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NO.2325- Erlitou site New discovery
Author: Zhao Haitao
Map: Fruit / Proofreader: Chao Qian / Editor: Moth
*The author of this article is an associate researcher at Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the captain of the work team of Erlitou work team. According to historical records, Xia Dynasty is the first dynasty in Chinese history to "family world". However, this dynasty has only existed in the literature in the past, and lacks powerful archaeological achievements proves its existence.
"Historical Records·Xia Benzhi ", Southern Song Jian'an Huang Shanfu Family School Publication ▼
1959, the famous ancient historian Xu Xusheng discovered the Erlitou site in Yanshi, Henan. After more than 60 years of excavation, archaeologists discovered important cultural relics such as 's earliest urban road network , the earliest palace city , the earliest palace building complex , the earliest bronze ritual musical instrument group and other important cultural relics.
The Erlitou site is located in ▼
At present, the academic community generally believes that the Erlitou site is the earliest large capital of East Asia known to date Bronze Age . , represented by Erlitou site, is the earliest wide-area royal country in East Asia around 3750 to 3530 years ago. In terms of time start and end and spatial distribution, is very close to in historical documents, Xia Dynasty .
Bronze Jue
unearthed in 1975 at the Erlitou site is the earliest bronze container discovered in my country. ▼
On September 16 this year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration held a new progress work meeting on the major project of "Archaeology China" and reported on the new achievements of the archaeological excavation of the Erlitou site . Archaeologists discovered that roads and walls were planned as multiple square and regular functional areas, forming a grand pattern of multi-net formats, and establishing the basic framework for urban planning and layout. These new discoveries of provide important basis for studying the early national capital system of my country .
Erlitou Site and Erlitou Culture
In Archaeology , Erlitou Site and Erlitou Culture are two different concepts. The Erlitou ruins are located in Yanshi District, Luoyang City, Henan Province. They are located in the central part of the Luoyang Basin, the north bank of the Guyiluo River, the current Erlitou Village, and the platform with an area of about 3 square kilometers around.
Geographical location of Erlitou site▼
In the period of time, the date of 5,000 years, about 4,500 years, 3,750-3,530 years, and about 3,600-3,400 years, ancestors lived here one after another. Among them, the ancestors of , about 3750-3530 years ago created a series of achievements with the weather of , and the Erlitou site often referred to as the culture created by the ancestors of this era.
and Erlitou culture refers to a type of archaeological cultural relics represented by the culture created by the ancestors of the Erlitou site, about 3750-3530 years ago. It not only contains the culture of the Erlitou site, but also includes the cultural appearance of , which is reflected in hundreds of sites with the same cultural characteristics around the Erlitou site. In historical documents, the Heluo area is the center of Xia people's activities. Therefore, the Chinese academic community generally believes that is the capital ruins of the late Xia Dynasty.
Nowadays, we can see the style of Erlitou culture here
(Picture: Tuchuang Creative) ▼
In terms of time, Erlitou culture corresponds to Early Bronze Age . Judging from the stratigraphic burial order of the site, the Erlitou culture was later than the Longshan culture in the late Stone Age of New , and earlier than the Erlitou culture in the early Shang Dynasty of .
Hello, we both came from the Erlitou site ▼
In the space, Erlitou culture is mainly concentrated in West Henan , Henan Zhong , north to l5 Jinzhong , west to Shanzhou District , Danjiang Shangzhou area , south to northern Hubei , east to Kaifeng , Lankao lies in the area . This area is roughly equivalent to the territory of and of the Xia Dynasty.
Distribution area of Erlitou Cultural Site▼
In the summer of 1959, Mr. Xu Xusheng led an archaeological team to conduct an investigation of " Xiaxu "" in the central and western Henan Province and southern Shanxi Province. Before this, in 1953, archaeologists discovered a site in Yu Village next to Baisha Reservoir in Dengfeng City, Henan Province. This is the site found at the Erlitou culture , which was named in in 1960.
Subsequently, archaeologists discovered Erlitou, Yanshi, Gongyi, Shaochai, Dengfeng Wangchenggang , Meishan, Linru Town, Ruzhou, Dongxiafeng, Yuncheng Xia County, Shanxi, and many other similar Erlitou cultural sites in Yanshi, western Henan and southern Shanxi. Among them, because , Erlitou site in Yanshi, Henan, is the richest and typical, this type of culture is named after it.
This is the iconic jade artifact of Erlitou culture ( horizontal screen ) ▼
In the next 60 years, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) conducted dozens of excavations of the Erlitou site . confirmed that the existing area of the site is about 3 million square meters. It was the largest settlement of in China at that time. can be divided into a central area and a general activity area.
central area was found in China's earliest " well " shaped urban main road network, forming a grand pattern of " nine-grid " type . The space surrounded by the "well"-shaped road in belongs to the palace area with an area of nearly 110,000 square meters. Among them, there are the earliest large-scale "courtyard"-style palace complex with a central axis layout in China and the palace complex with multiple courtyards.
