The origin of China's 8,000-year history —— Where is the first village in China?

Speaking of Aohan Banner in Chifeng City, many people may feel strange, but almost everyone in the archaeological community at home and abroad knows it. Because it is the first village in China that excites archaeologists at home and abroad. With the strong support of the Party Committee and Government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and relevant parties in Chifeng City, yang hu, Liu Guoxiang and other archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences have made unremitting efforts for more than 10 years, and excavated the Xinglongwa settlement site in Aohan Banner.

This is a village 8000 years ago. Archaeological discoveries here pushed the history of China civilization forward for 3000 years, and established the history of China civilization for 8000 years, which caused a sensation at home and abroad.

Why is it called the first village in China?

Liu Guoxiang, an associate researcher at the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said: 1983 ~ 1993, the Xinglongwa site in Aohan Banner has undergone seven large-scale archaeological excavations, revealing a total area of over 30,000 square meters, clearing out 170 semi-basement houses in different periods, over 400 caves and over 30 bedroom tombs, and unearthed a large number of pottery.

By measuring the carbon 14 age of charcoal samples unearthed from the residence, it is concluded that the village is about 8000 years ago. This is the only original village in China that has been completely excavated and preserved. Xinglongwa site is called the first village in China because of its comprehensive excavation, the most complete preservation and the oldest age.

In particular, through nearly 30 years of archaeological investigation, it is confirmed that there are more than 4,000 sites from Neolithic to Bronze Age in Aohan Banner, accounting for about 1/6 of the total number of ancient sites in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Aohan Banner Museum has a collection of more than 3,800 cultural relics. Up to now, among the 1268 national cultural relics protection units announced by the State Council, the sites of Xinglongwa, Dadianzi and Chengzishan in Aohan Banner are among them. The officially named prehistoric archaeological cultures in China include Xiaohe West Culture, Xinglongwa Culture Culture, Zhaobaogou Culture and Xiaoheyan Culture. There are four different archaeological cultural names in the same flag county, which is unique in China.

Su, the former chairman of the Archaeological Society of China, pointed out in his book A New Probe into the Origin of China Civilization that the social development reflected by the Xinglongwa site in Chifeng City has reached a turning point in the evolution of clan society to the state, with the origin of civilization exceeding ten thousand years and the social differentiation earlier than that in the Central Plains.

China's first village, six wonders.

1. The houses in the first-phase settlement of Xinglongwa Site are all distributed in rows and orderly. The largest two houses each occupy an area of140m2 and are located side by side in the center of the settlement. Surrounded by an oval moat, this residential area is the most complete primitive village in China and a miracle in the 8000-year architectural history of China. Secondly, the bedroom tombs found here are the most peculiar burial customs in prehistoric times in China. The phenomenon of human-pig co-burial found here is the first case in the excavation of Neolithic sites in China. Thirdly, the jade unearthed here is the earliest polished real jade in China, and it is the most valuable material to explore the origin of Chinese jade culture. Fourthly, the mussel skirt around the tomb owner's waist unearthed here is the most complete dress data in prehistoric times in China. Fifth, the complete bone flute unearthed here is the earliest musical instrument in Northeast China. Sixth, in the Neolithic archaeological excavations in China, the number of animal bones unearthed here is the largest, which is an empirical study of the hunting activities of ancestors in Xinglongwa. The excavation of Xinglongwa site unveiled the mystery of an ancient kingdom that had been buried for a long time.

High humanistic and academic value.

Liu Guoxiang, an associate researcher at the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, thinks: First of all, Xinglongwa site is the named place of Xinglongwa Culture, and it is the most complete primitive village excavated and preserved in China at present, which is of great academic value to our understanding of primitive social history. Secondly, a very strange burial custom site of bedroom was unearthed at Xinglongwa site, which provided valuable information for studying the burial custom of ancient humans. Thirdly, the earliest jades and jades unearthed in China are the oldest earrings in the world, which provides us with an empirical study on the origin of Chinese jade culture. Fourthly, at present, the most complete mussel skirt dress in China has been unearthed at the Xinglongwa site, which is also rare in the world. Through the multi-angle analysis of the data unearthed from Xinglongwa site, we can confirm the process of civilization in this area and its academic position in Northeast Asia, and determine the historical position of Neolithic culture in this area and the Yellow River basin, which provides historical evidence for the theory of pluralistic unity of human origin.

Brilliant Aohan ancient culture

Aohan Banner is an ancient and magical place. Its ancient culture has a long history, rich connotation, clear development track and no faults. Several types of cultures, such as Xiaohexi culture, Xinglongwa Culture, Zhaojiagou culture and Xiaoheyan culture, have been named successively by the archaeological community, which not only filled the blank of archaeological chronology in northern China, but also established the coordinates of the four major archaeological cultures, and advanced the Neolithic archaeological culture in this area by more than 3,000 years.

