Oldest, Largest Primitive Village Unearthed In North China

¡¡¡¡HOHHOT, Oct. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- A 8,200-year-old village of Xinglongwa Culture was recently discovered in the Aohan Banner, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

¡¡¡¡The oldest village site so far discovered in China, it is also the largest and most well-preserved, announced the archeologists whose excavation of the Xinglonggou Site near the Xiliao River came to a close Oct. 25.

¡¡¡¡According to Liu Guoxiang, assistant researcher with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 11 house foundations, 10 graves and 12 ash pits were found there.

¡¡¡¡The foundations unearthed are half-underground rectangular caves dug on immature loess. Judging from their orderly arrangement and size, Liu said the village must have been very majestic, which dates the county's cultural history back more than 8,000 years.

¡¡¡¡Before the excavation began, surveys on the surface of the land indicated at least 150 house foundations.

¡¡¡¡According to Liu, these ancient people appeared to be of different social ranks because the house bases are different in both size and style.

¡¡¡¡It is hypothesized that the owners of the No. 22 house foundation, which is the largest and most different in style, must be the most respected.

¡¡¡¡Many finds, including vertical shafts, pottery and jade ware and other ornaments excavated from the foundation are of great archeological value, Liu said.

¡¡¡¡For instance, the vertical shafts, 20 pieces of pottery and two huge millstones and grinding implements will help archeologists to replicate the past and study the village's architectural structure.

¡¡¡¡The find of four skeletons in the foundation, the first of its kind from the Xinglongwa Culture, will help scientists learn about the house's residents if DNA tests are carried out.

¡¡¡¡Items made of shells only existent in the sea were also found for the first time at the site, Liu said, indicating the ancient people there were in touch either directly or indirectly with people living in the coastal areas.

¡¡¡¡Another find, three pieces of delicate jade, the oldest so far dug up in China, takes the country's history of jade carving and polishing back to the middle of the Neolithic age.

¡¡¡¡Seven ornaments made of animal bones, skull, stones and shells were unearthed, which may provide archeologists with important reference and evidence for the study of ancient people's religiousbeliefs.

¡¡¡¡The Xinglonggou site situated around the Xiliao River Valley ishome to three separate cultures, the Xinglongwa Culture, the Hongshan Culture and the Xiajiadian Pottery Culture. Archeologists said this will help them study the relationship between and the development of different cultures. End item

NEOLITHIC

The Paleolithic Age ended about 12,000 years ago when our ancestors began to walk out of chaos and started the Neolithic Age in which appeared the farming culture, pottery manufacture and stone grinding skills, and emerged settled communities based on the development of architectural technology. The continuous advancement of archaeology of the Neolithic Age has revealed a world of early farmers, which was unknown to us before.

In 1921 Andersson, a Swedish scholar discovered a Neolithic site at Yangshao Village in Mianchi County, Henan Province. This ushered in the archaeological studies of the Neolithic Age in China. Up to the end of 1940s archaeologists had known the "Black Pottery Culture" in eastern China, the "Painted Pottery Culture" in central and western China, the "Microlithic Culture" in northern China and the "Printing Line Pottery Culture" in southern China. In 1950-1960s, archaeologists concentrated themselves on a great amount of excavation and research work along the Yellow River valley, and several new cultures were also established successively in other regions such as the Daxi Culture of the lower reaches of the Yellow River and the Majiayao Culture in the lower and upper reach of the Yellow River.

From the 1970s fieldwork of early Neolithic along the Yellow River gained breaking-through development and new discoveries appeared successively in northeast China, along the Changjiang River and in south China. A number of cultures of the early Yangshao period including the Laoguantai Culture, the Cishan Culture, the Peiligang Culture and the Houli Culture were established along the Yellow River. Important discoveries in other regions mainly included the Beixin Culture and Dawenkou Culture in the east, the Hemudu Culture in the southeast, the Chengbeixi Culture and Pengtoushan Culture in the central south, the Shixia (Stone Gorge) Culture in south China, the Karo Culture in the southwest, and the Xinglongwa Culture, Zhaobaogou Culture and Xinle Culture in the northeast and so on.

The Neolithic culture in China developed to about 4 thousand years ago when the Stone Age ended and the Bronze Age began. In this long course of development, the prehistoric mankind gained surprising achievement; primal agriculture greatly developed, domesticated animals popularized, pottery industry gaining constant progress, jade manufacture beginning to rise and play an important part in social life; in late Neolithic age early bronze wares beginning to appear and with architectural skills gradually maturing human living conditions gaining obvious improvement and buildings of higher standard having appeared, distinctive difference of wealth and poverty appearing in society, was aimed at plundering getting constant and group after group of castles of all sizes having emerged.

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