The Chinese ancestors that we are familiar with in textbooks actually looked like this!

On the morning of September 24, the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology officially released the results of the restoration of the ancient people's appearance at the Yangshao Village site at the Yangshao Culture Museum in Mianchi County, Sanmenxia City. Two bronze statues of ancient people unveiled the mysterious veil. For the first time, the ancient ancestors spanning 5,000 years of history were clearly presented to the world.

The Yangshao Village site, located in Mianchi County, Sanmenxia City, western Henan Province, is known as the "Holy Land of Chinese Archaeology" and is an important site in the core distribution area of ​​Yangshao culture in the Yellow River Basin.

Reconstruction of the Yangshao and Longshan ancestors (Source: Screenshot of the video from Henan Channel of People's Daily Online)

01 This is what Chinese ancestors looked like four or five thousand years ago

This archaeological excavation detected silk residue information in human bone soil samples from the Yangshao and Longshan culture periods, obtained evidence of fermented grain wine in the residues of pointed-bottom bottles from the Yangshao period, and successfully restored the appearance of Yangshao human bones, further enriching the connotation of Yangshao culture.

In order to further promote the exploration of the origins of Chinese civilization and the study of Yangshao culture, and promote the transformation and dissemination of related results, in 2023, the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, in conjunction with the Identification Center of the Ministry of Public Security, the Henan Provincial Public Security Identification Center and other units, worked together to jointly tackle key problems, fully combining physical anthropology identification, carbon-14 dating, and ancient DNA research, and using craniofacial restoration technology, carried out scientific facial restoration work on the ancient people of the Yangshao Village site.

After more than a year of hard work, the research team successfully restored the appearance of one Yangshao ancient and one Longshan ancient at the Yangshao Village site. The Yangshao ancestor was a 40-year-old male, about 5,600 years ago; the Longshan ancestor was a 50-year-old male, about 4,000 years ago.

Li Shiwei, deputy director of the Prehistoric Archaeology Research Office of the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and on-site director of the fourth archaeological excavation of the Yangshao Village site, introduced that the technical team, based on the full use of craniofacial restoration technology, combined ancient DNA research, physical anthropology and other disciplines, and initially made a relatively accurate and scientific restoration of the appearance of the ancestors in the Yangshao and Longshan periods.

Due to the long time, there is no reference material about the appearance of the Yangshao ancestors. In order to obtain detailed data, the team collected more than 4.01 million positioning points on the skulls of the Yangshao ancestors and more than 4.32 million positioning points on the skulls of the Longshan ancestors. Then, they used people with the closest genetic background to attach muscle tissue to them, and used genetic analysis to predict skin color and hair, with a high degree of restoration accuracy.

02 Yangshao Culture: The Beginning of China’s Neolithic Culture

Yangshao culture is the beginning of the study of China's Neolithic culture and is also the prehistoric culture with the longest archaeological history. Through continuous archaeological research, we have a clearer understanding of the status and role of Yangshao culture in the origin of Chinese civilization.

The excavation of the Yangshao Village site in Mianchi, Henan in 1921 confirmed for the first time the existence of a developed Neolithic culture in China. The naming of the Yangshao culture opened the prelude to scientific exploration of China's prehistoric culture. After nearly a hundred years of scientific exploration, the Yangshao culture, which was originally a single name, has become a group of Yangshao cultures that are both related and different, and occupies an irreplaceable and important position in my country's prehistoric culture.

03 Longshan Culture: Exquisite Eggshell Black Pottery

Longshan culture refers to a culture of the late Neolithic period in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It was named after Longshan Town, Zhangqiu County, Shandong Province (the county was abolished and the city was established in 1992), where it was first discovered in 1928. Longshan culture can be divided into several types, including Shandong Longshan culture (or typical Longshan culture), Miaodigou Phase II culture, Henan Longshan culture, Shaanxi Longshan culture, and Longshan culture Taosi type. Shandong Longshan culture is a continuation of Dawenkou culture. According to carbon 14 dating, it is about 4500-4000 years old. The pottery of Longshan culture includes black pottery, gray pottery, red pottery, yellow-brown pottery and white pottery, and the shapes include tripods, bowls, pots, yan (yǎn, pronounced as yan), guī (yin tui), basins, etc. The level of pottery making technology is much higher than that of Yangshao culture. Black pottery is the most representative work of this culture, especially the "eggshell black pottery" is the most exquisite, so that some people have called this culture "black pottery culture". The eggshell-thin black pottery of the Longshan culture was made by potters using the fast wheel throwing method. The color of the Longshan culture black pottery is the result of carbonization by smoke in the late firing stage.

Comprehensive sources: Henan Channel of People's Daily Online, People's Daily, the official website of the Palace Museum, etc.