In the northeast of the central urban area of Zhengzhou, Henan Province, there is a large ancient settlement site containing four archaeological cultures of Yangshao, Longshan, Xia and Shang, which is the site of Dahe Village in Zhengzhou.
More than 6000 years ago, in Zhengzhou on the bank of the river, the ancestors painted colorful patterns on pottery, such as sun patterns, moon patterns, halo patterns, comet patterns, etc., so the village they lived in was called "the village under the stars".
Dahecun Site is a landmark site of the origin of Chinese civilization and the most wonderful part of the Yellow River culture. In the middle of May, the reporter followed the centralized interview team of "Walking in Henan, Understanding China" to the Dahe Village site to explore the "village under the stars" and decipher the production, life and artistic creation of the ancestors thousands of years ago.
What was the "three rooms and one hall" 5000 years ago
One day in the autumn of 1964, a villager from nearby Yanghuai Village dug a sweet potato cellar on the granite in the northeast of the village, found a bronze mirror with complex patterns, and reported the situation to the cultural relics department.
Zhengzhou Museum immediately sent people to the scene to investigate, and found a large number of relics such as braised earth, pottery, stone tools, etc. scattered on the ground. It is preliminarily judged that this is a prehistoric site.
In October 1972, the archaeological excavation work of Dahe Village site officially kicked off, and the real face was gradually revealed.
Hu Jizhong, curator of the Dahe Village Heritage Museum, said that the Dahe Village Heritage Site covers an area of about 530000 square meters, and the cultural layer is 12.5 meters thick, including Yangshao Culture, Longshan Culture, Erlitou Culture and Shang Culture. From 6800-3500 years ago, various cultures in the Dahe Village site have continued to develop at the same location for a longer time than other ancient sites.
Hu Jizhong introduced that Dahecun Site is a complete epitome of the development of ancient culture in Zhengzhou. Among them, the remains of Yangshao culture in Dahecun site have lasted for more than 2400 years, covering the whole process of Yangshao culture from its birth to its demise. It can be used as a benchmark for the study of the development of Yangshao culture in the Central Plains, and has important reference value.
In the Dahe Village Heritage Museum, the reporter saw the Yangshao Culture housing foundation F1-F4 unearthed from the Dahe Village Heritage Site, which can be called the most luxurious "three rooms and one hall" more than 5000 years ago. It is also the most well preserved prehistoric residential site found so far in China.
"Although it has been more than 5000 years, the foundation of this house still has a complete plane layout and walls more than 1 meter high. There are fire benches, fire walls, and even thresholds in the house. With wood as the skeleton, the wall is built by wrapping wood bones with grass mixed with mud. Both sides are polished with fine mud. After burning with a big fire, the house is paved with straw. The house is warm in winter and cool in summer, damp proof and damp proof." Zhang Shengfang, a commentator at the Dahe Village Heritage Museum, explained.
The Yangshao Culture site, known as the earliest "three rooms and one hall", is of great significance for studying the history of ancient Chinese architecture, discussing the organizational structure of the society at that time, and the development of marriage and family.
Hu Jizhong introduced that the Yangshao period cultural base of Dahe Village site was the best preserved house in the archaeological excavation of the same period in the country, and its pattern laid the basic shape of traditional residential buildings in northern China, which was a milestone in the history of ancient Chinese architecture.
The earliest astronomical material data
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the discovery of Dahe Village site. Over the past 60 years, a succession of major archaeological discoveries have emerged from this land.
Hu Jizhong believed that the most typical and distinctive relics unearthed at the Dahe Village site should be painted pottery.
It is reported that the painted pottery unearthed in the Dahe Village site is unique in Yangshao culture. The famous painted pottery double connected pot was unearthed here, which is a representative artifact of Yangshao culture in China.
"The newly unearthed painted pottery basin in white clothes is not only famous for its large size, elegant shape and complicated patterns, but also the emergence of the 'mending' technique, which greatly advances the history of the mending technique of ceramics in China," said Zhang Shengfang.
Hu Jizhong believed that the painted pottery unearthed at the Dahe Village site has outstanding data value and specimen value for studying the development and style of painted pottery.
"In particular, some patterns related to astronomy, such as the sun pattern, the moon pattern, the halo pattern and the comet pattern, are the earliest astronomical material materials found in China at present." Zhang Shengfang said, "It is about 2000 years earlier than the astronomical data in the oracle bone inscriptions of the Yin and Shang dynasties, and has very important scientific value for studying the generation of ancient astronomy and calendars in China."
In addition, various decorations unearthed from the Dahe Village site are practical in shape and ingenious in conception, reflecting the overall understanding of aesthetics by the ancestors at that time.
"From the perspective of art noumenon, the primitive painted pottery and various decorations created by the ancestors of Dahe Village, although their techniques are still relatively naive and crude, reveal people's pure aesthetic appreciation and simple desire, and are the most pure artistic creation closest to the origin of human nature," said Zhang Shengfang.
Earthquake traces such as earthquake cracks found at Dahe Village site
Yang Meng, assistant librarian of Zhengzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said that since 1972, Dahecun site has gone through three stages of excavation. In the third stage since 2018, a total of 6 archaeological excavations have been carried out, and important relics such as trenches, city walls and earthquake cracks have been found.
Yang Meng said that Dahecun Site was an important military town in the east of the ancient Heluo State, and the discovery of its site filled a new gap in the study of the site layout and defense system during the Yangshao period. "This series of important archaeological discoveries has important academic significance in exploring the social organization structure of the origin and early development of civilization, as well as foreign cultural exchange and research and other related issues."
It is worth mentioning that archaeologists have also found many earthquake relics. Through observation of earthquake cracks and other phenomena, they found that there were at least two earthquakes in different periods, one of which was even no less than magnitude 6.
Yang Meng believes that various types of earthquake relics provide important information for understanding the layout of the site during its use and the rise and fall of the site, as well as empirical data for the impact of ancient geological disasters in Zhengzhou urban area on the changes of prehistoric settlements.
"The discovery and excavation of the Dahecun site has provided very important material materials for the study of neolithic archaeology in China and the development sequence of Yangshao culture in Zhengzhou area, as well as for the exploration of the long history from primitive society to slave society in China," said Hu Jizhong.
Pan Zhixian, reporter of China Youth Daily, China Youth Network Source: China Youth Daily
