In what has become an annual event under the auspices of the
State Cultural Relics Bureau, archaeologists from the Institute of
Archaeology under Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Peking
University, the Institute of Palaeo-vertebratology and
Palaeoanthropology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the
National Museum of Chinese History, the Palace Museum and the
Institute of Cultural Relics selected the top ten archaeological
discoveries from among 460 excavations. In rough chronological
order, those selected were:
1. The Palaeolithic Site in Yujiagou,
Nihewan Basin, Yangyuan County, Hebei Province.
This site, which incorporates ten Paleolithic deposits in the heart
of the Nihewan basin, located about 160 km west of Beijing,
documents the transformation from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic
in northern China. The most significant find was the identification
of a continuous stratigraphic sequence of cultural remains at one
deposit. The remains are dated from roughly the end of the
Pleistocene to the mid-Holocene, i.e., from 6,000 to 600,000 years
BP. In the lower part of the site are layers containing stoneware
created between 8,000 and 14,000 years BP. Artifacts include stone
microliths, hand-made ornaments, wedge-shaped cores, micro-blade
cores, points and adzes. Scientists estimate that the
yellowish-brown shards of the primitive earthenwares found at the
site are around 10,000 years old. The upper part of the site, which
has been dated to 5,000 to 8,000 years BP contains Neolithic
artifacts.
2. A Neolithic Sacrificial Altar and
Cemetery at Lingjiatan, Hanshan County, Anhui
Province.
The remains of an ancient sacrificial altar, with characteristic
red-burnt soil, together with 44 tombs, were uncovered by
archaeologists during the excavation of 1,775 square meters at this
site. The altar covers an area of 600 square meters and is roughly
rectangular in shape with rounded corners. It was paved with a
layer of pebbles and clay. Twenty-seven tombs housing stone
implements were located on the western and southern edges of the
altar, while the other 16 tombs were on the altar itself. Pottery
funerary objects were also discovered. The most valuable finds are
three large tombs at the southernmost tip of the altar, which
contained a large number of jade artifacts in the shape of human
figures, dragons, eagles, horns, discs, spades and
huang.
Carved in shallow bas-relief, the human figures are regarded as the
earliest Neolithic figurines of their type found in China. The
discovery of a whetstone at the site was also a first, and provided
new information on jade production technology. The Lingjiatan jades
demonstrate unprecedented hole-drilling techniques.
3. The Neolithic Site at Sanxingcun,
Jintan County, Jiangsu Province.
 |
This is an extensive and well-preserved Neolithic settlement site.
Of the total area of nearly 100,00 square meters only 640 square
meters have been excavated. More than 1,000 tombs, 55 garbage pits
and four living floors were discovered. Surrounding the latter
areas were hearths containing carbonized remains of cultivated
rice. The tombs are oriented towards the north-east and were found
with five or six funeral articles, mostly earthen pots. The tomb
pits are small and contain only a single corpse in a supine
extended position. There are also double burials and prone burials
at the site. The skeletons are well-preserved. The great majority
of the 4,000 artifacts found at this site were exquisitely made
from bone, teeth, antlers, jade and clam shells. Among the finds
are an unusual engraved plate, which is believed to have served a
religious or shamanistic function, a ritual or heraldic stone axe,
and an engraved pottery
dou that is thought to be the
earliest example of such a vessel found to date. The discovery of
the site is significant for determining the origins of the
Neolithic in the lower Yangtze River.
4. The Zhongba Site in Zhongxian
County, Sichuan Province.
This site is valuable for revealing a sequence from the late
Neolithic to the Xia and Shang dynasties in the Three Gorges area
of Sichuan. The excavated area of 1,900 square meters has
overlapping layers of Sanxingdui culture, earlier Laoguantai
culture and Shaopengzui culture. For the first time, archaeologists
discovered a cluster of 48 residential remains in the form of
ground-based structures from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. In addition,
23 tombs built around the same time and five "dragon kilns" of the
Han Dynasty were discovered. The kilns were relatively intact, and
are the earliest examples of their type found in Sichuan.
