Master Archaeologist

Chapter 24 The Great Flood

The appearance of jade bi was obviously an important event.

Chinese archaeologists have unearthed many ritual vessels of the same standard in the tombs of the Shang and Zhou dynasties.

That is, the six instruments in "Zhou Li".

The Lajia site also unearthed jade bi.

This means that although the Lajia site was suddenly destroyed due to a catastrophe, at least some cultures of the Lajia site have been passed down to later generations.

After discussing for a few words about these two precious three-huang couplets, Li Chunchao went on to introduce in depth: "Old Kong, this is more than that."

"The jade articles found in the filling are just peripheral funerary objects."

"The owner of the tomb buried in the center of the altar is a 45-50-year-old male."

"Besides, there was a wooden coffin when he was buried. He was lying in it with his head facing north, his body upright, and seven jade objects on his body."

"The jade bi, the jade ring, the big jade knife, the jade axe, and the jade adze are complete."

Kong Jianwen nodded: "The jade bi and the jade ring represent the high status of the owner of the tomb, and the big jade knife represents the owner of the tomb is very powerful, or he has the right to conquer the tribe."

"The jade ax and jade adze may be the productivity tools commonly used by the tomb owner during his lifetime, or they may refer to the tomb owner's control of the production work of the tribe."

If this set of jade wares were not unearthed, if it were not for the special feature of the tomb pit in the center of the altar, it can be simply considered that these jade wares were all jade wares commonly used by the owner of the tomb during his lifetime.

But the tomb is so special, so these unearthed jades may also be endowed with special meanings.

For example, the axe and axe symbolized power in ancient times. When the emperor entrusted the princes, he would give the axe, bow and arrow to show his rights.

When the princes were buried, they were often buried with axes and axes.

Kong Jianwen is not an over-interpretation.

It's just that this interpretation is definitely not proven.

After all, there is no text unearthed from the Lajia site to describe whether these jade objects have symbolic meaning.

But no matter what, the identity of the owner of the tomb is undoubtedly high.

"On the southeast edge of the altar, we also found more than ten sacrificial tombs."

Li Chunchao pouted in the southeast direction: "There is no pattern in the location of these ten tombs, and the adult tombs and children's tombs are mixed together."

"Except for a few whose heads are in the same direction as the owner of the M17 tomb in the center of the altar, the heads of the tomb owners in other tombs are all facing northwest or west."

"We speculate that the one with the same head orientation as M17 may be the burial tomb of the owner of tomb M17, or the sacrificial pit."

"The remaining ones may be the later tribal leaders and their tombs."

Kong Jianwen frowned.

It is not good that there is no writing. For all the unearthed tombs, who is inside and why they are buried here, everything can only be inferred and guessed.

It is never possible to find an absolutely accurate truth.

Unlike the tombs after the Shang and Zhou dynasties, there are basically epitaphs or tokens engraved with the name of the owner of the tomb. According to the history books, it is easy to find out who the owner of the tomb is and what he did during his lifetime. It is extremely clear.

Those who do archeology of prehistoric sites are basically confused when excavating, and half-faced when cleaning up. When summarizing the report, they are also full of words such as inference, guess, possibility, and maybe.

From the mist, to the mist.

Li Chunchao didn't care, he was already very satisfied with so many discoveries.

He looked at the busy No. [-] construction site with satisfaction, chuckled and said:

"What is certain now is that the small square, the altar, and the special ground building next to it should constitute a public activity space for the ancestors of the Lajia site."

"It should be an important sacrificial area."

"However, I heard from the villagers of Lajia Village that they found some jade objects not far from the north of the altar in the early years. Perhaps the scope of this sacrificial area is even larger."

"It's just that we have to wait for further archaeological excavations and research to confirm it."

"Well, such a large relic can't be sorted out in ten or eight years."

Kong Jianwen nodded, and was about to say a few words before leaving. A young man from the Qinghai Archaeological Institute ran over from a distance, panting and shouting:
"Li Suo, those geologists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have made preliminary research results on the destruction of the Lajia ruins!"

"what?!"

Kong Jianwen's eyes widened, and he didn't care about the small talk, so he ran to the geological working group.

Li Chunchao also chased after him quickly, cursing: "Old Kong, you are a fucking rabbit, right? Wait for me!"

The two, one in front and one behind, quickly walked through the No. [-] construction site and ran to the station of the geologists.

"Professor Zhang! Professor Zhang!"

Before the people arrived, Kong Jianwen's loud voice spread throughout the geologists' resident first.

Zhang Cheng, a senior researcher at the Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, heard the sound and came out of the prefabricated room, just in time for Kong Jianwen to hit him in the arms.

Kong Jianwen took Zhang Cheng's hand and walked in, asking impatiently again and again: "Professor Zhang, have you produced the results of your geological research?"

"What kind of natural disaster did the ruins of the La family suddenly destroy?"

Zhang Cheng, who was caught by Kong Jianwen, smiled helplessly. He could understand the excitement of these archaeologists.

Zhang Cheng beckoned, and one of his team members brought a laptop over.

"Director Kong, look."

Zhang Cheng pointed to several geological maps on the computer interface, as well as the excavation map of the soil layer at the site, as well as some photos taken during his field investigation, and said in a slightly heavy tone:
"It is certain that the Lajia site is the only disaster site in China."

"And it's a very complex disaster."

Calling out several large cracks found at the excavation site, Zhang Cheng said with certainty: "A major earthquake occurred here around 4100 years ago."

"The earthquake caused damage to the ground at the Lajia site and the collapse of houses."

"Those skeletons that were crushed in the house probably died of this sudden earthquake."

"Preliminary judgment shows that the epicenter of this earthquake is about 130 kilometers away from the Lajia ruins. The scale of this earthquake is very large!"

"So, the Lajia ruins were destroyed by the earthquake? That's what we guessed too." Li Chunchao had such an expression on his face.

But Zhang Cheng nodded first, then shook his head.

"Do not."

"What happened to the Lajia site was not just an earthquake."

"Remember the red deposits you found in the ruins?"

Both Kong Jianwen and Li Chunchao nodded.

"That seemingly ordinary red sediment is the reason for the complete destruction of the Lajia ruins."

Zhang Cheng sighed: "In the past two months, our team traveled all over the vicinity of Lajia Village and conducted detailed geological surveys."

"Lajia Village is next to the Yellow River, and in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, about 25 kilometers away from Lajia Village, there is a place called Jishi Gorge."

"During the geological survey of Jishixia, our team accidentally saw some special debris and collected them for research."

"Soon, we confirmed that these debris were sediments from a huge outburst flood in ancient times."

"If we get in touch with the red sediments found during the archaeological excavation of the Lajia site, the situation will be very clear."

"The situation at that time should be like this."

"A strong earthquake triggered a large-scale landslide in Jishixia. The landslide blocked the Yellow River for 6 to 9 months, forming a huge barrier lake and blocking the Yellow River."

"This blockage, after nine months of continuous increase in water volume, led to the collapse of the barrier lake, as many as 110 billion to 160 billion cubic meters of lake water were discharged rapidly in a short period of time, forming a huge flood."

"The Lajia ruins should have suffered a large-scale earthquake and then a monstrous flood within less than a year."

"Encountered two super-large natural disasters in a row, directly erasing the Lajia tribe 4000 years ago from this world."

(End of this chapter)