The latest results of the Chinese Civilization Origins Exploration Project have been released!

On the morning of December 9, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage released the latest research results of the "Comprehensive Study on the Origin and Early Development of Chinese Civilization", also known as the "Chinese Civilization Origin Exploration Project". The Origin Exploration Project is based on field archaeological work and supported by multidisciplinary joint research in natural sciences and humanities and social sciences. It is a major scientific research project to study ancient Chinese history and culture.

Since the implementation of the fifth phase of the Origin Exploration Project in 2020, the time and space scope of the research has been further expanded. Focusing on 29 core sites including Niuheliang in Jianping, Liaoning, Jiaojia Site in Zhangqiu, Shandong, Liangzhu in Yuhang, Zhejiang, Taosi in Xiangfen, Shanxi, Shimao in Shenmu, Shaanxi, Erlitou in Yanshi, Henan, and Sanxingdui in Guanghan, Sichuan, while deepening the overall understanding of the origin and early development stages of Chinese civilization, we have focused on key time nodes and major events, carefully designed multidisciplinary comprehensive research, and achieved a series of progress.

Deepened our understanding of the origin and early development of Chinese civilization

The project study believes that since about 5800 years ago, various regions on the Chinese mainland have successively shown obvious social differentiation, entering an accelerated stage of the origin of civilization. The period from 5800 years ago to 3500 years ago can be divided into two eras: the Ancient Country Era and the Dynasty Era. The Ancient Country Era can be further divided into three small stages. Compared with the fourth stage of the Origin Exploration Project, the understanding of the Ancient Country Era has been deepened. Specifically:

In the first stage of the ancient state era, it was about 5800-5200 years ago. The archaeological excavation work found and confirmed that the first site of the Niuheliang site in the Xiliaohe River Basin was a large platform building complex consisting of 9 platforms. The famous "Goddess Temple" where various clay sculptures were unearthed was located on one of the platforms. This platform was large in scale and the remaining height was more than 4.6 meters. This discovery is of great significance to understanding the architectural relationship and sacrificial nature of the first site of Niuheliang.

The second stage of the ancient state era was about 5200-4300 years ago. The Hongshan culture in the Xiliaohe River Basin began to decline, while the civilizations in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River took different development paths. Social differentiation became more prominent, and the ability to mobilize social resources was strengthened.

A city site from the middle period of the Dawenkou culture was newly discovered at the Jiaojia site, which is currently the earliest prehistoric city site in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. The newly discovered high-level tombs have multiple coffins and buried jade and pottery ritual vessels, which are institutionalized manifestations of the ritual system of Chinese civilization. In the past three years, archaeological work at the Liangzhu site has been carried out around the water conservancy system. Nearly 20 dams were newly discovered outside Liangzhu to the north of Tangshan, and signs of dams were also found in Jingshan, Deqing and other places farther away. The C14 age is about 5,000 years ago and belongs to the same system as the original 11 dams.

Liangzhu Ancient City Site

The third stage of the ancient state era was about 4300-3800 years ago. The social development in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River stagnated, and the Central Plains and northern regions came from behind and began a new round of civilization development, thus forming a historical trend centered on the Central Plains, laying the foundation for the development of Chinese history.

In 2022, the corner relief found at the Imperial City Terrace of the Shimao Ruins provided key evidence for the age and architectural nature of the stone carvings on the base of the Imperial City Terrace of Shimao. More than 200 meters west of the base, a noble exclusive cemetery with stone walls and rows was discovered for the first time. The Taosi Ruins confirmed the largest known prehistoric rammed earth building foundation, covering an area of ​​6,500 square meters, with a total area of ​​more than 540 square meters for the main hall. It is the largest single rammed earth building of the Neolithic Age discovered by archaeologists.

Shimao Site in Shenmu, Shaanxi

Corner relief carving of the Imperial City Terrace at the Shimao Ruins

3800 years ago, the dynasty era began, and archaeological work represented by the Erlitou and Sanxingdui sites made important progress.

Many roads and walls on both sides of the roads were newly discovered in the central area of ​​the Erlitou site. These roads and walls divided the Erlitou capital into several square and regular grid areas, showing that the social structure at that time was clearly hierarchical and orderly, suggesting that there was a mature and developed ruling system and model at that time, which is the most important sign that Erlitou entered the dynasty state. The breakthrough work of the Sanxingdui site is to preliminarily figure out the distribution range and internal structure of the sacrificial area, and newly excavate and clean up a large number of important relics such as 6 "sacrificial pits", and unearth more than 12,000 cultural relics (2,300 complete pieces). Research shows that the burial age of the eight sacrificial pits is concentrated in the late Shang Dynasty and early Zhou Dynasty (about 3100-3000 years ago).

