Yuyao Hemudu is called

Early Neolithic site in southern China, a national key cultural relic protection unit. Located in the northeast of Hemudu Village, Luojiang Township, Yuyao City, with an area of about 40,000 square meters, excavation began on 1973. Hemudu Site is located in Hemudu Town, Yuyao City, about 20 kilometers away from Ningbo City. It is one of the earliest Neolithic cultural sites discovered in China.

Hemudu site was found in 1973, with a total area of 40,000 square meters and four cultural layers overlapping. The minimum age has been determined to be 7000 years ago. Through the two scientific excavations of 1973 and 1977, nearly 7,000 cultural relics, such as production tools, daily necessities, decorative handicrafts, artificially planted rice remains, dry column building components, animal and plant remains, were found, which fully reflected the prosperity of China's primitive society in the matriarchal clan period. The excavation of Hemudu site provides extremely precious physical evidence for the study of eastern civilizations such as agriculture, architecture, textiles and art at that time, and is one of the most important archaeological discoveries since the founding of the People's Republic of China. The cultural relics unearthed from Hemudu site have been exhibited abroad for many times, which deeply shocked the whole world.

Hemudu site is a world-famous Neolithic site with a total area of about 40,000 square meters and a thickness of about four meters. There are four cultural layers stacked on top of each other, and the age of the fourth cultural layer is about 7000 years ago, which is one of the earliest Neolithic strata discovered in China. The third and fourth cultural layers have preserved a large number of plant remains, animal remains, wooden building remains and components, as well as thousands of pottery, bone utensils, stone tools, wood products and so on.

Neolithic culture in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China. Hemudu Site in Yuyao County, Zhejiang Province was first discovered, so it was named 1976. It is mainly distributed in the Ning (Bo) Shao (Xing) Plain on the south bank of Hangzhou Bay, facing Zhoushan Island across the sea. According to radiocarbon dating and correction, the age is about 5000 ~ 3300 BC. The discovery and establishment of Hemudu culture expanded the research field of Neolithic archaeology in China, indicating that splendid and ancient Neolithic culture also existed in the Yangtze River basin.

At present, the only large-scale excavation of this culture is Hemudu Site. Under the auspices of Zhejiang Cultural Management Committee and Zhejiang Museum, two excavations were conducted in 1973 ~ 1974 and 1977 ~ 1978 respectively. 1982 the State Council was declared as a national key cultural relics protection unit. In addition, the late Hemudu cultural remains have been found in Chen Jiao, Yinxian, Zhejiang, Baziqiao, Zhoushan, Bai Quan, Daju and other places.

Hemudu Site is located in Jinwumiao Village, Hemudu Town (formerly Langshuqiao Village, Luojiang Township). It was discovered by local farmers when they built a drainage station in the summer of 1973, with a total area of about 40,000 square meters. Four cultural layers are stacked from bottom to top. According to the carbon 14 laboratory in Peking University, the fourth cultural layer is about 7000-6500 years ago, the third cultural layer is about 6500-6000 years ago, and the second cultural layer is about 6000-5500 years ago. The site was excavated twice in 1973 and 1977, with a total area of 2,630 square meters. More than 6,700 cultural relics such as production tools, household utensils and original works of art have been unearthed, as well as rich cultivated rice, large wooden building remains, bones of wild animals and livestock hunted, collected plant fruits and a few tombs. All these provide extremely precious material data for studying the origin of ancient agriculture, architecture, ceramics, textiles, art and oriental civilization in China and the evolution of paleogeography, paleoclimate and paleohydrology. The cultural relics unearthed at the first and second cultural layers of Hemudu site are similar to those unearthed at the lower layer of Qiu Cheng site in Huzhou and Majiabin site in Jiaxing suburb. The cultural relics unearthed in the third and fourth cultural layers are newly discovered in our province, with relatively developed mortise and tenon technology, and their production and living standards are in a leading position in contemporary sites in China. Therefore, it is a brand-new archaeological culture, temporarily named Hemudu. After the discovery of Hemudu site, it caused great repercussions in academic circles at home and abroad. In order to make it public as soon as possible,1April 1976, National Cultural Heritage Administration and Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Bureau held a "symposium on the first excavation of Hemudu site" (actually a seminar). Experts and scholars from Beijing, Shanghai, Shaanxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Anhui and Zhejiang, as well as representatives from Yuyao County and Luojiang Township, believed that the discovery of Hemudu site proved that the Yangtze River basin was in 700 years. This is the most important archaeological discovery since the founding of New China, and they agreed to name it Hemudu Culture. 1980- 198 1 year, Zhejiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, together with relevant municipal and county cultural management committees, conducted a general survey of Neolithic sites in Ningshaoping. In recent years, some sites have been discovered in capital construction. Up to now, 47 Hemudu cultural sites have been discovered, distributed in the coastal areas south of Qiantang River and Zhoushan Islands, among which Yaojiang Plain is the most dense.

