Brief report on excavation of Zhongba site

The amazing archaeological work of Zhongba site first began in the late 1950s. 1987 was rediscovered and confirmed in the general survey of cultural relics in Sichuan province, which immediately attracted great attention and extensive attention from academic circles. During the period of 1997, Sichuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (now Sichuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology) undertook the rescue excavation of the site after the formal implementation of the cultural relics protection and rescue work in the Three Gorges reservoir area. The total amount of cultural relics unearthed from Zhongba site is equivalent to the collection of a large museum in China. Archaeologists also discovered the peculiar "tile coffin burial" in the Tang Dynasty for the first time.

According to experts from Sichuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the excavation of Zhongba site in Zhongxian County has enabled archaeologists to obtain very rich physical materials in different periods, which proves that this site is the most important site in the Three Gorges reservoir area. Its remains can be divided into twelve periods: the late Neolithic Age, Xia, Shang, Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn, Warring States, Western Han, Southern Dynasties, Tang, Song and Qing, which completely shows the uninterrupted history of China since 5,000 years ago. It is worth mentioning that many rare remains and relics in the late Neolithic period provide important and rich physical materials for studying the cultural features of the late Neolithic period in the Three Gorges reservoir area. Experts said that before this, the main cultural relics or relics discovered by the domestic archaeological community either came from a specific era or from dating sites; However, such a "general history" site excavated by Zhongba in Zhongxian County is unprecedented in archaeological discoveries at home and abroad, unique in China and extremely rare in the world. At the same time, this site is also the only salt-making site with the earliest discovery time and the longest duration after formal archaeological excavation in China, which fills the gap of archaeological discovery sites in China.