Cishan cultural site

Cishan site

synonym

Cishan cultural site generally refers to Cishan site

The Cishan site, also known as the Cishan cultural site, is located on the platform of the North Bank of Nanming, about 1 km east of Cishan village, Wu'an city, Southern Hebei Province. It is 17 km away from Wu'an city in the northeast. It is a new early Neolithic cultural site first discovered in China, about 10300 years ago, which breaks through the age of Neolithic Yangshao cultural archaeology, The chicken bones unearthed from the Cishan site are the earliest known chicken bones found in China, more than 3300 years earlier than India, which was believed to be the world's first chicken breeder. It was named "Cishan culture" in archaeology. In 1988, it was announced as a national key cultural relic protection unit by the State Council.

According to Guangming Daily in March 1982, Cishan is the birthplace of compass, one of China's four great inventions. "Ming Yi rule" also said: "Cizhou Wu'an County southwest of Cishan, magnetite production." According to the record of ancient mines, the Ming dynasty ruled that Cishan, located 30 Li southwest of the county, is a native mineral, and the name of the state is here. Cishan, the hometown of compass.

archaeological excavation

The site of Cishan culture discovered in 1972 covers an area of nearly 140000 square meters. Three excavations were carried out here from 1976 to 1978. By the end of 1978, the excavation area reached 6000 square meters, the cultural layer was 1 to 2 meters thick, and many pits were 6 to 7 meters deep. More than 6000 kinds of pottery, stone tools, bone ware, clam ware, animal bones and plant specimens have been unearthed, which provides valuable clues to the origin of the earlier civilization of agriculture, animal husbandry and pottery making in China. If we say that, more than 7000 years ago, many parts of the earth were still in their infancy, and the people here have entered the earliest human civilization by planting grain, raising poultry, making production and living utensils, and firing pottery.

Xia Nai, the late famous Chinese archaeologist, pointed out: "the discovery of the Cishan cultural site is a major breakthrough in Neolithic Archaeology in China." It provides abundant and valuable underground materials for the study and exploration of early Neolithic culture in China.

Two house foundations were found in the site, both of which are half cavern houses. Among the artifacts of Fangji site, there is a burnt clay block with a clear mat pattern, which indicates that reed mat was made in this area 7300 years ago. From this, we can imagine the great convenience that reed mat brought to people's life. Archaeologists call this artifact the best in the country.

Site features

The houses found in the Cishan site are oval and round. Half crypt, about 1.2 meters deep, 3 meters long, 2 meters wide. There is a ramp or step in front of it. There is a lot of accumulation in the house, and the burning land imprinted by reeds should be the remains of the wall or roof of the house. There are several kinds of pits, such as rectangle, circle, ellipse and irregularity.

There is a large stone at the bottom of some pits, surrounded by a lot of stones, flakes, residual stones and stone products, which may be the stone processing sites at that time. Some found at the bottom of the stone grinding plate and stone grinding stick next to a pottery pot. Grain cellars are mostly rectangular in shape, with a depth of 3-6 meters. There are decayed millet ash deposits at the bottom, with a thickness of 0.5-2.5 meters.

unearthed relic

Rich in variety

In addition, nearly 100 pieces of stone millstones, grinding sticks, pottery bowls, supports, three legged bowls, small necked pots and other utensils were found in the site. At least 3 pieces and more than 20 pieces were found. The nature of these utensils remains to be studied. Unearthed relics include pottery, stone tools, bone ware, mussel ware, animal bones and plant fruits.

The pottery is made by hand with low heat, rough quality, simple shape, irregular shape and thick wall, mainly composed of sand mixed pottery. Mixed materials include quartz, coarse sand, fine sand and mica. There are three colors: red, brown and grayish brown. According to the determination of unearthed red pottery samples, the firing temperature is 700-930 ℃. The surface of the ware is mostly plain, and the decorative patterns are mainly light rope patterns, weaving patterns, additional stacking patterns, and pricking patterns. The clay red pottery has thick body, low temperature and poor finish. The shapes of the utensils are inverted shoe type bracket, straight wall flat bottom bowl, three foot bowl, small mouth long neck pot, funnel-shaped utensil, navicular basin, pot, round foot pot, bean, etc. the bracket and bowl are the most representative. In addition, some miniature potteries were also found, which may be used for sacrifice.

Stone tools include axe, shovel, chisel, sickle, grinding plate, grinding rod, etc. The number of axes is the most, there are whole body polishing, there are also local polishing, the shape is generally small.

