New Cultural Relic Unearthed

After a three-month excavation, archaeologists have discovered new data for their Qijia Culture research in the Lajia Ruins, located in Minhe County in northwest China's Qinghai Province.

According to a source at the Qinghai Institute of Archaeology, another six houses, some skeletons, a number of pieces of pottery and jade, and a fireplace were unearthed this time.

The well preserved fireplace is partitioned in the middle by a stone plate. The lower part held the fire, while food was cooked on the upper part.

New Evidence Valuable for Studies

The archaeologists also discovered numbers of red earth layers and sandstone layers, evidence that the Ruins were once inundated.

The Lajia Ruins also reveal traces of other natural disasters, including earthquakes, which are valuable for research into the prehistoric climate.

Ye Maolin, a deputy researcher fellow with the Institute of Archaeology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the new discoveries in the Lajia Ruins have inestimable value for research into China's 4000-year-old civilization and ancient environment.

Records show that the Qijia Culture flourished in the transition period from the Neolithic Age to the Bronze Age, some 3,500 to 4,000 years ago.

Lajia Ruins

A rectangular stone musical instrument, confirmed to be a type of percussion instrument used in ancient China, was unearthed at the site of Qijia Culture in Qinghai Province, northwest China.

Archaeologists said that this is the first such instrument ever found in the history of Chinese archaeology.

The finely-cut and well-polished instrument, 96 cm long and 66 cm wide, is dark blue and still produces a loud, clear sound. A number of jade articles used in primitive religious rituals were found at the site, as well as a city moat which is dozens meters wide and five meters deep, experts said.

Experts estimated that the ruins cover an area of 200,000 to 300,000 sq m.

( November 20, 2001)