trait

Pottery is mainly carbon black pottery, sand red pottery and red gray pottery. In addition to plain pottery, it is also popular to cross-print rope patterns on the bottom of pots. The wide side of pottery is often engraved with geometric patterns such as parallel stripes, waves, circles, leaves and ears, and occasionally painted pottery with dark brown patterns on a white background. With a flat bottom and a bottom cover as the main body. Representative utensils are kettle, kettle, bowl with handle, wide-brimmed saucer, hanging bag, foot and so on. The pottery pot used for supporting feet has always been the main cooker of Hemudu culture. Bone tools are very rich, especially in the early days, the number of bone tools far exceeded the sum of stone tools, wood products, pottery and other tools. As far as we know, it is unique to the Neolithic culture in China. The woodwork is exquisite and diverse. Trapezoidal asymmetric blade stone axe, arch-backed thick-body stone hairpin, bone chisel, inclined collar bone chisel, tubular bone needle, bone whistle, wooden spear and wooden knife are all unique artifacts. A large number of mortise and tenon wood components and dry fence architectural remains show the residential characteristics of Hemudu culture.

The 4th and 3rd floors and the 2nd and 1 floors of Hemudu site represent the early and late Hemudu culture respectively. ① Early period: about 5000 ~ 4000 years ago. The pottery system is simple, and the pottery with carbon black is absolutely dominant. In addition to plain noodles, there are many rope patterns, geometric patterns and animal and plant patterns are more prominent. The main types of utensils are convergent or open-shouldered spinal kettle, straight-mouthed bucket kettle, large-mouthed jug with two ears at the neck, wide-edged shallow dish, inclined abdominal basin, annular single-handle bowl, large ring bean, pot-shaped retort, block leg and so on. There are few kinds of stone tools, which are generally not polished well. Axes and hoes are thick, and the main stone tools have no holes. ② Late stage: about 4000 ~ 3300 years ago. The number of sand red pottery and red gray pottery is the largest. The front muddy red pottery has a red outer wall and a black inner wall, and red pottery clothes are often applied; The muddy red pottery in the back section is the same color inside and outside, and is rarely painted with pottery. Along the rope pattern, there is a hole pattern. New tripod, floor-standing handle, bipedal abnormity, hanging bag type. Other main shapes are cockscomb ear pot, Kaiping belly pot, cow nose ear pot, flanging pot, perforated bean, hollow inclined leg and so on. Stone tools have been polished in many ways, and there have been flat-strip stone hairpin, perforated stone axe, rectangular double-hole stone knife, stone spinning wheel and so on.

The cultural relics found in Hemudu site have the characteristics of large quantity and rich types, which provide more comprehensive materials for studying people's production and life during the prosperity of clan commune seven or eight thousand years ago. For example, there are as many as 400,000 pieces of pottery unearthed in two excavations, which is beyond the reach of other Neolithic sites compared with the same excavation area. Another example is the unearthed spinning wheel, winding rod, diameter divider, warp beam, machine knife, shuttle, bone needle and other textile tools. According to these parts, the loom at that time can be restored, but other sites are not so specific. Its cultural characteristics are mainly manifested in rice planting, dry fence construction, textile and water transportation.

(1) Tillage: In most of the pits excavated twice in Hemudu Site, 20-50 cm thick accumulation layers of rice, chaff, rice leaves, stems, sawdust and reeds were found, with the thickest part reaching 80 cm. When rice is unearthed, it has golden color, clear glume and straight ears. Experts have identified it as a hybrid variety of cultivated rice, mainly indica rice (accounting for more than 60%). A large number of farm tools, mainly bones, were unearthed with rice, including 170 pieces, of which two bones still had wooden handles and bound rattan. The function of bone plough is similar to the shovel of later generations, and it is a farm tool to turn over the soil, which shows that Hemudu primitive rice farming has entered the "ploughing stage". At that time, paddy fields were distributed in the north and east of the excavation area, covering an area of about 6 hectares, and the highest total output was 18438+0 tons.

