CCTV News: Yesterday (March 18), the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences announced the new discoveries of Chinese archaeology in 2021, and finally 6 field archaeological excavation projects were selected.
The six field archaeological excavation projects are the Paleolithic Ruins of Pirao in Daocheng County, Sichuan, the Neolithic Ruins of Huangshan Mountain in Nanyang City, Henan, the Sanxingdui Shang Dynasty Ruins in Guanghan City, Sichuan, the Guozishan Warring States Tomb in Zhangshu City, Jiangxi Province, the Qin han Cemetery of the Warring States of Zhengjiahu in Yunmeng County, Hubei Province, and the Tuguhun Royal Family Tomb Group in the Tang Dynasty in Wuwei City, Gansu Province. From the Paleolithic to the Tang Dynasty, the time span is as long as 130,000 years.
The six field archaeological excavation projects that were finally selected for the new archaeological discoveries in 2021 provide for what clues are provided to promote local archaeological research? What are the significance of these archaeological discoveries for the exploration of "the pluralism and integration of Chinese civilization"? Let's take a look.
Stone products such as hand axes and thin-bladed axes excavated from the Paleolithic site of Pirot are the most typical, most exquisitely made, most mature technology and most complete combination of Ashel in East Asia.
The Neolithic ruins of Huangshan Mountain in Nanyang, which cover the Yangshao culture, Qujialing culture and Shijiahe culture, are a large-scale central settlement site with a time span of more than 2,000 years, supported by Dushan jade, stone and resources, and mainly based on jade and stone tool processing and exchange.
Bai Yunxiang, researcher of archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: What does this reveal? It is from six or seven thousand years ago to four or five thousand years ago, the degree of development of our handicraft industry, especially the jade and bone making.
The Warring States Tomb of Guozishan in Zhangshu City, Jiangxi Province is the largest archaeologically discovered Warring States tomb in Jiangxi, and the tomb owner is closely related to the Yue royal family, providing direct archaeological evidence for the exploration of the process of "pluralism and integration of Chinese civilization" in the region.
Bai Yunxiang: They reflect the local culture of the Shang and Zhou dynasties in the Jiangnan region and its connection to the civilization of the Central Plains.
The Sanxingdui Shang Dynasty Ruins in Guanghan City, Sichuan Province, which have been attracting much attention, have also been successfully selected. The newly discovered 6 "sacrifice pits" and more than 2,000 precious cultural relics such as bronze-topped kneeling figures, copper head-turned kneeling figures, bronze altars, and ivory have enriched the connotation and value of Sanxingdui culture and proved that ancient Shu civilization is an important part of Chinese civilization.
Nearly 700 words of "China's First Long Wen Yao" excavated from the Warring States Qin and Han Cemetery in Yunmeng County, Hubei Province, are precious texts for studying the social history and thought of the Warring States Qin and Han Dynasties, and the rare tomb murals fill the gap in the materials and types of Qin and Han paintings.
Bai Yunxiang: It is in the process of unifying the Six Kingdoms of the Qin State, and it is also a strategic place for the Qin State to march south to Chu, and this discovery contains both the tombs of Chu culture, that is, the tombs of the Chu people, and the cemeteries of the Qin people. From this discovery, we confirm the course of history at that time from one side, reflecting a process of the formation of a multi-ethnic unified state.
The last item is the Tuguhun royal tomb group of the Tang Dynasty in Wuwei, Gansu, including the three mausoleum areas of Yanghui Valley, Baiyang Mountain and the Great Khan Mausoleum, which is mainly based on the culture of the Central Plains of the Tang Dynasty, and has factors such as Tuguhun, Tubo and grassland culture, which profoundly reveals the historical facts of the gradual integration of Tuguhun and other ethnic groups into Chinese civilization, and provides a strong archaeological support for the study of the consciousness of the Chinese national community.
Source: CCTV