Chahai site

Chahai site

Chahai site is located on the sunny fan terrace 2.5km southwest of Chahai village, Shala Town, Fuxin Mongolian Autonomous County, Fuxin City, Liaoning Province

It is a human settlement site in the early Neolithic Age (10000-7000 BC), covering an area of 30000 square meters

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In 1982, Chahai site was discovered. From 1986 to 1994, seven formal excavations were carried out at Chahai site, including 55 house sites, 57 ash pits and pits, 13 tombs and a large number of pits and pits

A large number of pottery, stone tools, jade, pig bones, crop carbides and other kinds of cultural relics were unearthed, which have important value in humanities, science, history and academic research

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On November 20, 1996, Chahai site was announced as the fourth batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council of the people's Republic of China

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Historical evolution

Chahai site is a human settlement site in the early Neolithic Age (10000-7000 BC)

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In 1982, the Fuxin cultural relics survey team conducted a cultural relics survey around Chahai site, and the Chahai site was found

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From 1986 to 1994, Liaoning Provincial Institute of cultural relics and Archaeology conducted seven large-scale excavations of Chahai site

The excavation area is nearly 8000 square meters

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In 1993, the Institute of cultural relics and Archaeology of Liaoning Province excavated snake shaped pottery and Toad shaped pottery from Chahai site

A small number of carbonized plant specimens including charcoal, carbonized seeds and plant fruits were collected

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In 1994, a stone sculpture dragon was excavated above the cemetery in the settlement center of Chahai site

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Site features

Chahai site covers an area of 30000 square meters. It excavated 55 half cave houses, 13 tombs and 57 pits, including 23 indoor pits and 34 outdoor pits, some of which were used to store millet

The semi cavern type house site is directly cut on the granite gneiss, with the same direction, dense and orderly, arranged in rows, in a square round corner semi cavern type, and can be divided into three kinds of building structures: large, medium and small according to the use function

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Cultural relics

overview

Chahai site unearthed jade Jue, dagger shaped ware and other jade; stone; dragon shaped pottery, snake shaped pottery, drum belly pot and other pottery and stone pile plastic dragon and other kinds of cultural relics

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Jade article

Jades unearthed from Chahai site include jade rings and dagger shaped ones. The jades are tremolite nephrite, which is one of the earliest real jades in China

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Pottery

There are two pieces of pottery unearthed from Chahai site, including dragon pattern pottery, snake pattern pottery, toad pattern pottery, snake holding toad pottery pot, belly drum jar, and pottery cup. The snake holding toad pottery pot is made of a single toad embossed on one side, which is realistically shaped. The Toad ' The scales on the back of the snake and on both sides of the abdomen are short lines

 

There are more than 30 ceramic cups, mainly reddish brown and grayish brown, with different sizes. Some cups are inclined, some are straight, and others have a little radian. The caliber, bottom diameter and height are in proportion. The caliber is about 4.5cm-10cm, the bottom diameter is 3.5cm-6cm, and the height is 6cm-10cm. Most ceramic cups have herringbone pattern, short arc pattern and grid pattern on the surface For example, string pattern is made near the mouth, and fish scale arc pattern is made on the abdomen; belly drum jar is made with a special mouth opening, neck binding and shoulder showing

 

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Stone pile for Dragon

The stone sculpture dragon unearthed from Chahai site is made of reddish brown conglomerates of equal size, with a total length of 19.7 meters. The widest part of the dragon's head is about 2 meters. The shape of the dragon is in the shape of head raised, mouth opened, body bent and back arched

 

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Carbonized plant specimens

There are about 10 species of carbonized plant specimens including charcoal, carbonized seeds and plant fruits unearthed from Chahai site, including the endocarp of Prunus armeniaca, the endocarp of Juglans, the shell of hazelnut, seeds of leguminous plants, Setaria grandis, Setaria and Caryopsis of Digitaria. Most of them are edible wild plants. The species of carbonized plant specimens are mainly Quercus There are also birch, poplar, elm, Celtis and other broad-leaved tree species, which are the basic tree species in deciduous broad-leaved forest

 

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Research value

Chahai site is a Neolithic settlement site of primitive society with early age, complete preservation and rich cultural connotation in northern China. It fully demonstrates the ancient civilization that appeared in Fuxin area in the early Neolithic Age (10000-7000 years ago), and further proves that Fuxin area and Liaohe River Basin, like the Yellow River and Yangtze River basin, are one of the birthplaces of Chinese civilization

 

. The Shidui dragon unearthed from Chahai site is an earlier and larger dragon image in China, which provides important material for the study of the origin of Chinese dragon totem

 

. The charcoal, carbonized seeds and plant fruit specimens excavated from the Chahai site provide important evidence for the study of the ancient vegetation around the Chahai site and the way of human use of plants in the early Neolithic Age (10000-7000 BC), which has important academic research value

 

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protective measures

On November 20, 1996, Chahai site was announced as the fourth batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council of the people's Republic of China

 

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In 2014, the request for instructions on submitting the slope protection and fence protection project plan for some sites of Chahai site by Liaoning Provincial Bureau of cultural relics (No. 164 [2013] of Liaoning Provincial Bureau of cultural relics) was approved by the State Bureau of cultural relics, requiring scientific development of protection measures and clarification of site construction requirements

 

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Cultural construction

On September 4, 1992, the Chahai site museum built by Fuxin Municipal People's Government on the Chahai site officially opened. The museum is a frame structure, with a building area of 877 square meters and a height of 11 meters. It is composed of six half cavern human settlements. The wall is decorated with tree trunk shape and branch color. There are four exhibition halls for stoneware, pottery, etc. in it. It displays the jade, stone, pottery, etc. unearthed from the Chahai site Among the representative cultural relics, there are also dragon shaped rockfill and half cave house sites on display

 

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In 2016, Chahai site was named Liaoning patriotic education demonstration base

 

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On May 18, 2019, the international museum day of Fuxin Municipal Bureau of culture, tourism, radio and Television launched the International Museum Day activity. The Chahai culture exhibition of Chahai site museum was exhibited in the form of pictures and pictures, showing the historical features of Chahai site

 

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History and culture

Chahai culture

Chahai culture is one of the representatives of Neolithic culture in Liaohe River Basin. It was first discovered in Chahai site and got its name. Chahai culture is earlier than Hongshan culture

 

It is one of the sources of Hongshan culture

 

The Chahai site is located in the Liaohe River Basin and the early Neolithic Age (10000-7000 B.C.) with the Xinglongwa culture. The typical representatives of Chahai culture are jade culture and dragon culture, also known as jade dragon culture

 

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Visit information

geographical position

Chahai site is located on a gentle slope platform 2.5km southwest of Chahai village, Shala Town, Fuxin Mongolian Autonomous County, Fuxin City, Liaoning Province, with an altitude of 297m

 

It is 25 kilometers away from Fuxin city and 160 kilometers away from Shenyang

 

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traffic

Fuxin City - health Street - Zhonghua Road - 204 provincial road - Chahai site.

Address: Fuxin Mongolian Autonomous County, Fuxin City, Liaoning Province

Longitude: 121.777184

Latitude: 42.155673

Chinese PinYin : Cha Hai Yi Zhi