General floor plan of Erlitou site ▼
Official handicraft Workshop area and Sacrifice area are located on the south and north sides of the palace area respectively. There are copper casting workshops and turquoise tools and workshops found in the workshop area. The sacrificial area mainly includes round ground buildings and rectangular semi-crypted buildings and tombs attached to these buildings. A wall was found outside the palace area and the official workshop area.
Erlitou Ruins Palace District and Guanying Workshop Area ( horizontal screen ) ▼
Erlitou Ruins No large cemetery was found so far, but the layout of most tombs still presents the characteristics of relatively concentrated , partitions and fragments . Tombs that are concentrated and arranged in an orderly manner in the same tomb area should generally belong to the same family.
These archaeological discoveries prove that the Erlitou site was the earliest large capital of the Bronze Age in East Asia. is the key site of exploring the Xia and Shang dynasties. Erlitou culture is the earliest core culture and wide-area royal country in East Asia. shows that China at that time was gradually moving from diversified state civilization to integrated dynasty civilization.
New discoveries at Erlitou site
020 Autumn to the present, there are four main new discoveries in the archaeology of Erlitou site: First, we have newly discovered the road and its walls on both sides walls , which enriches the connotation of Erlitou Capital multi-net format layout. is convenient for writing. We use " Palace West Road "" to refer to the north-south main road on the west side of the palace area, and so on in other directions.
Central District Southwest Intersection▼
Newly discovered the doorway on Gongbei Road, the southeast corner of the fence in the area west of Gongcheng, near the right angle in the southeast corner, and the inner side was damaged more; Newly discovered Gongxi Road extends more than 200 meters north to the north, the width of the road is about 16 meters east-west, and there are long north-south strip rammed earth walls about 2 meters wide on both sides of the road. The rammed earth wall on the east side should be the fence of on the west side of the sacrificial area; the rammed earth wall on the west side should be the fence of the east side of the area west of the sacrificial area.
Roads and walls on the west side of the sacrificial area▼
In view of the west extension of Gongnan Road and Gongbei Road to the west, both exceeding the east-west width of the palace city (about 295 meters), and continue to extend westward, We speculate that there is at least one partition to the west of the workshop area, the palace area, and the sacrificial area, which corresponds to the southwest corner of the palace city, the northwest corner of the workshop area, and the corner of the fence of the two areas west of the palace city, the northwest corner of the palace city, the southwest corner of the sacrificial area wall, and the corner of the fence of the two areas west.
These newly discovered roads and walls divide the Erlitou capital into multiple square and regular grid areas, and the palace city ranks in the middle.
Plan diagram of Erlitou site▼
Second, we found aristocratic residential area , to the west of the sacrificial area , tomb area . 900 square meters of grid west of the sacrificial area of were newly excavated, revealing the medium-sized rammed earth foundation, tombs and multiple ash pits. The existing excavation has not yet found the boundary of the rammed earth foundation and its scope is being explored.
In addition, we also discovered a tomb with a bronze container buried with it, and for the first time, a joint tomb with multiple people buried and multiple tombs where the owners of tombs were amputated and beheaded .
This important new discovery provides important support for understanding the distribution of remains in this area and identifying that the area is for the residence of aristocrats and the burial areas.
Tombs buried abnormally on the west side of the sacrificial area▼
Third: Handicraft workshop New discoveries fill the gap in Erlitou urban layout and handicraft archaeology.
. Larger and richer pottery making were found west of the sacrificial area and northwest of the site. includes pottery kiln , mud storage pits, mud blanks, burning soil, slag, deformed pottery, a large number of broken pottery pieces, as well as pottery mats, and trimming tools. covers all processes of pottery making technology. According to the excavated remains and the drilling situation nearby, there may be a large pottery workshop here. This is the first time that a richer pottery remains were discovered at the Erlitou site.The pottery kiln was found in the northwest of the ruins of
The pottery toad as a sacrificial instrument (picture: Tuchuang Creative) ▼
We also found nearly 100 square meters of bones , , , , , , , , . A large number of bones and keratinous relics are scattered on the surface of , including animal limb bones, ribs, cow horns, deer antlers, etc. Among the bone and keratin relics, there are many traces of being hitting , cutting , grinding . has raw materials, semi-finished products and waste materials, as well as finished products such as cones, horns, hairpins, etc., including relics from multiple links in the processing of bone and horn devices.
The location of the newly discovered bone and horn tooling workshop▼
Bone and horn tooling workshop▼
In addition, we have also discovered new remains that may be related to lacquerware processing . In 2021, more than 800 pottery pieces with red paint were unearthed in the western excavation area of the northern edge of Erlitou Metropolitan. Nearly 200 pieces were unearthed in one of the ash pits. These lacquered pottery pieces are mostly fragments of pottery basins, and some fragments are mostly red painted inside and outside walls and broken stubble, which may be containers containing paint liquid.
lacquered pottery slices in the western section of the northern edge of the Erlitou site ▼
. We cleaned up a tomb of high-standard in the laboratory. was found and a high-standard tomb was furnished in the basement of No. 5, Erlitou Ruins Palace District. Many pottery, lacquerware, , jade cicada shapeware, turquoise cicada shapeware, multiple groups of turquoise beads, painted pottery and other objects have been cleaned up.
cicada-shaped jade was unearthed in the middle of the tomb, nearly 4 cm long. It is similar to the Xiaojia Rou Ji culture jade cicada unearthed from the Xiaojia Rou Ji site in Tianmen City, Hubei Province, and may be related to the influence of this culture. Some experts speculate that the jade cicada may be related to the ancients' belief that insects " metamorphosis " and " eeding " are convenient for communication with the belief of gods.
