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 country was held in Beijing, sponsored by China Cultural Relics Newspaper and the Chinese Archaeology Society. After the Cinema 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 Archaeological Society, announced the final results. The top ten selected projects are (sorted by year and night): Yishui Bashan Site Group in Shandong, Jiqiutou Site Group in Pingtan, Fujian, Mopanshan Site in Langxi, Anhui, Qujialing Site in Jingmen, Hubei, Wangzhuang Site in Yongcheng, Henan, Shangdu Academy Street Cemetery in Zhengzhou, Henan, Qingjian Zhaigou Site in Qingjian, Shaanxi, Gansu Sijiaoping Site in Chencun, Huozhou, Shanxi, and Shipwreck Site in Chencun, Huozhou, Shanxi, and Shipwreck Site in No. 1 and No. 2, Northwest Lupo in the South China Sea.
Yanshanzhai changed the academic community’s understanding of the origin process of Lingnan civilization
The reporter learned from the final review meeting that Neolithic archaeology will have fruitful results in 2023, so the competition for projects during this period is particularly fierce. Among the 22 final review projects, 8 of the 22 final review projects belong 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 Chinese archaeological community’s understanding of the origin of civilization and the social complexity process in the Lingnan region. “We lacked the understanding of Lingnan in the past. Now, it 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.” He said.
He also introduced in response to reporters’ questions that the 22 projects shortlisted for the final review this year covered the time and space scope ofThe vastness of the time ranges from the “Babaylan Site” in the Paleolithic Age 100,000 years ago to the “Babaylan Site of Hong Kong, Panshi City, Jilin Province” 100,000 years ago. This is unprecedented in terms of time range. At the same time, 22 projects have been sinking from the southeast coast to the northwest border, from the 4,700-meter Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to the northwest slope of the South China Sea, with a vast space range. 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 Sun Yat-sen University, Peking University and other units, continued to conduct active archaeological excavations of the sites, with an excavation area of 2,900 square meters, and cleared out important relics from the Neolithic Age to the Xia and Shang dynasties such as tombs, ash pits, ash ditches, column holes (groups), stoves and burnt mounds. More than 4,300 samples of various cultural relics such as jade, pottery, grinding, etc. were unearthed. According to Liu Suoqiang, the project leader and director of the Pre-Qin Archaeology Institute of Guangdong Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the archaeological excavation of the Cinema mountain village site has achieved many aspects of gains. The most important harvest is the discovery of large cemeteries of the late Neolithic Age at the rock back site. The exploration confirmed area is about 50 square meters, the exposed area is 1,200 square meters, 93 tombs were cleared, and jade, pottery, stone tools, etc. are unearthed.ttps://comicmov.com/”>Cinemamore than 1,200 burial objects. The cemetery shows clear zoning and grouping plans, and is the largest and most clear structured Shixia cultural cemetery seen so far.
The burials in different areas and groups of the Yanbei Cemetery have a significant gap between the rich and the poor and the hierarchy. Among them, there are as many as 145 burial objects with the highest level, including 5 jade axes and 74 stone horns, and the M26 is buried with jade cong and jade axes at the same time. The Yanbei Cemetery clearly reflects the accelerated social differentiation around 4,800 years ago and has formed institutionalized burial customs. This is the origin stage of Chinese civilization. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Komiks the earliest complex society that can be confirmed in Lingnan region.
At the same time, the dating data for the Yanbei tombs were concentrated between 5,000 and 400 years ago, and updated the previous understanding of the upper and lower limits of the Shixia culture. Through the multi-level anatomy of typical tombs, the burial process was completely restored, and a clearer understanding of the burial customs of the Shixia culture was obtained.
The most important archaeological discovery in Lingnan Neolithic era
Yanshanzhai site, which is being continuously excavated in the archaeological excavation, has been widely recognized by the industry and has been announced as a major project achievement 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 reflects that Lingnan has a regional social complexity model different from the Yangtze River Basin.
Not only that, Yanshanzhai RelicsRich rice remains were also found in the tombs, buildings and ash pit ruins at the 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, which is also an important node for Lingnan to integrate into the process of Chinese civilization integration. 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 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.
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 the ancient tombs and the living functional areas. Teachers and students from the Zhongda University 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 will also encourage students who want to continue their studies and guide them to use first-hand archaeological data to conduct follow-up research. Zhou Fanwen believes that such training will be more effective for students in the futureAdvanced research is very helpful and is their first ladder toward the academic hall.
Zhou Fanwen also said: “Our students are 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 result of 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 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 provide them with the most convenient logistical support.”
But 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 for us grassroots cultural and museum workers in our careers. At the same time, we also feel deeply responsible for the great importance of Komiks. We will assist in the continuous excavation of the site, as well as the protection, interpretation, display and other work.” Liu Jianwen also said that the local area is currently 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 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 and involves coordination and linkage between multiple parties, so it cannot be achieved overnight. I believe that the public and the media’s high attention to the Yanshanzhai site and the ‘early Lingnan Source Exploration Project’ will create a better research and construction atmosphere.” Liu Jianwen said.