5. The Xiajiadian Lower Layer Culture
Stone City Site at Kangjiatun, Beipiao City, Liaoning
Province.
This fortress site is important since it represents the first
large-scale excavation of a Xiajiadian culture site. The Kangjiatun
site covers 15,000 square meters, including the eastern and
southern sections of the city wall measuring 180 meters in length,
a city gate and two sections of the city moat. In the western part
of the walled urban area were 14 stone henges built at different
times and 19 dwelling foundations. More than 1,000 ceramic, stone
and bone artifacts were unearthed at the site. The city was
surrounded by a city wall, watchtowers and a buttress-like
structure. Within the city walls, 17 stone fences divided the urban
area into several compounds or neighborhoods, and in the center of
each stood a circular structure.
6. The Yinshan Mausoleum of the King of the Yue State in
Lanting Township, Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province.
This royal tomb or mausoleum was excavated by archaeologists from
September 1996 to April 1998. The mausoleum is covered by a huge
tumulus covering an area of more than 100,000 square meters,
beneath which are timber structures, consisting of a front chamber,
main chamber and rear chamber in addition to a long, broad sloping
passageway leading to the outside. Forty-six meters in length, the
passageway ends at the bottom of a 14-meter-long rectangular shaft
pit which was excavated from the rock. The outer coffin was found
in the main central chamber. All three chambers have pitched roofs
propped up by extremely large wooden beams and cross sections. The
6.04-meter-long coffin, which was fashioned like a dugout canoe
from a single tree trunk, was suspended in mid-air. Such a form of
burial had never previously been discovered in China.
7. The Lijiaba Site in Yunyang County,
Sichuan Province.
At this well preserved site archaeologists found 80 garbage pits
dating from the Shang, Zhou and Ming periods. Six ancient dwellings
are believed to have been built from the 5th century BC to the 6th
century AD. The most important finds were 46 tombs dating from the
Warring States to the Western Han Dynasty. These included
sacrificial burials. A number of exquisite funeral objects were
recovered from the tombs which had distinctive features of the Shu
and Ba peoples.
8. The Eastern Han Granary in
Yandongcun, Xin'an County, Henan Province.
Threatened by the waters of the Xiaolangdi Reservoir, this site
covers nearly 6,000 square meters and includes the rectangular
remains of what is believed to have been a warehouse of the Eastern
Han Dynasty. The warehouse covers an area measuring 179 meters by
29 meters.
9. The Six Dynasties Clan Cemeteries in
the Suburbs of Nanjing, Jiangsu Province.
This excavation opened up six tombs belonging to noble families of
the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420) located in the southern suburbs
of Nanjing. The first three tombs belong to Gao Song, a powerful
minister, while the other three belong to members of the powerful
Wang clan. All six tombs were made of brick masonry. In each tomb
chamber, archaeologists unearthed a brick coffin bed, lamp stands
and candle niches, false windows and other fixtures. Most tombs
consisted of a single chamber in a rectangular pit attached to a
passageway. The finds from the Gao clan tombs are diverse and of
exquisite workmanship. They include silver, copper, iron, jadeite,
lacquer and ceramic objects, complete sets of jade pendants, jade
sword handles and golden ornaments. A set of decorated jade swords
and two sets of jade ornaments bound around the waist of the corpse
were intact.
10. The Yue Kiln at the
Shanglinhu-Silongkou Site in Silongcun, Cixi City, Zhejiang
Province.
This excavated "dragon kiln" was in use from the Tang to the early
Southern Song and is located at the Yueyao kiln site in Cixi,
Zhejiang. The remains of a furnace and potters' workshop were the
first such discoveries in the Yueyao kiln system south of the
Yangtze River. Sky blue and moon white glazed porcelains were
unearthed, including goblets, flasks, flower pots, jugs and
pear-shaped vases. They feature a smooth and semi-transparent
glazed surface. These pieces are believed to have been made in the
Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) and they have similarities with
products of the official kilns in northern China of the time. One
pot bears the mark "
Guan", meaning official kiln.
(China.org.cn)
