On November 19th, Liangzhu site is famous for its ancient city and water conservancy system at home and abroad, and it is a holy place to prove the history of Chinese civilization for 5,000 years. But before the construction of the ancient city, where did the ancestors of Liangzhu live? Where is the source of the splendid Liangzhu civilization? The “Early Liangzhu-Liangzhu Site Archaeological Special Exhibition” opened in Liangzhu Museum in Hangzhou on the 19th, showing the audience the latest achievements of archaeologists exploring Liangzhu civilization.
On November 19th, the audience visited the “Early Liangzhu-Liangzhu Site Archaeological Exhibition” at Liangzhu Museum in Hangzhou. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Zhu Chengqi)
The exhibition is divided into three units, namely “Liangzhu on the Eve”, “Liangzhu in the Early Stage” and “Liangzhu in the Prosperous Age”. There are nearly 300 cultural relics on display, mainly jade, supplemented by pottery. Among the jade articles, there are jade cong, jade Huang, jade bracelet, jade dagger, tubular device, crown device, hairpin device and so on.
Most of these cultural relics were unearthed from Yujiashan, Guanjingtou and Beicun sites after 2010, and also from Wujiabu and Yaoshan sites in the 1980s and 1990s. These sites are located in Yuhang District and Linping District of Hangzhou, and distributed on the periphery of the site of Liangzhu ancient city, which generally predates Liangzhu ancient city.
On November 19th, a jade dragon bracelet was photographed at the “Early Liangzhu-Special Archaeological Exhibition of Liangzhu Site” in Liangzhu Museum in Hangzhou. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Sheng Shuyan)
“Liangzhu culture was preceded by Majiabang culture about 7000 years ago and Songze culture about 6000 years ago. The ancestors first settled in the west of Taihu Lake, then turned from north to east, and finally came to Liangzhu in the south of Taihu Lake. ” Chen Minghui, deputy director of the Prehistoric Room of Zhejiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the stationmaster of Liangzhu Workstation, said that for many years, generations of ancient people in Zhejiang Province have been trying to solve the puzzle of how Liangzhu came into being and where it came from. This exhibition is a systematic review of the existing achievements.
On November 19th, the audience visited the “Early Liangzhu-Liangzhu Site Archaeological Exhibition” at Liangzhu Museum in Hangzhou. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Zhu Chengqi)
Chen Minghui said that the exhibition focused on the period from 5,300 to 5,000 years ago, and belonged to the late Songze culture to the early Liangzhu in archaeology. During this period, there was a class division in Liangzhu society. At first, there were female aristocratic rulers, then there were male aristocratic rulers, and finally there was the earliest “king” in Liangzhu, such as the tomb of king level in Yaoshan site.
In the exhibition, a jade dragon bracelet and a jade cicada stand out, both of which were unearthed in Beicun site. Beicun site is located in the south of Liangzhu ancient city site, and the linear distance between them is less than 2 kilometers. Since last year, with the approval of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, Zhejiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology has successively excavated the northern and southern parts of the site and discovered settlements and high-grade aristocratic cemeteries. Beicun site and other sites jointly reveal the development of the aristocratic class before the completion of Liangzhu ancient city, providing new information for studying the development of early Liangzhu society, class differentiation and exploring the background of the rise of Liangzhu ancient city.
A jade cicada photographed in the “Early Liangzhu-Liangzhu Site Archaeological Exhibition” of Liangzhu Museum in Hangzhou on November 19th. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Sheng Shuyan)
“Liangzhu Archaeology has made great contributions to China’s’ Chinese Civilization Sourcing Project’, and one of our key tasks in recent years is to explore Liangzhu.” Chen Minghui said that after the successful application for the legacy of Liangzhu Ancient City, the focus of Liangzhu Archaeology is to further explore the handicraft remains and peripheral water conservancy projects in the ancient city. At the same time, the periphery of the ancient city has also been explored in an all-round way. At present, more than 300 sites have been discovered within the surrounding 100 square kilometers. At present, there are still many gaps in the archaeology of early Liangzhu, and they are using multidisciplinary means to push the research deeper.
This is the site of Beicun, which was filmed on November 19th. Xinhua News Agency reporter Feng Yuanshe
The exhibition is sponsored by Zhejiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Liangzhu Museum and China Jiangnan Water Town Culture Museum, and ends on December 12th. (Reporter Feng Yuan)