Ten Archaeological Sites Newly Discovered in Weining, Guizhou in 2005

Excavation location: the junction of Weizhong County, Guizhou Province and Zhaotong City, Yunnan Province.

Excavation unit: Guizhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.

Person in charge of excavation: Zhang Herong, Zhongshui is located at the junction of Weizhong County, Guizhou Province and Zhaotong City, Yunnan Province. The excavation sites are all located on the slopes and ridges on both sides of the river in Zhongshui Basin, including Wujia Daping, Fruit Station, Jigongshan, Yingpanshan, Xinjie and other cemeteries. The exposed area is nearly 3,000 square meters, more than 200 sacrificial pits, tombs, ash pits, houses and ditches have been cleared, and a large number of cultural relics such as pottery, stone tools, bone implements, jade articles and bronzes have been unearthed.

The excavation of the prehistoric site group of Zhongshui, represented by Jigongshan site, has enabled Guizhou to discover the prehistoric settlement sites in mountainous areas with comprehensive functions for the first time, filling many gaps in Guizhou's prehistoric archaeology. Although there is no direct relationship between these ancient cultural relics, according to pottery, we can see that they are both time-related and interrelated. The exposure of these cultural types in different periods can initially establish a series of archaeological cultural development in western Guizhou and even northeastern Yunnan from the end of Neolithic Age to the early Iron Age.

Interestingly, archaeologists also found a large number of rice specimens in Jigongshan site. According to Zhang Herong, an associate researcher at the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Guizhou Province, more than 80% of the more than 300 pits excavated at Jigongshan site have rice grains unearthed, and these rice grains are stored in two ways, one is tied together in the form of straw, and the other is burned when the rice is cooked into rice balls. In addition, archaeologists also found that these rice grains are short, fat and particularly short. It is shorter than japonica rice planted in rice fields, and japonica rice itself is shorter than other rice varieties. This kind of rice is shorter than japonica rice, unlike paddy field, which experts think is probably upland rice; Experts believe that another possibility is that this rice has mutated in the environment of Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. But there is no definite answer to the exact statement of this kind of rice.

The discovery of Jigongshan site not only fills the gap in archaeology and settlement archaeology in Guizhou from the end of Neolithic Age to the early Bronze Age, but also provides a typical combination of artifacts for studying a new archaeological culture distributed in northwest Guizhou and northeast Yunnan, and provides important information for exploring Guizhou and perfecting the development sequence of archaeological culture in southwest China.

In addition, the discovery of so many sacrificial pits in Jigongshan site is the first time among the prehistoric cultural relics in southwest China. The discovery of the peak site with sacrificial function in Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau provides important information for studying the primitive sacrificial activities of prehistoric mountain nationalities in southwest China. Hongyingpan and Yinzitan cemeteries are close to each other, but there are great differences in artifacts, burial customs and burial system, which provides important information for discussing the residents in this area at that time. Judging from the bronze weapons in two cemeteries, the local culture was influenced by Bashu culture and Yunnan culture respectively, which provided new information for the relationship between northwest Guizhou and Ba, Shu and Yunnan in different periods.