middle of the mountainous area in northern Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta, with an area of about 100,000 square meters. From 2019 to 2023, the Guangdong Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, jointly with the Central University of China, Peking University and other units, continued to actively conduct archaeological excavations of the sites, with an excavation area of 2,900 square meters, and cleared out important relics from the Neolithic Age tombs, ash pits, ash ditches, columns, and other important relics from the Neolithic Age to Xia and Shang dynasties, and unearthed more than 4,300 samples of various cultural relics such as jade, pottery, grinding stone tools, bronzes, human bones and plant remains. According to Liu Suoqiang, the director of the Pre-Qin Archaeology Research Institute of Guangdong Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the archaeological excavation of the Yanshanzhai site has achieved many aspects of gains, the most important of which is the discovery of the large tomb of the late Neolithic era at the Yanbei site. The exploration confirmed area is about 5,000 square meters. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Komiks exposed area is 1,200 square meters, 93 tombs were cleaned, and more than 1,200 burial objects such as jade, pottery, and stone tools were unearthed. The cemetery can be seen with clear zoning and grouping planning, and is the largest and clearest structural layout of Shixia cultural cemetery so far.
There are significant gaps between the rich and the poor and the hierarchical differences between the tombs in different areas and groups of the Yanbei Cemetery. Among them, the highest-level M16 has as many as 145 burial objects, including 5 jade axes and 74 stone horns, and the M26 is buried with jade cong and jade axes at the same time. The Rock Behind Cemetery clearly reflects the accelerated social differentiation around 4,800 years ago and forms institutionalized funeral customs. This is theThe earliest complex society that can be identified in the Lingnan region during the origin 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 discovery of the most important archaeological age of Lingnan in the Neolithic era
The Yanshanzhai site, which is being continuously excavated by the archaeological excavation, has been widely recognized by the industry and has been announced as a major project result of the “Archaeological China” by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage in 2021.
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, and it is also an important node for Lingnan to integrate into the process of Chinese civilization integration. Its discovery helps to reinterpret the status of the stone culture and the Lingnan region in archaeological cultural areas.
The reporter learned that since the selection of the top ten new archaeological discoveries in the country was launched in 2023, the participation trends of the Yanshanzhai site have received close attention from the Guangdong archaeological industry. At present, the Yanshanzhai site is still being excavated. With the subsequent development of its archaeological and research work, it will remain a strong competitor to this important national archaeological award in the future.
Archaeology students move towardsCinemaThe excellent base for field
Yanshanzhai Ruins 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 Ruins to complete field archaeology internships.
The reporter learned that field archaeology internships is the middle school. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>CinemaThe professional compulsory courses for undergraduates in the Department of Archaeology of Shan University are generally conducted in the first semester of junior high school and last for one semester. The Yanshanzhai site covers the ancient tombs and living functional areas. Teachers and students of 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 archaeology talents, so archaeology students are required to <a before graduation from Komiks. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Komiks masters the basic operating procedures for field archaeological excavation. During the six-month internship, students enter the construction site for field archaeological excavation in the first three months, followed by the unearthed artifacts, and finally form internship results that are preliminary judgments on the age, nature, and cultural appearance of the excavation area.
In addition, teachers 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 they are going to the academic hall. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Babaylan Hall’s first ladder.
Zhou Fanwen also said: “Our students are very lucky to be able to get in touch with 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 QingtangBabaylanArchaeological Site Park
The members of the Yanshanzhai Site are also from local cultural museumsStaff of the agency. Liu Jianwen, director of Yingde Museum, is one of them and has participated in a lot of practical work. Liu Jianwen Cinema said that local museums do more assistive work, such as providing restoration sites for unearthed cultural relics, and coordinating the relationship between the archaeological team and local villagers. He emphasized: “The most difficult archaeological excavation work is done by professionals, and what we can do is to provide them with the most convenient logistical support.”
As a native Yingde native, Liu Jianwen is deeply proud of his hometown having 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. Next, we must assist in the continuous excavation of the site, as well as protection, interpretation, display and other work.” Liu Jianwen also said that the local area is actively promoting the construction of the Qingtang Archaeological Site 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 and was included in the fourth batch of national archaeological ruins park project list. “From Guangdong Province Komiks to Qingyuan City, and then to Yingde City, leaders at all levels attach great importance to the progress of Qingtang Archaeological Site Park. The construction of the park requires a lot of investment, involving multi-party coordination and linkage, so it cannot be achieved overnight. I believe that the public and media attach great importance to the Yanshanzhai site and the “early Lingnan Source Exploration Project” will create a better research and construction atmosphere.” Liu Jianwen said.