Multidisciplinary collaborative research has made important progress

The concept of multidisciplinary collaboration has been implemented in all core sites. The acquisition of samples of a series of ages, paleoenvironmental restoration, remote sensing mapping, and screening of plant and animal remains (flotation) have become the new normal in field archaeological work. Laboratory analysis technology is constantly integrated with field archaeological work, and the level of information acquisition has been greatly improved. At the same time, the application of archaeological shelters and mobile laboratories for the protection of cultural relics at archaeological sites has promoted the close integration of field archaeology and cultural relic protection, and also provided a feasible development direction for future field archaeological work.

Among them, the chronological research focused on solving the age of the spatial layout of the Imperial City Terrace, the inner city, and the outer city of Shimao, and preliminarily determined that the Imperial City Terrace was built no earlier than 2200BC, and the last time it was abandoned could be as late as 1600BC. The dating method research was carried out on the white lime surface of the Bicun site in Shanxi, filling the gap in the dating method of white lime surface relics in China.

The coordinated research of animal archaeology, plant archaeology, environmental archaeology, stable isotope analysis, and ancient DNA analysis explored the development of grain varieties and planting industry in key regions, livestock domestication and animal resource development and utilization methods, and the diet and livestock breeding strategies of the ancestors. The research shows that since 7,000 years ago, the subsistence economy has reflected obvious regional differences and has different evolutionary patterns in the process of civilization.

The Central Plains and northern regions show a mixed agricultural production system with millet as the main crop, supplemented by millet, soybeans, and rice. In the northwest region, mainly in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, animal husbandry has a certain proportion due to the dry climate. In the late Neolithic period, the proportion of animal husbandry in Gansu and Qinghai gradually increased under the background of the cold and dry climate fluctuations in the Holocene.

The important paddy field remains found in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River indicate that the development of rice farming was the main reason for the complex social process and regional differences in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The mountainous and hilly slopes in the Yangtze River Basin are not suitable for grain cultivation, but can provide a considerable amount of natural animal and plant food resources. The hunting and gathering economy has always occupied a certain proportion in the development of Neolithic culture.

In terms of livestock breeding, domestic pigs and dogs are still the main types of livestock raised in various regions. In the late Longshan culture, cattle and sheep were commonly seen in various regions and were raised together with local pigs and dogs. In particular, the breeding of cattle became increasingly dependent on millet farming, forming a new type of symbiotic resource development model.

Analysis of the dietary habits of ancient peoples shows that in the regional civilizations of the late Neolithic period, there were no obvious differences in the food structure of different social classes.

In addition, the research results of handicraft production are also remarkable. The research found that around 3,800 years ago, the handicraft production technology in the Central Plains region underwent a qualitative change. In terms of jade, large jade weapons such as zhang, yue, and knives, as well as ritual objects such as handle-shaped ornaments made of high-quality amphibole jade, suddenly appeared in the Erlitou cultural center area. At the same time, the turquoise craftsmanship that had lasted for thousands of years suddenly changed, and a new type of ritual object appeared in combination with bronze.

The current research conclusions are necessarily preliminary and phased. There are still many historical mysteries to be solved, and many major issues need to be agreed upon through empirical research. In 2022, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage jointly promoted the establishment of derivative projects of the Origin Exploration Project - "The Origin and Development of Dryland Agriculture in the Northern Region" and "Comprehensive Research on the Core Capitals from 1500 BC to 1000 BC", which proactively supplemented the formation and early development of Chinese civilization from the perspectives of time, space, region and research.

In the next step, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage will continue to work with relevant departments to continue to advance and deepen the Origin Exploration Project, promote the organic combination of archaeological exploration, literature research and natural science and technology, broaden the research time and space scope and coverage, and further answer the basic picture of the origin, formation and development of Chinese civilization, the internal mechanism and the evolution path of civilization in various regions. At the same time, we will do a good job in the publicity, promotion and transformation of the research results of our country's "ancient civilization theory" and the Chinese civilization Origin Exploration Project, strengthen the research, interpretation and display of unearthed cultural relics and sites, further deepen the research on the history of Chinese civilization, promote the enhancement of historical consciousness, strengthen cultural confidence, and enhance the influence and appeal of Chinese civilization.

Planning and production

Source: CCTV News

Editor: Yang Yaping