The origin of agriculture shows that human society has developed from a single predatory economy to a productive economy. This change has expanded the sources of food and laid the material foundation for human development, so it is of great significance in the history of human development. The discovery of primitive rice cultivation in Hemudu corrected the traditional view that japonica rice cultivated in China was introduced from Indian and indica rice was introduced from Japanese, and established the pluralistic view that cultivated rice in China originated from native land, which not only had 1 origin, but also greatly broadened the research field of agricultural origin. The discovery of artificially cultivated rice in Hemudu site shows that agriculture was not invented by any saint, but the result of human progress, which is conducive to people's establishment of dialectical materialist view of history and mass.

(2) Gan Lan-style architecture: A large number of Gan Lan-style architectural remains were found within the two excavations of Hemudu site, especially at the bottom of the fourth cultural layer, with the largest distribution area and the largest number. From a distance, they are dense and spectacular. According to the arrangement and trend of piles, construction experts estimate that there are at least six buildings in the fourth cultural layer, including a building with a length of more than 23 meters and a depth of 6.4 meters, and a corridor with a width of 1.3 meters under the eaves. The long house can be divided into several small rooms for a large family to live in. The cleaned components mainly include stakes, floors, columns, beams, fang, etc. Some components have tenons and mortises, and there are about hundreds of them. It can be seen that tenon-mortise technology was used at the vertical intersection of houses at that time. Hemudu site was built on the basis of large and small wooden stakes, on which large and small beams were erected, floors were laid, and the pedestal was made higher than the ground. Then, erect columns, build a herringbone roof and complete the roof truss. Finally, the fence facilities are made of reed mats or bark. Among them, the column method may also be tied with piles and wood to stand up from the ground. This kind of longhouse building with a long corridor on its head was called Ganlan building in ancient times. Adapted to the humid and rainy geographical environment in southern China, it was inherited by later generations. Today, such buildings can still be seen in the rural areas of southwest China and Southeast Asian countries. Building a huge dry fence building is far more complicated than the semi-crypt building of residents in the Yellow River basin at the same time. A huge amount of wood needs to be planned by special personnel, classified and processed after calculation, and someone needs to direct the construction on the spot, otherwise the house with seven heights and eight low twists and turns is not solid. Architectural technology shows that the IQ of Hemudu people is as high as that of modern people.

(3) The emergence of textile, transportation and painting techniques: The number and types of textile tools unearthed from Hemudu site are rare in Neolithic site archaeology. The largest number is spinning wheels, with more than 300 pieces. The texture is mainly pottery, but also stone and wood. The most common shape is oblate, and a few sections are trapezoidal. There are warp beams, split beams, winding rods, toothed devices, machine knives, shuttles and so on. Textile experts believe that these are parts of the original loom. There are more than 90 bone needles used for sewing. The smallest bone needle is only 9 cm long, with a diameter of 0.2 cm and a pinhole of 0. 1 cm, which is similar to today's large steel needle. Judging from the unearthed reed weave patterns and exquisite patterns on the utensils, the fabrics at that time were herringbone patterns and diamond patterns with the same number of latitude and longitude lines. Eight wooden paddles unearthed from Hemudu site are made of logs, which are similar to those of later generations, but slightly smaller. There must be a boat with oars. It is speculated that Hemudu people have been rowing canoes to fish and collect diamonds in the lake, which may also be used as a means of transportation for inter-clan communication. There are more than 20 lacquerware found in Hemudu site. In the early days, natural paint was applied to the surface of wood, and later red minerals were mixed into the natural paint to make the color of the utensils more vivid. One of the representative works is the wooden tire lacquer bowl unearthed in the third cultural layer.

