All around the world, ancient legends exist about the Great Flood, and the influence of the Great Flood in human evolutionary history is a hotly debated topic. In China, the legend of the prehistoric Great Flood and Y...All around the world, ancient legends exist about the Great Flood, and the influence of the Great Flood in human evolutionary history is a hotly debated topic. In China, the legend of the prehistoric Great Flood and Yu the Great's flood control has a long history and is considered to be closely linked to the establishment of the Xia Dynasty. However, there is a lack of solid scientific evidence. Against this issue, some scholars have proposed that an earthquake around 1920 BCE in the Guanting Basin along the upper reaches of the Yellow River led to the creation of a lake by damming in the Jishi Gorge and that the outburst of water from that lake led to the massive flood in the Yellow River region. These studies provided new scientific evidence for the Chinese legend. In this paper, we date skeletal samples embedded in earthquake sand blasting from the Lajia site, analyze remains from natural disasters(such as earthquakes and floods) and also archaeological remains. In addition, we compared the skeletal samples dating with that of sediments from the dammed-up lake. Our results are inconsistent with those of previous scholars. The earthquake at the Lajia site occurred no earlier than 1800 BCE, and the dammed-up lake in Jishi Gorge had disappeared by 3600 BCE. Thus, the formation and outburst of the dammed lake, the sudden death of ancient humans at the Lajia site and the ancient earthquake were independent events occurring at different times. In addition, the massive flood in the upper reaches of the Yellow River did not actually happen. Thus, we argue against and invalidate the hypothesis that the massive flood was related to Yu the Great's flood control and the establishment of the Xia Dynasty.展开更多
Lajia Site, located near the upper reaches of the Yellow River and the border of Qinghai Province and Gansu Province, is a large-scale site of the Qijia Culture. In 2000 and 2001, archaeologists excavated an unusual s...Lajia Site, located near the upper reaches of the Yellow River and the border of Qinghai Province and Gansu Province, is a large-scale site of the Qijia Culture. In 2000 and 2001, archaeologists excavated an unusual scene of prehistoric dramatic and miserable disasters. Lots of geo-logic-geographic evidences revealed that the Lajia Site was ruined by coinstantaneous disasters, mainly floods from the Yellow River and earthquakes, accompanying mountainous torrents. Study on these disasters and their driven forces could provide us not only the knowledge on the palaeoenvi-ronment of the area, but also offer us a valuable site to assess the influence of the natural disasters on human civilization development.展开更多
In 2002--2003, The Gasun-Qinghai Archaeological Team, IA. CASS. and the Qinghai Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology continued to excavate on the Lajia site. They discovered a pile-dwelling and an e...In 2002--2003, The Gasun-Qinghai Archaeological Team, IA. CASS. and the Qinghai Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology continued to excavate on the Lajia site. They discovered a pile-dwelling and an earthen altar of the Qijia culture within a small square. On the altar, a special tomb was found to contain a number of jades; at the edge, ten burials were discovered to be of sacrifical nature. The altar is shaped like a trancated pyramid with gentle slopes and man-made hard surfaces, measuring about 2m in height above the square. The remains suggest that the pile-dwelling might have been a ritual building like the she (社 sacrificial building to the god of land ) or mingtang (明堂 ritual hall); and the high-rank tomb, a priest's burial , These finds mark a new breakthrough in prehistoric archaeology and the study of ancient civilization in the upper Yellow River valley, and have great academic significance.展开更多
As early as remote antiquity, people got to know that jade and other precious stones can sound when beaten, which is recorded in documents of that time. A number of jades and other precious stone artifacts from the La...As early as remote antiquity, people got to know that jade and other precious stones can sound when beaten, which is recorded in documents of that time. A number of jades and other precious stone artifacts from the Lajia site were unearthed in pairs or other groups. A modern scientific tone test of these finds and other jade artifacts of Qijia culture unearthed from Qinghai indicates that they correspond to some musicological principles and so may have had certain music-performing function. The re-understanding of ancient jades from this new angle of view provides certain evidence for researching into the origin and development of ancient ritual and musical civilization. Moreover, it furnishes us with clues to revealing the relationship between related cultures.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.41620104007,41671077 and41402240)
文摘All around the world, ancient legends exist about the Great Flood, and the influence of the Great Flood in human evolutionary history is a hotly debated topic. In China, the legend of the prehistoric Great Flood and Yu the Great's flood control has a long history and is considered to be closely linked to the establishment of the Xia Dynasty. However, there is a lack of solid scientific evidence. Against this issue, some scholars have proposed that an earthquake around 1920 BCE in the Guanting Basin along the upper reaches of the Yellow River led to the creation of a lake by damming in the Jishi Gorge and that the outburst of water from that lake led to the massive flood in the Yellow River region. These studies provided new scientific evidence for the Chinese legend. In this paper, we date skeletal samples embedded in earthquake sand blasting from the Lajia site, analyze remains from natural disasters(such as earthquakes and floods) and also archaeological remains. In addition, we compared the skeletal samples dating with that of sediments from the dammed-up lake. Our results are inconsistent with those of previous scholars. The earthquake at the Lajia site occurred no earlier than 1800 BCE, and the dammed-up lake in Jishi Gorge had disappeared by 3600 BCE. Thus, the formation and outburst of the dammed lake, the sudden death of ancient humans at the Lajia site and the ancient earthquake were independent events occurring at different times. In addition, the massive flood in the upper reaches of the Yellow River did not actually happen. Thus, we argue against and invalidate the hypothesis that the massive flood was related to Yu the Great's flood control and the establishment of the Xia Dynasty.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.40171096 and 49831080)the Ministry of Science and Technology of China(Grant No.2001BAS05B05).
文摘Lajia Site, located near the upper reaches of the Yellow River and the border of Qinghai Province and Gansu Province, is a large-scale site of the Qijia Culture. In 2000 and 2001, archaeologists excavated an unusual scene of prehistoric dramatic and miserable disasters. Lots of geo-logic-geographic evidences revealed that the Lajia Site was ruined by coinstantaneous disasters, mainly floods from the Yellow River and earthquakes, accompanying mountainous torrents. Study on these disasters and their driven forces could provide us not only the knowledge on the palaeoenvi-ronment of the area, but also offer us a valuable site to assess the influence of the natural disasters on human civilization development.
文摘In 2002--2003, The Gasun-Qinghai Archaeological Team, IA. CASS. and the Qinghai Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology continued to excavate on the Lajia site. They discovered a pile-dwelling and an earthen altar of the Qijia culture within a small square. On the altar, a special tomb was found to contain a number of jades; at the edge, ten burials were discovered to be of sacrifical nature. The altar is shaped like a trancated pyramid with gentle slopes and man-made hard surfaces, measuring about 2m in height above the square. The remains suggest that the pile-dwelling might have been a ritual building like the she (社 sacrificial building to the god of land ) or mingtang (明堂 ritual hall); and the high-rank tomb, a priest's burial , These finds mark a new breakthrough in prehistoric archaeology and the study of ancient civilization in the upper Yellow River valley, and have great academic significance.
文摘As early as remote antiquity, people got to know that jade and other precious stones can sound when beaten, which is recorded in documents of that time. A number of jades and other precious stone artifacts from the Lajia site were unearthed in pairs or other groups. A modern scientific tone test of these finds and other jade artifacts of Qijia culture unearthed from Qinghai indicates that they correspond to some musicological principles and so may have had certain music-performing function. The re-understanding of ancient jades from this new angle of view provides certain evidence for researching into the origin and development of ancient ritual and musical civilization. Moreover, it furnishes us with clues to revealing the relationship between related cultures.
