Dingcun site

Dingcun site

Dingcun site is located on the Bank of Fenhe River near Dingcun, 4 km away from Xiangfen County, Linfen City, Shanxi Province. It is 35 km away from Linfen City, starting from Shicun in the north and reaching chaizhuang in the south, with a length of about 11 km

It is a Paleolithic site containing ancient human fossils

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Dingcun site, discovered in 1953, is the first large-scale Paleolithic site found outside Zhoukoudian, Beijing, after the founding of new China. It has attracted much attention because of the discovery of Dingcun man, which is between Peking man and modern man

. In 2015, Shanxi Provincial Institute of archaeology excavated more than 50 Paleolithic and fossil sites at Dingcun site, including jiulongdong site, guoshuidong site and laohupo site

In the jiulongdong site, the stone tools making site buried in situ in the Dingcun site group was found; in the guoshuidong site, the remains of human use of fire 300000 years ago were found; in the laohupo site, the remains of human activities 100000 years ago were found

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On March 4, 1961, Dingcun site was announced by the State Council of the people's Republic of China as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units

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Historical evolution

The jiulongdong site of Dingcun site is a stone making field buried in situ. It is a processing plant for stone tools made by Dingcun people 170000 years ago

The guoshuidong site was formed about 200000 to 300000 years ago, and the laohupo site was formed about 100000 years ago

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In 1953, the Dingcun site was discovered in the sand excavation project

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In 1954, the Institute of Archaeology of Shanxi province carried out the first archaeological excavation of Dingcun site

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In 1976, the Institute of Archaeology of Shanxi province carried out the second archaeological excavation of Dingcun site

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Since 2013, Shanxi Provincial Institute of archaeology has carried out the third archaeological excavation of Dingcun site

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From 2014 to April 2015, more than 50 Paleolithic and fossil sites were found in the area from ta'ershan to Fenhe loess tableland to the east of Fenhe River

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Since April 2015, Shanxi Provincial Institute of archaeology has carried out archaeological excavation on the Jiulong cave site, Guoshui cave site and laohupo site among more than 50 sites in the Piedmont loess plateau area, which is the transition from Ta'er mountain to Fen River Valley on the east side of Dingcun site

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Site features

The Dingcun site is 11 kilometers long from north to South and 5 kilometers wide from east to west

. The cultural layer of the jiulongdong site at Dingcun site is formed by the alternating superimposition of five Valley diluvial deposits and soil like deposits, which is about 7 meters thick. There are many areas where stone artifacts can be assembled

. The excavation of the jiulongdong site is divided into two areas: Area A and area B. in the 6-meter thick earth like deposit in the north of area a, there are stone artifacts in each horizontal layer (5 cm), and there are at least three areas with dense distribution of stone artifacts from top to bottom

. Dingcun site has three sets of Paleolithic cultural layers ranging from 200000 to 20000 years. It, together with Xihoudu site, kekehe site, Xujiayao site, Xiachuan site, Nihewan site group and Zhoukoudian site, constitutes the cultural sequence of old stoneware in northern China

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Cultural relics

In 1954, three human teeth fossils were found at Dingcun site

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In 1976, the right parietal bone of Xiaoer was found in Dingcun site

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In 2014, another ancient human occipital bone fossil was found in the south of Dingcun site (Shigou village, Nanjia Town, Xiangfen County). Researchers from Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanxi Provincial Institute of archaeology, Dingcun archaeological workstation, and Xiangfen County Museum jointly excavated Shigou village, the discovery site of ancient human occipital bone fossil, with a total of earth rock products and animal products There are more than 1400 fossil specimens

