China's top-ten archaeological discoveries of 2005 were
announced in Beijing on May 9, 2006.
1. Neolithic Xiaohuangshan Relics, Zhejiang
Province
2. Neolithic Gaomiao Relics, Hunan
Province
3. Prehistoric Zhongshui Relics Providing
Proof of Rice Farming
4. Neolithic Liuzhuang Relics, Henan
Province
5. Kiln Sites of Shang Dynasty on
Mao'ernong Mountain, Fujian Province
6. Western Zhou Dynasty Cemetery in
Hengshui, Shanxi Province
7. Aristocratic Cemetery of the Zhou
Dynasty in Liangdai Village, Shaanxi Province
8. Mound Tombs in Jurong and Jintan,
Jiangsu Province
9. Remains of Han Dynasty Courtyards at
Sanyangzhuang, Henan Province
10. Tomb Murals of Northern Wei in Datong,
Shanxi Province
1. Neolithic Xiaohuangshan Relics, Zhejiang
Province
The Xiaohuangshan relics were found in Shangdushan Village of
Shengzhou City in east China's Zhejiang Province.
The Neolithic site, which dates back some 9,000 years, covers an
area of more than 50,000 square meters. Its discovery can very well
cause the country's archaeological history to be rewritten as they
are much older than those found at the Hemudu site in the province,
which was previously thought to have been home to the earliest
Neolithic culture in southeast China around 7,000 years ago.
At the site researchers have found several deep ditches, which they
believe were storerooms, and some signs of barbecuing.
According to Wang Haiming, deputy director of the Zhejiang
Archaeology Research Institute, a 9,000-year-old sculpted stone
human head was found at the site. The head measures 7.6 centimeters
high and has been roughly carved in basalt stone.
The facial features are not particularly accurate and by modern
standards the work is crude. The forehead occupies almost half the
face and the nose and mouth are somewhat mixed. But the eyes are
symmetrical. Wang said although it didn't particularly resemble a
human it would have been difficult for people living thousands of
years ago to accurately portray facial features such as the eyes,
forehead and chin.
Wang said the sculptor had selected a piece of stone that already
resembled the shape of a human head with the forehead and cheek
areas having been formed naturally. The sculptor added the details
of the eyes and nose. The 9,000-year-old head is the earliest from
a Neolithic site and holds significant value in the research of
history and art.
2. Neolithic Gaomiao Relics, Hunan
Province
Found at Yanli Village in Hongjiang City, central China's Hunan Province, the Gaomiao site, largely a
shell mound, is one of the best-preserved locations of the
Neolithic Age.
The site, with an area of some 30,000 square meters, has
produced the country's earliest white pottery. In addition, a large
amount of earthenware decorated with pictures of animals, birds and
the sun has been excavated here. The bird patterns are reminiscent
of the image of the phoenix worshipped in ancient China.
The findings suggest that phoenix worship can be dated back
7,400 years in central China. The worship of imaginary creatures
like the dragon originated in ancient times when people prayed for
sunshine, rain and good harvests, said He Gang, a researcher with
the Hunan Institute of Archeology.
The bird patterns found at the Gaomiao ruins were dated as being
some 400 years earlier than the phoenix designs discovered on ivory
objects unearthed from the 7,000-year-old Hemudu site in southeast
China's Zhejiang Province.
A sacrificial altar, the earliest such site discovered in China,
has been unearthed at Gaomiao and covers an area of 1,000 square
meters. The bones of dozens of animals including deer, pigs,
cattle, bears, elephants and rhinoceros have been excavated from 39
sacrificial pits.
The most intriguing find was that of a 7,400-year-old woman's
skeleton. He Gang said the well-preserved skeleton, which is 153
centimeters in length, suggests the woman was approximately 160
centimeters in height before her death.
A 7,400-year-old plaited bamboo mat found under the woman's
skeleton is the oldest such article ever discovered in China. The
carbonized mat is interlaced with weft and warp yarn and has an
orderly arrangement of holes around it by way of a
design.
The mat is more than 2,000 years older than bamboo baskets and
other articles discovered at the Neolithic Liangzhu site in
Zhejiang Province.
3. Prehistoric Zhongshui Relics Providing Proof of Rice
Farming
Rice grains were found in a number of sacrificial pits at Zhongshui
of Weining County, southwest China's Guizhou Province. The prehistoric site covers
a total area of nearly 3,000 square meters.
"The rice was found in numerous pits and is believed to be
upland variety as the grains are much smaller and the shoots are
shorter than those of paddy rice," said Dr. Zhao Zhijun, a
researcher with the Archaeology Institute of Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences (CASS).
