Ten New Archaeological Discoveries: Opening the "Veil" of Prehistoric Culture along the Southeast Coast
2024-03-25
The top ten new archaeological discoveries in China for 2023 were recently announced in Beijing, and the Pingtan Shell Hill Head Site Group in Fujian is listed. "For the archaeologists who participated in it, it is very exciting!" The news came, and Wang Yongping, the director of the Fujian Provincial Institute of Archaeology, couldn't help but feel excited. "This is the result of more than 30 years of relay efforts by archaeologists, and it is also the driving force for the new generation of archaeologists to move forward." The Keqiutou Site Group is located on Pingtan Island, Fujian, including Keqiutou, Xiying, Donghuaqiu, Guishan and other sites. The archaeological remains of various stages in the archaeological site group provide direct materials for exploring the development, inheritance, exchange, and interaction of prehistoric culture in the southeastern coastal region, as well as the origin and migration of the early Austronesian language family represented by them. In 1985, the Keqiutou Site was first excavated. The excavated relics such as shell pits and tombs, as well as physical materials such as pottery, stones, and bone tools, have been named the "Shell Hill Head Culture". The late Chinese American archaeologist Zhang Guangzhi, after visiting the unearthed cultural relics in 1987, stated that the Keqiutou culture may belong to the same cultural circle as the Fuguodon site in Kinmen and the Daqiankeng culture in Taiwan. "This made archaeologists at that time realize that the archaeology of prehistoric sites along the coast of Fujian is closely related to the study of the origin and spread of the Austronesian language family, and gradually began to pay attention to related research topics," said Fan Xuechun, director of the Pingtan International Academy of Austronesian Language Families. In the past 20 years of the early 21st century, archaeologists conducted a series of exploratory excavations along the coast of Fujian based on their research direction, ultimately targeting Pingtan Island, where the Keqiutou Site is located. Ruins such as Donghuaqiu, Ancestral Temple Houshan, and Guishan have been excavated one after another. In 2020, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences led the Fujian Provincial Institute of Archaeology and Xiamen University to conduct in-depth archaeological excavations and interdisciplinary research on the Keqiutou site group, including the Xiying site discovered in 1992 and four previously excavated sites. Looking at the excavation site of the Shell Hill Head Site Group, the simple and unadorned soil platforms and stones in each exploration area are vivid strokes on the long map of prehistoric settlement evolution. Archaeological discoveries have shown that as time passes from far to near, the remains in the site also undergo corresponding changes. From the oldest Xiying and Ancestral Temple Houshan sites to the Keqiutou site, the ruins have transformed from small settlements dominated by life traces to medium-sized settlements with clear functional distinctions such as residential areas, handicraft areas, and food processing areas. At the Donghuaqiu and Guishan sites, ceremonial areas and public activity areas have emerged outside the living area, marking a new level of civilization in social organization, spiritual expression, and other aspects for the Austronesian language group who lived here around 4000 to 3200 years ago. "The prehistoric settlement forms and their development patterns in the southeastern coastal areas over the past 7000 years can be seen from them," said Wei Changfu, a curator at the Fujian Provincial Institute of Archaeology who participated in the excavation. Thousands of years have erased most traces of organic matter, but through interdisciplinary research, archaeologists have been able to explore the physical characteristics and livelihood patterns of early Austronesian language groups from the subtle aspects of unearthed artifacts. ——Human bones and teeth have been discovered at the Xiying site, and the carbon-14 dating results show that the owners of these human bones once lived in
Edit：He Chuanning Responsible editor：Su Suiyue
Source：Xinhua
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