Xiantouling site

Xiantouling site

Xiantouling site is located in xiantouling village, Dapeng sub district office, Southeast of Shenzhen, covering an area of 30000 square meters. The site was found in 1981 in the archaeological survey. The unearthed remains include Neolithic and Shang period, among which Neolithic remains are the most important. According to the data of C 14 measurement, the site should be 7000-6000 years ago.

In 1981, it was discovered during the investigation of cultural relics in the whole city. Five archaeological excavations have been carried out, and a large number of prehistoric cultural relics such as white pottery, painted pottery and stone tools have been unearthed. According to scientific appraisal, the earliest relics are nearly 7000 years ago, which is one of the earliest prehistoric cultural sites in the Pearl River Delta. It provides an important yardstick for establishing the chronological sequence of prehistoric culture in the Pearl River Delta, and has important historical, cultural, artistic and scientific values. On December 1, 2014, it was announced by Shenzhen Municipal People's government as the Sixth Batch of Shenzhen cultural relics protection units.

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Overview of the site

The xiantouling site is located on the second and third grade sandbank in diefu Bay, northeast of Dapeng Bay, Shenzhen. It is 120 meters long from southwest to northeast and 110 meters long from northwest to Southeast. The site covers an area of about 13000 square meters.

In 1985, 1989, 1997 and 2004, the Shenzhen Museum carried out four excavations in the southeast, middle and north of the site. From February to April 2006, the fifth excavation was carried out in the northwest of the site by Shenzhen Institute of cultural relics and Archaeology and Shenzhen Museum. The total area of the former and the latter five excavations is nearly 2300 square meters.

geographical environment

The xiantouling site is high in the northwest and low in the southeast, with an elevation of 2.5-7 meters. There are qiushuiling (548.9 m above sea level) in the north and northwest, ancient lagoons in the northeast, Guanyinshan (203.7 m above sea level) in the southeast, the sea in the southwest, about 300 m away from the present coastline, and the northeast of Hong Kong new territories across Dapeng Bay, the diefu River flowing into the sea from northeast to southwest in the southeast, and deep lakes in the northwest and Southeast corners of diefu Bay The promontory of the sea makes the Bay form a semi-circular concave to the northeast. The geographical environment of the site is a relatively closed physical geographical unit.

Diefuwan is a small bay on the West Bank of Dapeng Peninsula. Its bedrock is biotite granite of late Jurassic Yanshanian stage III. a fault passes through and develops diefuhe river valley from northeast to southwest. The total length of the valley is about 3.2 km. In the north, there are four large mountain rivers, such as orange pit. In the south, the valley mouth connects with the sea in the southeast of diefu Bay. The original topography of diefu Bay consists of three rows of sand banks roughly parallel to the coastline. The third row of sandbanks was formed by the accumulation of waves and tides in the high sea level during the global warm period more than 7000 years ago. The sea level at that time was about 2 meters higher than today, so the higher sandbanks were accumulated. After that, the sea level gradually decreased. The coastline moves westward, and the height of the second and the first sandbank is lower than that of the third sandbank.

Xiantouling site is mainly located in part of the third row of sand dike and the second row of sand dike. From the unearthed Neolithic relics (about 7000-6000 years ago), we can see that the relics of the third row of sand dykes are both early and late, while the relics of the second row of sand dykes are basically late. This is also consistent with the formation age of sand dike.

The archaeological community is used to the distribution of coastal or island beaches, sandbanks, sandbanks, the main accumulation of sand sites known as "sand dune sites", xiantouling is a typical sand dune sites.

According to the causes of formation, the coastal sandy accumulation bodies are called coastal sandbanks (sandbanks) by the geographers, and they are divided into bay blocking sandbanks (at the mouth of the Bay), island connecting sandbanks (connected with islands or peninsulas), shore (or along shore) sandbanks, etc. The sand dyke of xiantouling site is a kind of bay blocking sand dyke, which is mainly formed by marine power and wind force depositing sediment at the mouth of diefu Bay.

Because the sandbank blocks the mouth of the Bay and the diefu estuary, the river water in the bay behind the sandbank accumulates and forms a lagoon. A sandbank above the surface of a river or sea. The fresh water of the fangdiefu River and the lagoon behind the sandbank provided the living and production water for the ancestors. The natural environment of the xiantouling site is very suitable for human survival. The water level of the lagoon in the northeast of the site gradually dropped to form a swamp area, most of which formed sedimentary plains, which provided preliminary planting conditions; the sea in the southwest can be used for convenient fishing; and the surrounding hills and Hills provide rich resources for gathering and hunting. It is precisely because of good living and production conditions. The ancestors would choose xiantouling as their residence.