(4) Discover the original artworks represented by ivory carving: The original artworks found in Hemudu site can be divided into two categories: pure artworks that exist independently and decorative arts that are carved on the surface of vessels and have practicality and appreciation, and the latter category is mostly, which fully shows the aesthetic taste and civilization of Hemudu people. The most famous work of art is the ivory carving with the pattern of "two birds facing the sun". It is 16 cm long, 5.9 cm wide and about 1 cm thick, and looks like a bird's nest. The center of the object is carved with five concentric circles, and the upper part of the outer circle is carved with flame patterns. There is a bird with round eyes and a beak on each side. The layout of the picture is rigorous, the lines are combined with reality, and the picture has profound implications. Some people say that it symbolizes the sun, while others think that birds are hatching eggs, symbolizing the worship of life and reproduction. It shows that this artifact has strong religious significance, and the primitive ancestors had a complicated spiritual life.

geographical environment

Siming Mountain in the south of Hemudu, Cinan Mountain in the middle of Yaojiang Plain in the north and Wushi Mountain, Yangjiaojian Mountain and Yunshan Mountain in the north-south direction in the east form a huge I-shaped mountain range. This landform, such as the groin thrown out in the reclamation project today, has a great role in promoting siltation and landing. 1000 years ago, during the large-scale transgression in the early Holocene, the northern foot of Siming Mountain became a shallow sea. After being transported here, the sediment descending from the Yangtze River estuary was deposited by I-type landform, which made the deposition speed in Hemudu area faster than its wings. When the reunification began, Hemudu naturally became land first. According to the age of 8020 when the shell layer was found at 3 1 m underground in Zhenxi Village, Tang Di, it is speculated that regression occurred around 7500, so Hemudu was indeed the highland in front of Siming Mountain 7000 years ago. During the research, the results of paleontology, sporopollen, soil granularity and salt content in the geological soil samples of Hemudu site commissioned by Nanjing University confirmed the research conclusions of the research group.

According to the analysis of sporopollen data and archaeological excavation data of Hemudu site, the climate of Hemudu 7000 years ago was warmer and wetter than it is now, with an average temperature of 3-4℃ higher and an annual rainfall of about 500 mm more than it is now, similar to that of Guangdong, southwestern Guangxi and Hainan Island. The biggest geographical difference is that there is no Yaojiang barrier in the south of the site, and only Lingzhiliu flows in the southwest of the site. The east of the site is plain, and the west and north are adjacent to Hemudu-Zhang Ting-Erliu Lake. Hemudu is located in the complex environment of lakes, swamps, plains, grasslands, hills, so the animal and plant resources here are particularly rich, which is very beneficial to the production and life of Hemudu ancestors. It is worth mentioning that when Hemudu landed, the two wings of the I-shaped landform, that is, the west of Yuyao City and the east of the western suburbs of Ningbo City, were still in shallow waters, and the fluctuation of seawater regularly pushed the lake up and down, creating self-irrigation conditions for Hemudu people's rice fields, so that Hemudu people could get the most rice with the least investment. Therefore, Hemudu people can spare more time and labor to build huge dry fence buildings and have time to develop textile and lacquer wood production. A good natural environment is the key factor for the prosperity of Hemudu culture, and Hemudu people's understanding and utilization of all things in nature is the decisive factor.

economic development

(1) Agriculture and animal husbandry: Rice remains are widely found in the fourth floor of Hemudu. In some places, rice, rice husk, stems and leaves are mixed with each other to form a 0.2-0.5m thick accumulation layer, and the thickest part exceeds1m. The large quantity and good preservation are rare in the archaeological history of Neolithic age in China. After identification, it mainly belongs to cultivated rice subspecies indica late rice. It and the Mi and Majiabang cultures unearthed at Luojiajiao site in Tongxiang are all 5,000 years ago. It is the earliest two boxes of rice in China and the oldest cultivated rice in the world. It is of great significance to discuss the origin of rice cultivation in China and its position in the history of rice cultivation in the world. The representative farmers of Hemudu culture have bones, and hundreds of them have been unearthed in Hemudu alone. It is made of the shoulder blades of deer and buffalo. Generally, the shoulder mortar is nailed horizontally, and the bones are thin without nails. Instead, polish the shoulder mortar into a half-moon shape, carve a vertical groove in the middle of the crown front and drill a hole on both sides. It is also found that the wooden handle is mounted on the bone, the lower end is embedded in the groove, the horizontal rod is wrapped and bound with rattan, and the top end is made into a T-shaped or triangular hand-grasping hole. In addition, there are wooden stakes, perforated stone axes, double-hole stone knives and rice pestles nearly 1 meter long.