The discovery shows that rice was being systematically cultivated
more than 3,000 years ago, said a source with Guizhou's bureau of
cultural heritage.
Experts believe the rice, the oldest ever excavated in southwest
China, will provide valuable insights into the evolution of rice
strains.
According to Dr. Zhao, the discovery of the ancient rice along
with ideal climate and soil conditions gives evidence of an
advanced culture of agricultural production in the Zhongshui area.
It provides important proof of rice farming, a subject that has
been popular yet controversial among archeologists, agriculturists
and historians for the past three decades.
Yet Dr. Zhao said scientists still need to determine whether the
finds are paddy rice or dry rice and whether it was native to the
Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau or had been introduced from other known rice
production areas in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze
River or the Sichuan Basin on the north of the plateau. "These are
crucial in our research on highland rice farming," he
commented.
South China with plenty rainfall and a mild climate is widely
believed to be origin of rice farming. Many scientists believe that
highlanders in the southwestern plateau were the first to cultivate
rice. Excavation of Neolithic stone implements including farm tools
appears to support their view, said Zhang Herong, a research fellow
with the Guizhou Provincial Institute of Archeology.
Besides the rice finds, archeologists also unearthed from the
site a large quantity of stone implements, pottery, jade and bronze
pieces, Zhang said. It's inferred that ancient inhabitants had used
surplus rice as a sacrificial offering for the dead.
4. Neolithic Liuzhuang Relics, Henan
Province
A total of 336 tombs dating back more than 3,000 years were
excavated in central China's Henan Province.
Arranged in a U shape, the tombs were unearthed at Liuzhuang
Village near Hebi City. Funeral objects were discovered in 208 of
the tombs including tomahawks, strings of turquoise stone beads,
ancient cooking vessels and basins.
The most noticeable is a tomb containing a coffin made of 13 pieces
of stone. The sarcophagus is 2.25 m long and 0.45-0.5 m wide. In
addition, archaeologists found that in nearly 20 tombs stones had
been put alongside the head or feet of the entombed person. Judging
from the funeral objects in each tomb and their shape and
structure, archaeologists believe they belong to the ancestors of
the people of the following Shang Dynasty (c.1600-c.1100 BC).
Stone coffin had been mostly used in north China on both sides of
the Great Wall. The discovery in Liuzhuang, the first of its kind
in central China, provides clues to the origin of the Shang people,
said Zhao Xinping, a research fellow with the Henan Provincial
Cultural Heritage and Archaeological Research Institute.
The Liuzhuang ruins cover more than 300,000 square meters. So
far an area of 7,700 square meters has been excavated.
5. Kiln Sites of Shang Dynasty on Mao'ernong Mountain,
Fujian Province
Six kilns of the Shang Dynasty (c.1600-c.1100 BC) were discovered
in September 2005 on the ridge of Mao'ernong Mountain in Pucheng
City, southeast China's Fujian Province. Most strikingly, a long,
dragon-shaped kiln is estimated to hold up to 100 pieces of pottery
at a time. It has been regarded as the earliest and best preserved
"dragon kiln" in China.
A chimney was found at the end of the dragon kiln. Zheng Hui,
vice director of Fujian Provincial Archaeology Research Institute,
said, "A dragon kiln with a chimney is really rare not only in
Fujian Province but in the whole country."
Usually constructed against mountain slopes, dragon kilns are
well-known for their huge capacity. In addition, within them the
temperature can rise and drop sharply and the flame can be
controlled.
A large number of black-covered pottery artifacts have been
unearthed. Excavation work is still going on at the site.
Besides the dragon kiln, archaeologists also found round and
ellipse ones. Their stratigraphic relations clearly show that the
development of kilns was from the round to the ellipse and then
onto the dragon type.
6. Western Zhou Dynasty Cemetery in Hengshui, Shanxi
Province
There are accounts of Huang Wei (pall) in the Confucian classic Li
Ji (The Book of Rites) written around 2,000 years ago. A cloth
covering a coffin, "Huang means the part of cloth on the coffin,
and Wei means what droops on its sides," the book explains.
"Thousands of years passed and what we found were actually
scarlet fragments blended with soil," said Song Jianzhong, deputy
director of the Institute of Archaeology of Shanxi Province. "With any faintest touch,
they would disintegrate."
Since late 2004 archaeologists unearthed 191 tombs of the Western
Zhou Dynasty (c.1100-c.771 BC) at Hengshui in Jiangxian County,
Shanxi Province. The excavation work brought to light information
on a small ancient state named Peng that had never been recorded in
historical documents.