The Xinglongwa Culture here shows that as early as 8,000 years ago, there were primitive human villages here; The Zhaojiagou culture produced here shows that as early as 7,000 years ago, human beings changed from slash-and-burn farming to primitive agriculture. Many Hongshan Culture relics found here, such as straw hats, stone piers and pottery women in Xinglong Valley, show that as early as five or six thousand years ago, human beings entered the early primitive state of the city-state; The Xiaoheyan culture here shows that as early as four or five thousand years ago, the primitive culture of the same period appeared, which is closely related to the Central Plains and even the Yangtze River basin. The lower cultural sites of Xiajiadian, such as Dadianzi and Chengzishan, found here show that as early as three or four thousand years ago, there was a hierarchical social system and bronze age civilization as developed as the Central Plains. The upper cultural sites of Xiajiadian, such as Zhoujiadi Shanwanzi, found here show that as early as two or three thousand years ago, the ancestors here had mastered mature bronze mining and smelting and casting technology; The two Yan Great Walls in the middle of Aohan Banner show that it was once the territory of Yan State during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and it has been the residence of nomadic people in northern Mu Zhi since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, there began to be accurate historical records here. As some experts said: To understand China culture, we must understand China northern culture. To understand the northern culture of China, we must understand the ancient culture of Aohan Banner.

There is more than one village in China.

At about 13km northwest of Xinglongwa site, archaeologists excavated the largest Xinglongwa Culture Phase II settlement site, with a total area of about 50,000 square meters, distributed on the hillside southwest of Xinglongwa village.

The Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences conducted two large-scale excavations on the site, with an exposed area of 1.800 square meters. 1 Xinglongwa Culture house, 18 bedroom tomb and 12 ash pit were cleared, and a number of cultural relics and animals with typical characteristics such as pottery, stone tools, bones, jade and mussels were unearthed.

The houses excavated in Xinglong Wa site are all rectangular semi-crypt buildings, and the crypt is dug directly on pale yellow raw soil, and the houses are arranged very neatly. There are more than 150 buildings on the surface, all of which are arranged in the northeast-southwest direction, with regular layout and clearly divided into three areas: east, middle and west. Rectangular or square soil ripening platforms are stacked at the four corners of the site of Building 5, and the indoor plane is zigzag; An arc tunnel entrance was found in the northwest corner of room 13. Adults can climb out of the tunnel. The "Asian" shaped houses and the entrances and exits of back channels were first discovered in prehistoric houses in Northeast China. From the characteristics of unearthed cultural relics, there is no obvious age difference between the unearthed houses in the eastern and central regions, and the settlement layout is inferred to be built at one time after unified planning. At that time, there were such magnificent and uniform villages, which showed that the history of Chinese civilization would last from 8000 years to longer.

Archaeologists also found that the ancestors living in the village also had different grades during the excavation of the site. The owner of room 22 is obviously a nobleman. Not only is the house site the most intact, but also the most unearthed relics, which have the most archaeological value: in addition to the four pillar holes symmetrically arranged on both sides of the kitchen site, two pillars were found in the cave walls on both sides of the house. This latest discovery is valuable information for studying the settlement layout and architectural technology at that time. The unearthed three jade ornaments are the earliest real jade articles in China, which pushed the era of enjoying and using jade articles in China to the middle of Neolithic Age. The moth shell unearthed in this site is the first seashell found in Xinglongwa site, and it is the physical evidence of direct or indirect communication between ancestors of Xinglongwa and ancestors of coastal areas. There are more than 20 sets of pottery standing or buckled at the house site, and two large millstones and sticks have been unearthed, which is helpful to restore the indoor space layout and life scene at that time; Four human bones were found in the northwest corner of residential area. In Xinglongwa Culture, the custom of burying many dead people in residential areas was first discovered. Through DNA testing, we can know the family structure of people at that time. In addition, four animal skulls with a hole in the center of the forehead, two human skull patches and 1 triangular stone ornaments inlaid with mussels were found in Room 22, which are important materials and evidence for studying the primitive religious beliefs of ancestors 8,000 years ago.

In recent years, Aohan Banner has also discovered the Jishizhong Group and Chengzishan Sacrificial Site Group in Caomao Mountain, which belong to the lower culture of Hongshan Culture about 5,000 years ago and Xiajiadian about 4,000 years ago respectively. A rare stone statue of Hongshan Culture was found in Caomaoshan site, and a giant stone statue of pig was found in Chengzishan site, both of which are stone treasures in China's prehistoric art treasure house.

Why is the Shi Jing site buried underground again?

Aohan Banner's splendid ancient culture has attracted many domestic and foreign scholars and tourists.

In recent years, experts and scholars from the United States, Japan, Russia, France, Australia, South Korea, Britain, Germany, Israel, Hungary and other countries have attached great importance to Xinglongwa Culture and visited the Xinglongwa site many times.

Since 2000, nearly 100 Japanese friends from all walks of life, chartered flight, have visited Xinglongwa site every year. Xinglongwa Site was also rated as the most important archaeological discovery in 1992, one of the top ten archaeological discoveries in China during the Eighth Five-Year Plan period and one of the top 100 archaeological discoveries in China in the 20th century, and was listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit.

Unfortunately, because Aohan Banner is a national key poverty alleviation county and lacks the economic strength for development and construction, the excavated Xinglongwa site has been reburied for protection.

At the first annual meeting of Aohan Huaxia First Village Education Promotion Association held recently, some experts and scholars from archaeology, culture, education and economic circles called for the protection, development and utilization of the cultural resources of Huaxia First Village. We believe that with the smooth progress of the site protection project, the ancient culture contained in Xinglongwa site will eventually be presented to the world.