Livestock mainly include pigs and dogs. Broken pig bones and teeth can be seen everywhere, and fat pottery pigs and pig patterns carved on square pottery bowls are also found. There is a pottery basin engraved with the grain of rice ears and the image of pigs, which generally reflects the dependence of animal husbandry on agriculture. In addition, many buffalo bones have been unearthed, and the cattle may have been domesticated.

(2) Fishing and hunting: A large number of wild animal bones have been unearthed in Hemudu, including more than 40 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and mollusks. Most of them are sika deer, water deer, four elephants (elk), muntjac, roe deer and other deer animals, and there are more than 400 antlers alone. There are also many bones of birds, fish, turtles and turtles. There are also few animal remains in warm areas, such as Asian elephant, Suman rhinoceros and red-faced monkey. There are more than 1000 kinds of bone cymbals, which are characterized by long or short oblique cymbals, asymmetrical collars, narrow and long wicker cymbals and blunt or sharp conical cymbals. No fishing gear such as net drop was found, but there were a lot of fishbones, some of which were used for fishing at the same time. Other fishing and hunting tools include wooden spears and bone fish darts. The discovery of the handle-leaf conjoined wooden paddle shows that the ship has been used for transportation and may also be used for fishing activities. The bone whistle made of holes in the bird bone tube is not only a musical instrument, but also can be used to trap animals when hunting.

(3) Primitive handicraft industry: the pottery with carbon black is the most distinctive. Especially in the early days, both cooking utensils and eating utensils belonged to this kind of pottery. The tire mud is pure, and the iron content is only about 1.5%. A large number of rice hulls and rice stems and leaves are used as materials. The craft is primitive, and the utensils are handmade, which is not very regular; According to the test, the sintering temperature is 800 ~ 900℃, and it is made in oxygen-deficient reducing flame. The fetus is thick and loose, light in weight and strong in water absorption. In the later period, it was still hand-made, but it was partially trimmed by slow wheels. Complex shapes such as tripod and foot bag appeared, and the firing temperature of some pottery increased to about 1000℃.

As for weaving, reed mat fragments were found in Hemudu, and the weaving method of two warps and two wefts was adopted. Lightweight wooden spinning wheels, as well as pottery and stone spinning wheels of different sizes. It can be used for yarn stretching and twisting. We also found a wooden beating-up knife, a long wooden toothed device for carding warp yarns and a cloth winding shaft with notches at both ends, which may belong to the original waist machine.

Hemudu culture has developed bone tools, such as chisel, trowel, fish dart, whistle, cone, needle, tube needle, dagger, dagger, shuttle, saw, chisel and spoon, which are widely used in production and life. There are curtains, pipes, pendants, beads and other decorations. There are also butterfly-shaped vessels (made of wood, stone, bone and ivory), boots and other vessels of unknown use. Polishing is generally fine, and a few with handles and bones are engraved with patterns or double-headed bird patterns, which can be called exquisite and practical handicrafts. There are more than 20 pieces of ivory products, including butterfly-shaped vessels engraved with the images of early birds and two birds, phoenix-shaped dagger-shaped vessels and small cups engraved with woven patterns and silkworm-shaped patterns, which show the exquisite skills at that time.

archaeological finds

(1) phoenix elephant toothed device: Hemudu artificial wood technology is outstanding. In addition, there are wooden chisel, spatula, pestle, spear, paddle, mallet, spinning wheel, wooden knife and other tools. In addition, many handles for installing tools were found, such as bone chisel, stone axe and stone hairpin. A rectangular handle made of forked branches and antlers, the lower part of the fork head is cut into a tenon-shaped binding surface, the left side is bound with a stone axe, and the front side is bound with Shi Mao. Many building wooden components unearthed from Hemudu site are chiseled with tenons, especially the invention and use of dovetail joint, tenons with pin holes and tongue-and-groove plates, which marked the outstanding achievements of wood-making technology at that time. A melon-shaped wooden bowl with a thin layer of cinnabar paint was unearthed on the third floor of Hemudu, which was seriously peeled off and slightly shiny. Identified as raw lacquer, it is the earliest lacquer ware in China so far.