Lying on a slope the tombs each have a 20-odd-meter-long sloping
pathway. Pengbo, Count of Peng State and his wife have the largest
tomb. The couple were buried side by side with a large quantity of
funeral objects including bronze ware and pottery. What's more, the
pall sought by generations of archaeologists was finally found in
the chamber of Pengbo's wife, who lay supine with hands crossed on
her stomach.
"This is the oldest, best preserved and largest tomb decoration
object discovered in China so far," Song said.
The pall unearthed in Hengshui must have been composed of two
pieces of silk cloth, embroidered with phoenix patterns, according
to Song. "With the stitching we found some marks of dislocated and
reversed patterns, implying that two pieces of cloth were joined
together after being embroidered," he said.
Archaeologists deduced that the pall, which covered the outer
coffin, was preserved by silt that was formed after a mixture of
soil and water had leaked in shortly after the burial. And the
original pall must have been up to two meters long with each piece
of cloth 80 centimeters wide.
They said that ancient Chinese considered the pall an imitation
of bed curtains as well as one of the tomb decorations that "kept
spirits from approaching the dead," according to some old reference
books.
Exhumed along with the pieces of the pall were bronzes that carry
inscriptions and indicate the existence of Peng, a previously
unknown state of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Among the 41 bronze
objects discovered in the two tombs were eight pieces of ding, an
ancient cooking vessel with two loop handles and three or four
legs. Probably the most significant bronze ware in history, ding
was a symbol of power and status in the Western Zhou Dynasty.
Interestingly, archaeologists found more pieces of ding in the
tomb of Pengbo's wife than in the husband's.
"It's quite rare in ancient China where males enjoyed higher
status than females," Li Boqian, director of the archaeological
research centre of Peking University, was quoted by Xinhua News
Agency as saying. He added that it was probably because the woman
was born into a family of higher prestige.
A series of 10 bronze chime bells, of great value in the study
of China's musical history, were also uncovered in the tombs.
7. Aristocratic Cemetery of the Zhou Dynasty in Liangdai
Village, Shaanxi Province
A three-month field investigation starting from April 2005 found a
total of 103 tombs including four grand graves with passages and 17
chariot pits in Liangdai Village of Hancheng City, Shaanxi Province. The following excavation
work produced a large number of funerary objects made of bronze,
jade and gold from three graves and one pit. Judging from the size,
shape and structure of the tombs as well as abundant funerary
objects, archaeologists determined that the cemetery, covering a
total area of 330,000 square meters, is for the burial of members
of the aristocracy of a kingdom dating back approximately 2,800
years from the late Western Zhou (c.1100-c.771 BC) to the early
Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 BC).
According to Jiao Nanfeng, director of the Institute of Archaeology
of Shaanxi Province, articles unearthed from the graves include
more than 600 pieces of bronze ware as well as numerous gold
vessels and lacquer ware, many with carved dragon patterns, a
symbol of rule in ancient China. The finds are considered to be
highly important for the continued research into the political and
economic systems and funeral customs of the Zhou Dynasty.
Liu Yunhui, deputy director of Shaanxi's bureau of cultural
heritage, stated that an application will be made for the site to
be designated under the sixth cluster of major historical and
cultural sites under state protection. The State Administration of
Cultural Heritage has approved the application and is awaiting the
nod of the State Council.
Sun Bingjun, head of the excavation team, said two of the grand
graves belong to a ruler and his wife who lived during the early
part of the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC).
More than 500 pieces of intricately carved jade were found in
the tomb of the wife of the ruler. These include jade jewelry
inlaid with precious stones and jade carvings of silkworms and
tortoises.
However, the finds seem to conflict with the Historical Records
written by Sima Qian of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 25), as
it says that the area where the newly-found ancient tombs are
located was the land of the State of Liang, said Chen Jiangfeng, an
expert with the Institute of Archaeology in Shaanxi.
"From the inscription on the bronze wares unearthed from his
grave we've learned that the ruler was Duke of Rui and the city now
known as Hancheng was the land of the State of Rui instead of
Liang," Chen said.
However, other archaeologists say the owners of the tombs cannot
be determined at present and more information is needed for
confirmation.
8. Mound Tombs in Jurong and Jintan, Jiangsu
Province
In Jurong and Jintan counties of Jiangsu Province, from April to September 2005
archaeologists excavated 40 mounds, 233 tombs and 229 sacrificial
pits dating back to the Zhou Dynasty (c.1100-256 BC), and produced
more than 3,800 burial articles.
"Mound tombs" have been largely found in southern Jiangsu,
southern Anhui, Zhejiang and Shanghai, all in the lower reaches of
the Yangtze River. They were so named after their first discovery
in Jurong in 1974. However, there has long been disagreement among
archaeologists about their structure.
