On February 8, the reporter learned from the Henan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Society that the preliminary evaluation of the 2021 National Top Ten Archaeological New Discoveries Selection was launched on the same day, and 32 entries were announced, of which the Nanyang Huangshan Ruins and anyang Taojiaying Ruins in our province were shortlisted.
In 2021, more than 1,700 archaeological excavations have been approved nationwide, and after the active declaration of each excavation qualification unit and the review of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, 32 projects have entered the preliminary evaluation, from which 20 final evaluation projects will be generated.
From May 2018 to November 2021, with the approval of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Nanyang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology formed a joint archaeological team to carry out continuous active archaeological excavations of the Huangshan site, and determined that the site was a neolithic large-scale central site surrounded by artificial river trenches (canals) and natural rivers, with an area of more than 300,000 square meters, and the cultural sequence covered Yangshao, Qujialing and Shijiahe, which continued seamlessly before and after, and important relics were well preserved. Archaeological excavations have determined that the Huangshan site is a large-scale central settlement site of the nature of "base and port" that collects jade ore materials, processing and exchange of jade ware in the late Yangshao culture and Qujialing culture period, and then the large-scale production of jade ware in the Shijiahe cultural period is a major archaeological discovery that fills the gap in the original jade industry system. The Huangshan site is a key period for the formation of the Yanhuang civilization in China about 5,000 years ago, and it is one of the core research objects of the origin of civilization between Jianghan and the Central Plains and the cultural exchange and integration of the north and south.
The Taojiaying site is located in the north of Taojiaying Village, Baizhuang Town, Beiguan District, Anyang City, and preliminary exploration found that the site has a rectangular plan and a total area of about 185,000 square meters. In 2021, the Anyang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and other units excavated the southwest of the site, cleaning up ash pits, tombs, trenches, pottery kilns, rammed earth foundation sites, wells and other remains, and preliminary statistics unearthed about 172 pieces of bronze, pottery, jade, bone, mussel, shell and other utensils. The ruins of Taojiaying are believed to be the huanbei shangcheng of the capital city of the middle Shang Dynasty, with the remains of the inner and outer double ring trenches, tombs, ash pits, pottery kilns, cellars, rammed earth foundation sites, etc., and the preliminary judgment is that it is a high-specification settlement site with defensive properties, which is speculated to be an important satellite city of Huanbei Shangcheng in the same period. The discovery of the Taojiaying site has further enriched and perfected the cultural sequence of the early, middle and late Shang Dynasties, and has important archaeological value. (According to Henan government network)