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In 2015, Shanxi Provincial Institute of archaeology excavated the jiulongdong site, guoshuidong site and laohupo site of Dingcun site. The excavation area of jiulongdong site is 35 square meters, which is divided into two areas: A and B. more than 2000 pieces of earth and stone products were produced, especially in area B, where the same layer is less than 9 square meters, two sites where ancient humans made stone tools were found, with more than 100 pieces of stone distributed At the guoshuidong site, archaeologists have found abundant animal fossils, stone products, carbon chips and red burnt earth blocks, which were formed between 200000 and 300000 years ago. According to the animal fossils found, most of them are small herbivorous limb bones, vertebrae, etc.; the tiger slope site, with an excavation area of 50 square meters, is composed of Malan loess at the upper part and paleosol strips at the lower part. It is the paleosol of the last interglacial period on the Loess Plateau, ranging from 78000 to 131000 years ago. More than 400 pieces of stone products are distributed in the range of 0.2m to 1.5m below the top of this layer. Most of the angular shale gravels with a diameter of 20cm to 50cm and a small amount of weathered granite gneiss gravels are arranged closely and orderly near the ditch edge, and the peripheral part is sparsely distributed, with a large number of beaten stone pieces distributed between them

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Research value

Dingcun site is a rich Paleolithic site and a typical representative of the Middle Paleolithic period in North China. The archaeological excavation of Dingcun site fills the gap of ancient human excavation between 400000 and 12000 years in China

It provides important clues and valuable data for the study of Paleolithic culture and the further understanding of Dingcun ancient human's activity scope, life track and behavior chain. The site of stone tools made by ancient people has been found in Dingcun site, which is of great significance to the study of the selection of stone materials by ancient people in Dingcun and the restoration of stone tools making technology and process

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protective measures

On March 4, 1961, Dingcun site was announced by the State Council of the people's Republic of China as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units

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In 1961, the people's Government of Shanxi Province established the protection scope and construction control zone of Dingcun site: the gully in the north of Shanglu village in the south, the gully in the north of chaisi village in the north, the road in the south of Xiangfen County in the north, the road in the west of Dongliu village, Zhongwei village, Xiwei village and Dachai village in the west, and the road in the west of Jingcun village in the East. The protection area of the protection zone covers an area of 154445.85 square meters

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History and culture

Dingcun culture

Dingcun site is another Paleolithic site discovered in China after Zhoukoudian site. In 1955, the scientific community named the human tooth fossil discovered in Dingcun site as "Dingcun people", and the unearthed culture as "Dingcun culture"

. "Dingcunren" is between Peking man and modern man, close to modern yellow man

. Dingcun culture created by Dingcun people is the representative culture of the Middle Paleolithic age in China. The early segment of Dingcun culture belongs to the remains of the early and late Paleolithic period, which is distributed in the area of douheya in the north of Dingcun site, about 300000 years ago; the middle segment of Dingcun culture belongs to the Middle Paleolithic period, which is distributed around Dingcun and in the third terrace on both sides of Fenhe River, about 100000 years ago; the late segment of Dingcun culture belongs to the late Paleolithic period, which is located in the west of Fenhe River The "dingjiagoukou" on the bank is more than 26000 years ago

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Fenhe culture

Dingcun culture, represented by Dingcun site, is distributed in Fenhe River Basin, so it is also called "Fenhe culture". This cultural form is obviously different from the stone tools in Europe, and represents the culture of the Middle Paleolithic age in China. Dingcun people and their cultural sites are heavy eyed Paleolithic sites with both human and animal fossils in China, which provide important scientific data for the study of human development history. The discovery of Dingcun culture in Linfen fully shows that Linfen is one of the important birthplaces of ancient Chinese

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Tourism information

geographical position

Dingcun site is located on both sides of Fenhe River near Dingcun, Xiangfen County, Linfen City, Shanxi Province, starting from Shicun in the north and chaizhuang in the south

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traffic

The bus line passing through Dingcun site is Linfen bus No.6.

Address: Shizhuang Town, Xiangfen County, Linfen City, Shanxi Province

Longitude: 111.426427

Latitude: 35.837688

Chinese PinYin : Ding Cun Yi Zhi