(2) Houses and wells: Hemudu culture is popular with a dry-walled building with a pile frame higher than the ground. Thousands of wooden components related to this architectural relic, such as round piles, square piles, sheet piles, beams, columns and slabs, have been found in all cultural layers of Hemudu site. There are more than 220 wooden stakes and long logs on the 4th floor, which are regularly arranged in four rows, parallel to each other and running from northwest to southeast. The longest existing row of piles is 23 meters long, and the spacing between rows 1, 2 and 3 is roughly equal from southwest to northeast, with a total width of about 7 meters. It is inferred that the indoor area exceeds160m2. The distance between the third row and the fourth row is 1.3 meters, which is located in the front porch aisle facing the northeast. Within the scope of architectural relics, there are fragments of reed mats, many pottery fragments and a large number of discarded plant skins and animal bones after eating. This large-scale dry-column building is a public residence, and the interior is likely to be divided into several small rooms. Gan Lan architecture is one of the important architectural forms in the south of China since the Neolithic Age. Hemudu is the earliest one at present. In addition to the dry-column building, a kind of column-type ground building appeared late in the early stage, in which wooden boards were placed at the bottom of column holes as the foundation, while others were filled and reinforced with stewed soil blocks, clay and broken pottery pieces to form a mortar-shaped column foundation with wooden columns in the middle.

(3) mortise and tenon wood components and tongue-and-groove plates: A shallow wooden well was found on the second floor of Hemudu site. This is the earliest known water well relic in China, and it is also the oldest relic with shaft support structure discovered so far. The well is located in a shallow pit, with a square wellhead, a side length of about 2 meters and a well depth of about 1.35 meters. Dozens of rows of piles are planted close to the four walls in the well, and the inner side is supported by a horizontal box formed by tenon and mortise to prevent dumping. Long logs are laid flat on the top of a row of piles to form the framework of the wellhead. The periphery of the well is a circle of 28 fence piles with a diameter of about 6 meters. In addition, small logs and reed mat fragments with a slightly radial plane were found in the well, indicating that the well was still covered with a well pavilion.

(4) Burial: In the residential area on the 4th floor of Hemudu, two baby urns and coffins were found, which contained clay pots and pots. 1 There are more than 20 tombs on the third floor, but there are no tombs and burial utensils. Only 1 has boards at the bottom. Adults and babies are mostly buried in a single person. They were buried in three tombs, of which 1 was two children. Second-and third-floor tombs are popular for single-person lateral bending limb burial, some of which are bent with their heads facing east or northeast, and most of them have no funerary objects. Burials on the 1 floor are popular with single-person straight-limb burials, and there are also individual straight-limb burials with different heads. Most of them are in the northwest, and there are generally funerary objects, but they are not rich. There are 6 tombs in each of the two tombs with the largest number. Generally, there are pots and beans, and there are few production tools. Generally speaking, the burial methods, head orientation and funerary objects have changed in different periods.

Cultural relations

The early remains of Hemudu culture, represented by the 4th floor of Hemudu site, and Luojiabang culture, represented by the 4th floor of Luojiajiao site, belong to the same type and era, and the pots and pans at the hexagonal mouth of pottery are similar in shape to round mouth ears, indicating that there is a certain relationship between them.

The late Hemudu culture is similar to Majiabang culture and Songze culture (see Songze site). Majiabang developed plain-faced waist-side pot (or wide-brim pot) was rarely seen in the previous stage of Hemudu culture in the late stage. On the contrary, in the late Hemudu culture, the small but distinctive hanging bag type was also found in Majiabang type. In the later period of Hemudu culture, the styles of elongated stone, convex edge carved hole, petal-shaped circle foot and chiseled tripod foot are the same as those of Songze culture. Hemudu culture in the late period may be strongly influenced by Majiabang culture and Songze culture. Some people think that the 4th and 3rd floors of Hemudu site are newly discovered Hemudu culture, while the 2nd and 1 floors belong to Majiabang culture and Songze culture (or named Songze culture separately), and then put forward that Hemudu culture should be developed into Majiabang culture.

The relationship between early and late Hemudu culture and its development direction need to be deeply analyzed on the basis of finding more materials; The nature and attribution of its late remains need further discussion.