The new discoveries show that under a mound there is either only
one or multiple tombs, and in most cases a burial pit was dug,
which is different from previous assumptions.
Another interesting finding was a pot of duck eggs pickled more
than 2,500 years ago. The pot was covered with a lid and sealed
with mud. So the eggs remained well preserved until they were
discovered!
9. Remains of Han Dynasty Courtyards at Sanyangzhuang,
Henan Province
The remains of a total nine courtyards of the late West Han Dynasty
(206 BC-AD 25) were first found in June 2003 along the ancient
course of the Yellow River in Sanyangzhuang Village of Neihuang
County, Henan Province.
Referred to as the "oriental Pompeii" when discovered,
archaeologists say the village was submerged more than 2,000 years
ago when the Yellow River burst its banks in a flood.
"The Sanyangzhuang site presents us with a vivid picture of Han
Dynasty society, especially of its vast countryside, which has not
been well recorded in literature," said Xu Pingfang, chairman of
the Chinese Society of Archaeology and an expert in the Han (206
BC-AD 220) and Tang Dynasty (618-907) archaeology.
Excavation work on four of the courtyards, starting from July
2003, has so far unearthed a wealth of relics including tiled
roofs, walls, wells, toilets, croplands and trees along with a
large number of artifacts that provide insights into social and
economic life of the time.
Like Pompeii the Sanyangzhuang Village was preserved intact. Life,
as it was, stood still and frozen in time. Round and flat tiles
were found in what is believed to be their original positions on
the roofs after walls had partially collapsed. So, too, were
articles for daily use such as stone and metal items and pottery
apparently abandoned by families trying desperately to escape the
flood.
In one courtyard excavation work revealed that the master room
was actually undergoing maintenance when the flood water arrived.
Unused flat tiles lay in heaps along with abandoned construction
materials.
Also excavated were areas of farmland on which crops had grown.
Experts say this provided first-hand material evidence for research
into agricultural systems and the economy of the Han Dynasty.
Farming methods adopted in the Western Han Dynasty greatly
influenced China's agricultural development of later
ages.
Some experts went as far as to suggest that the discovery of
ridged farmland at Sanyangzhuang could correct past assumptions on
farming culture in ancient China and even rewrite the country's
farming history.
They said the distribution of courtyards and the croplands
themselves have provided valuable evidence for studying the
structure of organizations and relationships between different
households in the Western Han Dynasty.
Flooding of the Yellow River has been regarded as one of the
major dangers throughout Chinese history. Discoveries at the
Sanyangzhuang ruins provided new information for studying the
hydrological history of the Yellow River basin, they said.
10. Tomb Murals of Northern Wei in Datong, Shanxi
Province
In July 2005 archaeologists unearthed 12 tombs of the Northern Wei
Dynasty (386-534) in Shaling Village of Dalong City, Shanxi Province. In one of the tombs
well-preserved murals were found, occupying a total area of 24
square meters.
The murals were painted in red, black and blue on all four walls
of the tomb and on a pathway leading to it. Inscriptions on a piece
of lacquer indicate that the tomb owner was a general's mother, a
Xianbei lady who died in 435.
The discovery has supplied rich first-hand evidence to assist
with the research of early ethnic dress and rituals, said Liu
Junxi, head of the Datong Institute of Archaeology.
The mural on the northern wall is divided into two parts by a
horizontal red line. The upper part depicts six exotic animals each
symbolizing a constellation, while the lower part has seven rows of
pictures. The first row portrays 19 well-dressed women. Under it is
a large picture of an ancient ceremonial outing. A number of horse
riders, musicians and soldiers carrying streamers and lances are
positioned around a canopied carriage in which sits a man.
Eight females and ten males are portrayed on the eastern wall.
In addition, a couple can be seen sitting in a large building in
the middle of the mural. Both of them, perhaps the tomb owners
themselves, wear big black hats indicating they belonged to a
minority group.
A total of 26 male images have been found on the southern wall,
on which a big banquet scene is painted, depicting various wine
vessels, food, carriages and singing girls. Two scenes showing
baking and brewing are also painted on this wall.
Images of soldiers wearing helmets and armor and of fairies are
painted on the western wall and the ceiling of the pathway
separately. "The soldiers are all in pairs, either in red clothes
or armor, holding swords in one hand and shields in the other," Liu
said. In sharp contrast with the menacing soldiers, the fairies
look more amiable. They're half human and half dragon, with
garlands on their heads.
The ancient artists outlined the murals first with red lines and
then sketched out the entire picture in black before finally using
colors to complete the work, according to Liu. She said the murals
could be a reflection of real life at the time or simply an
expression of the deceased's expectations of the after life.
(China.org.cn, July 5, 2006)
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