A large number of bone artifacts were unearthed, including shovels, needles, hairpins, arrowheads, fish darts, shuttles, cones, daggers and ornaments. Mussels have shovels and decorations.

The animal skeletons unearthed from the site include 5 categories and 23 species, including mammals, birds, turtles, fishes and mussels. Livestock and poultry include dogs, pigs and chickens.

Pottery and stone tools

Excavation was carried out from 1976 to 1978, covering an area of 6000 square meters. The cultural layer is 1-2 meters thick, and the deepest cave is 6-7 meters. The main relics include two house sites, 474 ash pits, and more than 6000 kinds of unearthed relics, including pottery, stone tools, bone horn ware, mussel ware, animal bones and plant specimens. Among the relics, the pottery support (seat) and stone grinding plate are the most characteristic. There are three kinds of stone tools: beating stone tools, grinding stone tools and grinding stone tools. The main shapes are stone grinding plate and stone grinding rod. The pottery is hand-made, made of clay strips and kneading. It is mainly plain, and the main shapes are pottery bowl and pottery support (seat). There are 45 unearthed sites of these pottery in groups. The absolute age of the Cishan culture is from 6000 BC to 5600 BC. Half cavern house. Among the utensils of Fangji site, there is a burnt clay block with clear mat pattern, which indicates that reed mat was made in this area 7000 years ago. Archaeologists call this utensil the best in China. Cishan is very close to Fenghuang mountain, where Nu Wa mends the sky. This explains why Nu Wa's "accumulating reed ash to stop water" came into being here.

Rich millet ash

In 88 pits (ash pits) found, there are accumulated millet ash, the thickness of which is generally 0.2-2 meters. In 10 pits, the grain thickness is more than 2 meters, and the quantity is amazing. When these grains were first unearthed, some of them were clearly visible. In the past, it was believed that millet originated in Egypt and India. The discovery of millet at the Cishan site provides the earliest evidence for the discovery of millet in China. This discovery brought the record of millet planting in the Yellow River basin to 7000 years ago,

The use of agricultural production tools and food processing tools in the site, as well as the discovery of a large number of grain deposits, proved that the Cishan people had got rid of ignorance and had developed agriculture and planted millet crops. The development of agriculture provided material conditions for raising livestock, and the bones of dogs, pigs, sheep, chickens and other livestock unearthed in the site were the evidence that people used agricultural production as the main source of life at that time. The chicken found here is the earliest domestic chicken found in China and the world. According to relevant records, the age of raising domestic chickens around the world was originally in India, about 2000 BC.

A total of 468 ash pits have been excavated in the Cishan site. Among them, 88 rectangular pits are found with millet ash at the bottom, with a thickness of 0.3 to 2 meters. The grain accumulation in 10 pits is nearly 2 meters thick, which is rare among the Neolithic cultural relics excavated in China. The discovery of millet, especially the publication of its specimens, has attracted great attention of experts at home and abroad. In the past, it was believed that millet originated in Egypt and India. The discovery of millet at the Cishan site provides the earliest evidence for the discovery of millet in China. This discovery brought the record of millet planting in the Yellow River Basin of China to 7000 years ago, filled the gap of the former Yangshao culture, and revised the understanding of the time of millet planting in the history of world agriculture.

In the excavated ash pits, tree seed accumulation layer was found at the bottom of two pits, and hazelnut, Kombucha and walnut were identified. Walnuts are today's walnuts. In the past, it was thought that walnuts were introduced into the mainland when Zhang Qian passed through the western regions in the Han Dynasty. The excavation of walnuts from the Cishan site confirmed that walnuts were planted in this area more than 7000 years ago.

The earliest ancient jade

Cishan site is the earliest ancient jade discovered in China. The history of Chinese jade culture was pushed forward about 2000 years. Cishan site is one of the cradles of Chinese civilization. It is located on a loess platform beside Ming River in Wu'an city, Hebei Province. It is one of the important early Neolithic cultural sites in China. A piece of ancient jade was found in the Cishan site. The age of this ancient jade is 10300 years, and the earliest age of Cishan site is 10300 years ago.

This ancient jade is white quartzite, pure in texture, translucent, 65 mm long, 27 mm wide and 16 mm high. It has been ground on all sides, and its name and use are unknown. What's more precious is that there are some yellow and brown attachments on this jade, which are suspected to be organic residues when it is buried in the soil. The jade is located at the bottom of No. 1 cave of the Cishan site. It is identified by the members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Agricultural Sciences as the first stage of the Cishan culture.

significance

The development of agriculture has provided material conditions for people to raise poultry

Chinese PinYin : Ci Shan Wen Hua Yi Zhi