Master Archaeologist

Chapter 347 Liangzhu
"Yu Hang?"

Chen Han shouted in surprise: "Are we going to the Liangzhu site?"

Kong Jianwen nodded with a smile: "Many new ruins have been discovered in this year's excavation season in Liangzhu. The most important thing is that we have discovered the ruins of the meaning capital or the palace. We are going to support and help with the excavation!"

The Liangzhu civilization is a regional ancient civilization in the area around Taihu Lake, about 5300-4300 years ago.

In archaeology, it is generally classified as the late Neolithic age.

Because the first discovery and typical ruins are in Liangzhu, Yuhang, it is called Liangzhu Culture.

The earliest investigation and excavation of the Liangzhu site by Shi Xingeng in 1936 found a large number of black pottery and stone tools. At the time when the Yangshao Culture and Longshan Culture had been established in the Yellow River Basin, these remains were considered to be the transmission of the Longshan Culture to the southeast. one.

Xia Nai proposed the name Liangzhu Culture in 1959 to distinguish it from the remains of the Longshan period in other places.

In 1973, for the first time in Caoxie Mountain, Wuxian County, tombs with large jade ritual objects such as jade cong and jade bi were discovered, and the jade objects of Liangzhu Culture began to be gradually recognized.

Previously, similar handed down items had been regarded as relics from the Zhou and Han Dynasties. The discovery of the jade ritual vessels of the Liangzhu Culture brought the Huaxia jade ritual vessel culture from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties to three generations ago!
From the late 80s to the early 90s, high-level cemeteries of the Liangzhu Culture were discovered in Fanshan, Yaoshan, and Huiguanshan, and Liangzhu altars were confirmed for the first time. At the same time, a large-scale artificially built earthen platform was discovered in Mojiaoshan.

So far, the status of the Liangzhu site group in the Liangzhu culture and even the entire Chinese prehistoric culture has been established, and it has become an important object of discussion for the study of the origin of Chinese civilization.

Subsequently, important Liangzhu city sites were discovered in 2006-2007.

From 2009 to 2014, it was confirmed that the long terraces distributed in the north, east, and south of Liangzhu Ancient City formed the Waiguo City, with a total area of ​​6.3 square kilometers.

In this way, more than 100 ruins found in the past are organically combined into a whole.

After connecting these sites widely distributed among the three towns of Liangzhu, Pingyao and Anxi in modern Yuhang County, they are connected in series.

The academic circles have a relatively comprehensive understanding of the connotation of Liangzhu culture, and many scholars believe that civilization or country can be used to summarize its social development level.

The Yuhang area of ​​Hangzhou, where the Liangzhu site is located, is surrounded by the remaining veins of Tianmu Mountain on the north, west, and south sides. It is a "C"-shaped basin with an area of ​​about 20 square kilometers, 40 kilometers from north to south, and 1000 kilometers from east to west. , to the east is the open Hangjia Lake Plain.

The location can be said to be unique.

Human activities began in this area about 7000 years ago.

The known cultural sequence of the Neolithic Age is: Majiabang Culture-Songze Culture-Liangzhu Culture-Qianshanyang Culture.

However, there were only a few ruins during the Majiabang period and the Songze period, and it suddenly increased to more than 5300 ruins around 100 years ago, when the Songze culture developed into the Liangzhu culture.

If you think about it carefully, it should be in the wild era 5000 years ago, surrounded by mountains on three sides in the middle of the great plain, which is especially suitable for the reproduction of civilization.

It is especially suitable for a civilization like Liangzhu that has developed farming culture.

During the Liangzhu Culture period, rice farming has been quite advanced.

Rice is divided into indica and japonica, and stone plows and stone sickles are commonly used.

Handicrafts of Liangzhu Culture also achieved high levels of achievement. Jade production, pottery production, woodworking, bamboo weaving, and silk and linen weaving all reached a relatively high level.

Especially the carved jade, its quantity, rich variety, and exquisite carving have reached the peak of prehistoric jade.

The theme of the decoration on the jadeware is the god-man-beast pattern, which is the embodiment and belief of the Liangzhu ancestors' concept of "the unity of man and nature", and has gradually become the core of Chinese traditional culture.

Many carved symbols appeared on jade and pottery, and these symbols are close to the characters of Shang and Zhou Dynasties in shape, which is an important sign that Liangzhu culture entered the civilization era.

Zhejiang archaeologists have successively discovered the cemetery of the dignitaries of Fanshan, the altars and cemeteries of Yaoshan and Huiguanshan, the foundation site of a giant building in Mojiaoshan, the "earth wall" in Tangshan, and a large number of ruins in Liangzhu and Pingyao. Village ruins and cemeteries from the Liangzhu period.

So far, 135 sites of various types have been discovered, and together they constitute a densely distributed, multi-type, and high-standard site community.

Scholars call it the "Liangzhu site", which is the center of the entire Liangzhu culture, a "sacred place" for exploring the origin of Chinese civilization and demonstrating the 5000-year-old Chinese civilization.

It can be determined from the evolution of civilization that Liangzhu represents the origin of rice farming civilization in southern China, especially in the wetlands of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

This is different from the civilizations produced under the economic model dominated by dry farming in the Central Plains and most parts of the world, and it is unique.

As we all know, in the early days of the northern Chinese civilization, dry farming such as chestnut millet was planted, and then wheat was changed. This has always been the food culture in the north.

In the south, rice is grown, and it also started to develop very early.

In the past, the archaeological community has always been unclear when the southern Chinese people first developed rice culture.

Now I know that it is the Liangzhu culture more than 5000 years ago.

Of course, this refers to the development of a mature rice culture.

What is mature rice culture?
Of course, the development of farming fields, rice seeds, and agricultural tools can be regarded as a complete farming culture.

If only the discovery of "rice" is used as the standard, carbonized rice 7000 years ago or even earlier can indeed be found.

But this can only prove that the Chinese ancestors had eaten rice very early, but it cannot prove that a mature rice farming system had been developed at that time.

Because in the wild era 5000 years ago, or even 1 years ago, even if the ancient ancestors did not master rice cultivation, they could still live by collecting all kinds of wild rice in the wild.

That is, they live by gathering and hunting.

This is also a common human lifestyle in the Paleolithic and Early Neolithic periods.

It was not until the late Neolithic period that real farming culture began to develop, and humans began to farm their own fields, harvest and collect regularly.

The Liangzhu civilization is the beginning of the rice farming civilization in the Huaxia wetlands!
It is the first Chinese civilization to discover mature rice fields and agricultural tools!
Since the period of Hemudu and Majiabang cultures, this area has gradually formed a complex economy utilizing fresh water resources, which includes rice as a single crop, fish as a source of protein, and water chestnut, Gorgon fruit, gourd, melon, etc. Develop horticultural economy.

In the Liangzhu stage, the agricultural form of "rice, rice, soup and fish" in this area further reached the level of intensive farming through the establishment of the farm tool system and the development of the paddy field system.

The combination of mature stone implements such as stone plows, earth breakers, sickles, knives (harvest tools) unique to Liangzhu culture.

The scale and water management system of the paddy field system revealed by the excavation of the Maoshan site on the east side of the site group.

All of these can be directly compared with the traditional paddy field economy in the historical period or even modern times.

From this level, the achievements of Liangzhu culture in rice farming are unique and advanced in the Chinese Neolithic Age and even in the cultures of the same period in the world!

It can be said that the Liangzhu civilization was already a world-leading civilization 5000 years ago!

The fact that Chinese civilization has been ahead of the world for 4700 years is indeed true!
(End of this chapter)