Explore achievements

The important relics of Neolithic Age mainly include stove, standing stone, building site, and large area of burnt earth surface. The main types of unearthed pottery include cauldrons, bowls, legs and seats; most of the clay pottery are white pottery and painted pottery, and a small amount of polished black pottery, including pots, cups, plates, beans, bowls, etc. Stone tools include: stone, clap, anvil, stone cake, stone, etc.

The pottery of Shang Dynasty is mainly made of sand mixed pottery. The main types of pottery are folding edge or pan mouth cauldron, which are mostly decorated with coarse rope pattern and a small amount of rhombic pattern. The clay pottery is mostly gray and gray black, but also light yellow and white. The main types of pottery include pot, bowl, round bottom big mouth Zun and spinning wheel. The appearance of the ware is decorated with thunder pattern, rhombic pattern, zigzag pattern, double circle pattern and square pattern. The types of stone tools include: stone, arrowhead, stone, etc.

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Chronological distribution

The fifth excavation of cultural relics at the xiantouling site in 2006 mainly includes the Neolithic and Shang periods.

The Neolithic relics unearthed from the xiantouling site can be divided into four stages according to the clear stratigraphic superimposition relationship and the characteristics and form changes of each layer of pottery.

Section I: the rope patterns of the sand pottery are very fine, some can even be called line patterns; the mouth of the sand pottery kettle is rolled; the muddy colored pottery is light yellow, and the color patterns on the surface of the pottery are mainly characterized by reddish brown stripe patterns, some of which are filled with color; a small amount of polished black pottery can be seen; the mouth of the muddy arc Belly Ring foot cup is large open, and the collar of the painted pottery pot is high and straight; the clay pottery pot is made of clay The round feet or the mouth of the quality round feet are decorated with very thin curvilinear lines, and the holes are mostly small; the belly of the round feet plate and the bean plate are mostly deep, and the round feet are inclined outward; white pottery is more common, and is decorated with complex embossing lines.

Section II: the sand pottery is decorated with string pattern; the mouth edge of the sand pottery kettle is rolled edge; the muddy colored pottery is light yellow, and the red and brown color patterns on the surface of the pottery are not only striped patterns, but also many patterns composed of curves and continuous punctate patterns; a small amount of polished black pottery; the hollows on the muddy round foot ware are mostly large; the plates of round foot and beans become shallow; the mouth of the muddy arc belly round foot cup is small open, The collar of the painted pottery pot is low and slanting; white pottery is common, and most of them are decorated with complex embossing patterns.

Section III: the decorative patterns of sand pottery are mostly coarse rope patterns; the mouth of sand pottery kettle is mostly folded edge, but also a small number of plate openings; the clay colored pottery is mainly light red body, and the surface decoration of pottery has relatively scribbled red stripe patterns and curve patterns; the hollowing out of clay foot hoop ware is very small, and there are more scratches on the ring feet; the ring feet of the ring feet plate are mostly large and straight; the white pottery is less, mostly plain, and a small number of simple Single impression.

Section IV: most of the decorative patterns of the sand pottery are thick rope patterns, and some of the mouth edge can also see shell scratch patterns, imprint patterns and stamp patterns; the mouth edge of the sand pottery kettle is folded edge; rare colored pottery, in addition to the red color on the clay light red body, can also see the red color on the sand pottery; white pottery is rare.

In Shang Dynasty, sand mixed pottery was mostly decorated with coarse rope pattern and a small amount of rhombic pattern; the mouth of sand mixed pottery cauldron was mostly folded, and Pankou was also seen; muddy pottery was mostly gray, but also light yellow, decorated with thunder pattern, rhombic pattern, zigzag pattern, double circle pattern and square pattern. The features of these unearthed objects are consistent with those of Shang Dynasty sites in the area around the Pearl River Estuary.

The upper age limit of the first section of the Neolithic Age of the xiantouling site is about 7000 years ago (corrected by tree ring) determined by 4C, and the age of the second section is about 2 years ago The results show that the 4C dating of the second excavation is about 6400-6800 years ago; the features of the third section are completely consistent with those of the dahuangsha site in Shenzhen, and the age should be the same; the 4C dating of the dahuangsha site is 6255-260 (corrected by tree ring); the age of the fourth section should be 6000 years ago.

Explore meaning

Excavation shows that the site is a central settlement site with high specification at that time and strong radiation or control over the surrounding sites. It is also the only typical site that can comprehensively reflect the middle Neolithic archaeological culture in the Pearl River Delta by 2007. It can be said that the xiantouling site is a key. It is one of the keys to a deep understanding of the middle Neolithic archaeological culture in the Pearl River Delta region. Through in-depth study of the site, it is expected to provide important clues for solving some long-standing and unresolved prehistoric archaeological problems in Lingnan.

The archaeological study of the site is the division and dating of the archaeological culture in the Pearl River Delta region from around 6000 years ago to nearly 7000 years ago

Chinese PinYin : Xian Tou Ling Yi Zhi