Thin-bladed axes were collected from the trailing edge section of area B of the Paleolithic site of Pirao in Daocheng County, Sichuan Province.
The picture shows the combination of some artifacts in the F1-3 storage area of Fangju F1-3, a neolithic site in Huangshan, Nanyang City, Henan Province.
How did early humans adapt to extreme environments at high altitudes? Which research gaps are filled... A few days ago, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences unveiled the "New Discoveries of Chinese Archaeology in 2021" in Beijing, and 6 archaeological projects, including the Paleolithic Ruins of Piluo in Daocheng County, Sichuan, the Neolithic Ruins of Huangshan Mountain in Nanyang City, Henan, the Sanxingdui Shang Dynasty Ruins in Guanghan City, Sichuan, the Warring States Tombs in Zhangshu City, Jiangxi Province, the Qinhan Cemetery of Zhengjiahu Warring States in Yunmeng County, Hubei Province, and the Tuguhun Royal Tomb Group of the Tang Dynasty in Wuwei City, Gansu Province, were selected.
Paleolithic ruins of Piluo, Daocheng County, Sichuan:
Demonstrate the ability and way early humans adapted to extreme environments at high altitudes
"In May 2020, the Pirao site was discovered in Daocheng County; the official excavation began in April 2021; and on November 7, 2021, the field excavation work ended..." Zheng Zhexuan, a librarian of the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, introduced the Pirao site from the beginning of the work and several time nodes in the excavation process. From the geographical point of view, the Paleolithic ruins of Pirao in Daocheng County, Daocheng County, Daocheng County, Arezi Prefecture, Sichuan Province, with an area of about 1 million square meters and an average elevation of about 3750 meters.
According to Zheng Zhexuan, the academic goal of the excavation of the site is to find Paleolithic remains, fill the gap in paleolithic archaeology on the Western Sichuan Plateau, and explore the time and process of early humans ascending to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. After more than 6 months of excavation work, a series of important gains and understandings have been made.
First of all, the site is vast and is a super-large Paleolithic site rare at home and abroad. The number of relics is large, there are more than 10,000 relics systematically collected and excavated in 2021; secondly, the cultural connotation of the site is rich, this excavation revealed 7 consecutive cultural layers in the eastern foothills of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and found a rare Paleolithic cultural triassic layer (simple stone core stone combination - Ashley technology system and a small stone chip stone tool system), of which the third layer is no later than 130,000 years ago; third, the world's highest altitude Ashley technology remains were found in the site. The excavated stone products such as hand axes and thin-bladed axes are the most typical, most exquisitely made, most mature technology and most complete combination of Ashel in East Asia.
According to relevant archaeological experts, the so-called Ashley culture is a stage in the Paleolithic culture, named after Saint-Ascher, which was first discovered on the outskirts of Amiens, France. A concentrated embodiment of it is the symmetrical stone tools and multi-type combinations, such as hand axes, pickaxes, thin-bladed axes, choppers, large stone knives, etc.
"Overall, the Pilo site is a rare super-large Paleolithic wilderness site with a special spatio-temporal location, a grand scale, well-preserved strata, a clear cultural sequence, rich relics, distinctive technical characteristics, and the superposition of various cultural factors." Zheng Zhexuan said.
He once wrote: "The Pilo site has many places beyond imagination in terms of scale, strata, relics, age and many other aspects, like a wonderful long detective novel, every chapter or even every sentence is gripping, and every month or even weekly excavation makes us excited and excited." ”
Gao Xing, a researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, also used "beyond our imagination" to evaluate the discovery of the Pyrro site.
Zheng Zhexuan said that the axe-bearing sites of the Western Sichuan Plateau such as Piluo fill a key missing link in the Asheli technical system, connecting the Asheli cultural transmission belt between the East and the West, which has special value and significance for understanding the migration and cultural communication and exchange of ancient people in the East and the West. At the same time, the site's continuous stratigraphic accumulation, intact burial conditions, and clear sequence of stone tool technology evolution reveal the ability, manner, and historical process of early humans to adapt to extreme environments at high altitudes.
Neolithic ruins of Huangshan Mountain in Nanyang City, Henan Province:
Fill the gap in the Neolithic jade handicraft system in the Central Plains and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River
"The site is located 100 meters north of Huangshan Village, Pushan Town, Wolong District, Nanyang City, Henan Province, about 3.5 kilometers away from the limestone-rich Fengshan and Pushan Mountains, east of the Baihe River, and about 3 kilometers southwest of Dushan Mountain, a famous mountain produced in China." Ma Juncai, a researcher at the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, marked the location of the Neolithic site in Huangshan, Nanyang City, on the map.
According to Ma Juncai, the Huangshan Neolithic site covers an area of 300,000 square meters and is the largest Neolithic site in the Nanyang Basin.
Back in 2018, from May of that year to December 2021, the archaeological team conducted continuous active archaeological excavations at the Huangshan site, obtaining a series of major archaeological discoveries, and the relevant scientific and technological archaeological achievements are also very prominent, and have achieved important results in plants, human bone DNA and other aspects. Through the analysis of the sandstone pulp composition, it was found that most of it was a mixture of Dushan jade and sandstone grinding stone powder. In Ma Juncai's view, this provides key evidence for determining the nature of the jade workshop.
Among them, according to incomplete statistics, a total of more than 23,000 relics were unearthed. The texture of the stone tools is mainly monophyletic, mainly agricultural tools, tools and weapons. The types of agricultural tools include shovels, shovels, knives, etc., and weapons include cymbals and hammers. Jade is mainly Dushan jade, followed by yellow wax stone, quartz, Han white jade, etc., and the types of jade are 耜, axe, shovel, Huang and so on. Bone organs mainly include hammers, needles and so on. The types of pottery are bowls, pots, dings, bowls and so on.
"There is a piece of grinding stone pier that is also painted with maroon characters labor, lying pigs, and orchid writing intentions, which is a masterpiece." Ma Juncai said.
Ma Juncai said that the Huangshan site is a central settlement site with distinctive characteristics of yangshao culture, Qujialing culture and Shijiahe culture jade ware making, reflecting the characteristics of the cultural exchange and integration of the north and south in the late Neolithic period, and providing important materials for discussing the process of social complexity and civilization in southwest Henan; at the same time, the neolithic jade ware production remains of the site are supported by Dushan jade as a resource and assisted by jade materials in other places, and there is roughly a "home-style" workshop group of the late Yangshao culture to the Qujialing period. The law of group "mode change of production." The Large-scale Production of Jade Ware in the Shijiahe Cultural Period also filled the gap in the Neolithic jade handicraft system in the Central Plains and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and together with the remains of bone making, provided an important clue for exploring the specialization of handicraft production and social division of labor at that time.
The site reveals a high-grade tomb area of Qujialing, represented by large tombs with a large number of pig mandibles, jade, bows and arrows, ivory ware, and a small amount of pottery, with well-preserved human bones and clear hierarchy of members of society. In addition, the site found the remains of the nature of prehistoric docks, together with natural rivers, artificial rivers and ring moats to form a waterway transportation system, reflecting the ancients' attention to and ability to use water resources.
Courtesy photo: Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences