Henan province has 14 items listed among the recent-concluded selection of "China's 100 Major Archaeological Discoveries in Last 100 Years", ranking 1st nationwide.
As the 11th Party Congress of Henan Province approaches, we are launching the Archaeological Discovery in Henan: A Marvel in the World series featuring 7 bilingual stories about Henan's 14 items in "China's 100 Major Archaeological Discoveries in Last 100 Years" to demonstrate Henan's long history and rich culture.
Here is the 2nd episode: The Yangshao Site & The Miaodigou Site.
Click on the video above
Located in Yangshao village of Mianchi county, Sanmenxia city, Henan province, the Yangshao Site is 10 kilometers away from the county. With Shaoshan Mountain to its north and rivers to its east, west and south, it is a site of the Yangshao Culture period dating back to some 5,000 to 7,000 years ago in China's Neolithic Age.
The Yangshao Village National Archaeological Site Park. [Photo/Henan Daily]
The Yangshao Culture was named after the Yangshao Site after its first discovery by Johan Gunnar Andersson, a Swedish geologist, in 1921. A large number of stone tools, bone implements, pottery wares and clam artifacts were discovered during the 3 rounds of excavations, providing abundant physical evidence for the study of China's social development and the world's archaeology history.
On March 4, 1961, the Yangshao Site was listed among the first batch of major historical and cultural sites protected at the national level in China.
On September 29, the major findings during the 4th round of excavation at the Yangshao Site were released, including an exquisite ivory bracelet-shaped item, which was discovered for the first time.
Located in the south of Shanzhou, Sanmenxia city, Henan province, the Miaodigou Site, a major historical and cultural site protected at the national level in China, covers an area of 240 thousand square meters and is a site of the Yangshao Culture period and the early Longshan Culture period.
The Miaodigou Yangshao Culture Museum. [Photo/Henan Daily]
The cultural remains can be divided into 2 stages. The first-stage remains (lower layer), known as the Miaodigou Type, belong to the Yangshao Culture period, while those of the 2nd stage (upper layer), known as the Miaodigou Culture Stage II, are a transition from the Yangshao Culture period to the Longshan Culture period, which is a continuation of the Yangshao Culture and later developed to the Longshan Culture in Henan.
Thousands of pieces of pottery wares of the Yangshao Culture and the Longshan Culture unearthed at the Miaodigou Site have become a hit in China's archaeological circle. The discovery of the Miaodigou Site has clarified the relations between the Yangshao Culture and the Longshan Culture, which is of a great value. (Source: dahe.cn Translator: Zhao Hanqing Video & Poster: Wang Junyi Proofreader: Chen Xingjie and Ding Lan)
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