Fishing, hunting birds, and being inclusive, the life of ancient people 70,000 years ago was far better than that of the "crazy primitive man"

In the Paleolithic Age, ancient ancestors fished and hunted birds, bears and roasted elephants, and their lives were more exciting than those in the movie "The Croods".

More than 7,000 years ago, the ancestors of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River created the qualities of openness, inclusiveness and equality in a unique environment.

More than 5,100 years ago, the ancestors of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River built large-scale water conservancy facilities to control floods.

On March 22, the top ten archaeological discoveries in China in 2023 were announced. The 22 shortlisted projects are outstanding representatives of field archaeological work in the past year, covering the origin of mankind, the origin of civilization and early dynasty states, the formation and development of a unified multi-ethnic country, cities, Buddhism, handicraft archaeology, the Maritime Silk Road, and historical records of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, etc., vividly demonstrating the long history and broad civilization of the great China. Among them, the Mopanshan site in Langxi, Anhui, and the Qujialing site in Jingmen, Hubei are both major discoveries in the Yangtze River Basin.

Unique geographical environment creates open and inclusive qualities

The Mopanshan site is located in Xinfa Village, Feili Town, Langxi County, Anhui Province. It is located on the east bank of Nanyi Lake, the largest lake in southern Anhui. The Langchuan River flows to the north of the site, connecting the Yangtze River system and the water system around Taihu Lake. Therefore, the site is located at the geographical node where ancient culture was transmitted from east to west and from south to north.

In 2015, 2016 and 2023, Nanjing University and the Anhui Provincial Institute of Archaeology conducted three excavations and discovered continuous cultural deposits from the Majiabang Culture, Songze Culture, Liangzhu Culture, Qianshanyang Culture, Xia, Shang and Western Zhou-Spring and Autumn Periods.

During the three excavations, a total of 342 tombs were excavated, including 320 tombs of Songze culture, 77 house sites, most of which were from the late Majiabang culture, and 163 ash pits, most of which were from the Xia and Shang dynasties. More than 4,000 restorable relics were unearthed, including pottery, stoneware, jade, bronze, porcelain, hard pottery, and primitive porcelain.

Zhao Dongsheng, the project leader and associate professor of the History Department of Nanjing University, introduced in his report that the Mopanshan site is a new regional civilization model. The unique geographical environment and resources here have created the open, inclusive and equal qualities of the Mopanshan people, making the Mopanshan site a typical representative of the civilization center of the ancient country era.

It can be seen that there was division of labor in society and preliminary class differentiation had emerged; the society was generally wealthy, with a strong "commercial" atmosphere, and generally rich and standardized burial objects; there were diverse ways of making a living; there was a fusion of multiple cultures; there was a strong artistic atmosphere, and handicraft techniques such as jade carving and stone making were very advanced.

It is worth mentioning that many net pendants and pottery burial objects were found in some tombs, indicating that the fishing economy in this area was already quite developed at that time.

What is the value and significance of the excavation of the Mopanshan site? Professor Zhao Hui of the School of Archaeology and Museology of Peking University said that the Mopanshan site is the only representative site discovered and excavated in southern Anhui Province so far that is relatively well preserved in the pre-Qin period, with a large area, rich cultural connotations, and a clear cultural pedigree. The site has a long duration and a complete pedigree. It is one of the few central settlements in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River that has lasted for nearly 4,000 years. It can provide a typical example for the cultural evolution of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Large-scale water conservancy facilities were built 5,100 years ago

The Qujialing Site in Jingmen, Hubei, which was selected as one of the “Top Ten Archaeological Discoveries” in 2023, is located in the transition zone from the southern foot of Dahong Mountain to the Jianghan Plain, and is located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

At the final review meeting, Tao Yang, the project leader and deputy research curator of Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, introduced that the Qujialing site is the place where the Qujialing culture was discovered and named. It is a large Neolithic site with Qujialing as the core, including more than 10 sites such as Yinjialing. It was excavated three times in 1955, 1956-1957, and 1989. Since 2015, with the approval of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and other units have continued to carry out archaeological work and achieved important results.

Among the many discoveries, the prehistoric water conservancy system about 5,100 years ago is particularly eye-catching. Tao Yang said that the Xiongjialing water conservancy system located in the northeast of the site includes dams, water storage areas, irrigation areas and spillways, and is the most complete prehistoric water conservancy system known so far. After detailed archaeological work, experts believe that the Xiongjialing Dam can be divided into two periods, the early dam is 10.2 meters wide and 2.6 meters high; the late dam is 26.6 meters wide and 3.3 meters high.

Based on the characteristics of the unearthed relics and combined with systematic dating data, they determined that the late dam dates back to about 4900-4800 years ago; the early dam dates back to about 5100-4900 years ago, and is one of the earliest and most clear water conservancy facilities discovered by archaeologists to date.

Why was the Qujialing site selected as one of the "Top Ten Archaeological Discoveries"? Zhao Hui gave his evaluation. He said that the discovery of the prehistoric water conservancy system in the site marked the transformation of the prehistoric ancestors' concept of water management from the initial passive water prevention and control to active water control and use, realizing the leap from adapting to nature to transforming nature. In addition, the water management paradigm of the Qujialing site not only provides detailed support for the management and utilization of water resources in prehistoric single settlements, but also is an important archaeological basis for studying early human-land relations, social organizations and other issues. "The social and cultural development of the Qujialing site has distinct continuity. It reveals the height of development and social complexity of prehistoric culture from multiple angles and levels. It is a precious material evidence for studying the civilization process of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and provides a typical case for exploring the formation and development of Chinese civilization."

The ancient ancestors were not simpler than "Crazy Croods"

Some of the shortlisted projects, although not selected as the "Top Ten Archaeological Discoveries", are rare in the world. For example, the Mengxi River site in Ziyang, Sichuan, in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, provides the public with empirical evidence that the ancestors of the Paleolithic Age were not simple.

The Mengxi River site is located in the Tuojiang River, a tributary of the Yangtze River. In September 2021, the site was discovered when a flood destroyed the Wuyi Dam and nearby riverbanks at the junction of Ziyang and Lezhi, washing out some ebony, animal fossils and other relics. The Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology has carried out rescue archaeological excavations for two consecutive years, and has carried out multidisciplinary research and cultural relics protection work in collaboration with domestic and foreign expert teams, making important discoveries.

Preliminary systematic dating by optically stimulated luminescence shows that the site is approximately 70,000 to 50,000 years old, which is a critical stage in the origin and spread of modern humans.

Full-featured animal remains were discovered at the site. Currently, the animals that can be preliminarily identified include three classes, seven orders, 12 families and 13 genera, including at least 30 species such as elephants, rhinos, bears, cattle, horses, deer, pigs, tapirs, monkeys, snakes, turtles, birds, fish, amphibians, rodents, etc., covering a full range of animals, including large, medium and small, terrestrial and air, carnivorous and herbivorous, showing that the ancient ancestors had a profound understanding of animal resources in nature and had superb and broad-spectrum hunting capabilities.

It is hard to imagine that our ancient ancestors 70,000 years ago already lived a life of fishing, hunting birds, hunting bears and roasting elephants.

The site also discovered plant remains of all elements. The types of plant remains are diverse, including trees, seeds, fruits, spores, branches and leaves, etc. More than 30 families have been identified, including the Fagaceae of nuts, the Rosaceae of fruits, and the Cyperaceae of tubers. Medicinal materials such as comfrey and bone grass have also been identified. Among them, comfrey can treat injuries from falls, and has the effects of removing rheumatism, promoting blood circulation, detoxifying and reducing inflammation.