On: 2017 V M11 Tomb Top View
Lower left: Unearthed pottery; lower right: Unearthed cicada-shaped jade ▼
In addition, more turquoise inlays have been seen in this tomb. We speculate that there will be large turquoise inlays in this tomb.
What is the significance of the new discovery of the Erlitou site in 1984? The roads and walls in the central area of Erlitou Capital divide the entire capital into multiple square and regular grid areas. shows that Erlitou Capital has a strict , clear planning. Palace District is located in the core, showing the supremacy of the royal power and the high concentration of the center of power. General floor plan of Erlitou site ▼
sacrificial area, official workshop area, noble residential area and tomb area, and other important areas are surrounded by the palace area. includes the outside of multiple areas including palace area and workshop area, and is also separated by walls and protected. Over the years, buildings and tombs of different levels have been found in multiple grids, and each grid should be lived by different people. indicates that Erlitou Capital City is likely to have partitions and , peripheral wall , , residential and burial layouts combined with .
with strict, clear and regular planning layout, shows that the social structure of was obvious at that time, and the hierarchy was orderly, and ruling pattern orderly , implying that there was a mature and developed ruling system and model at that time, which was the most important symbol of entering the dynasty country .
Yazhang With the expansion of Erlitou culture,
radiates the influence of the royal ritual system to southern China and a wider area▼
3 resident and burial structure, in Yanshi Mall, Zhengzhou Mall, Anyang Yinxu, Baoji Similar discoveries were found in the settlements of the Yin people in Zhouyuan. showed that this system was continued by Shang and Zhou dynasties , reflecting the pioneering status of Erlitou culture and Erlitou Kingdom in Chinese history , and and led the way for Shang and Zhou civilizations .
This layout of Erlitou capital also provides a useful reference for exploring the layout and structure of other capital sites in the pre-Qin period .
Some cultural relics unearthed in recent years from the Erlitou site▼
west of the sacrificial area has enriched the connotation of Erlitou capital . Among them, rammed earth buildings and noble tombs appear together, indicating that the area is a noble residential area and a tomb area, and the residential area and burial area are in the same place.
Mass burials of multiple people and tomb owners being beheaded and amputated, etc. abnormal tomb found in this area, shows that there were many violent behaviors at that time. These tombs are buried with pottery, indicating that the tomb owner is not the lowest-status group; they are in the same area as rammed earth buildings and aristocratic tombs with bronze containers buried with them, and are not far away. indicates that the population in this area includes aristocrats and civilians.
The layout and diachronic changes in this area, its own characteristics, the differences and connections with other areas, etc. needs to be explored.
Archaeological excavation site of Erlitou site▼
In the past, fewer pottery relics were found in Erlitou capital, and only a few pottery mats and more than ten pottery kilns were found. However, these pottery kilns belonged to the three periods of , and were relatively scattered, and did not form a concentrated distribution group of pottery kilns. The remains related to pottery making were found west of the sacrificial area. With the progress of future excavation and research, will help understand and explore the distribution of pottery making workshops in Erlitou site, the operational process and process of pottery making handicrafts, social relations and social division of labor. The tombs cleaned by the laboratory are closer to the middle of the palace area than the tomb No. 3 unearthed turquoise dragon shape , and are better preserved than the tomb No. 3, with a slightly larger scale, and are among the first-level tombs of .
turquoise dragon-shaped ware unearthed in 2002 ( horizontal screen ) ▼
The variety, specifications and quantity of burials have been cleared in the tombs. In addition to the accumulation that has not been cleaned down below, the total thickness of burial objects exceeds all burial found in the past, and is very likely to be the richest burial objects found so far at the Erlitou site.
These discoveries are of great value for exploring the burial system, etiquette concept, craft level, and ruling system of Erlitou culture.
Reference materials:
. Zhao Haitao and Xu Hong "Archaeological Chinese Summer Culture Research Project: Erlitou Site in Luoyang City, Henan Province"
html l3. Zhao Haitao and Xu Hong "The Core and Leader of the General Process of Chinese Civilization: The Historical Location of Erlitou Culture", "Southern Cultural Relics" Issue 02, 2019
. The multi-net format layout of Erlitou site discovery: providing an important basis for the study of the early national capital system
http://www.henan.gov.cn/2022/09-26/2613417.html
*The unmarked source pictures in the article are provided by the author. Some cultural relics photos are from Shandong University Learned from Professor Deng Cong's photo shoot, hereby acknowledgement to
*The content of this article is provided by the author and does not represent the position of the Earth Knowledge Bureau
Cover: Zhao Haitao
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