Niuheliang

Niuheliang is a Neolithic archaeological site in China, located in the northeastern province of Liaoning in Manchuria along the middle and upper reaches of the Laoha River and the Yingjin River. Discovered in 1983, Niuheliang is an exemplary site of the Hongshan culture. It includes evidence of religion, such as a temple, an alter and a cairn.

Description

Niuheliang is a large burial site scattered over hill tops over a 50 square kilometer area. It features a unique temple on a loam platform, with an altar and cairn complex, covering an area of around 5 km?. The altar at Niuheliang was made of stone platforms, supported by painted, clay cylinders. A north-south axis connects this temple complex with a central peak of the Zhushan mountains, otherwise know as "Pig Mountain". The subterranean ritual complex was built on a ridge and decorated with painted walls, referred to by Chinese archaeologists as the ''Goddess Temple'', due to the discovery of a clay female head with jade inlaid eyes. Pig dragons and large, nude, clay figurines were also found at Niuheliang. Some of the figurines are up to three times the size of real-life humans; the interior of the figurines was structured from wood and straw.

Six groups of cairns were discovered nearby, south and west of the temple site. The primary burial goods accompanying the graves were jade artifacts, although most of the excavated graves had already been looted. One year after the temple-cairns complex was discovered nearby a pyramidal structure "disguised" as a hill known as Zhuanshanzi , which was included during the Han dynasty in a section of the Great Wall. Built with earth and imported stone, its structure is more elaborate than the cairns.

This site contains some of the essential elements, temples, cairns and platforms, present in later ancestor worship of the Chinese such as the tombs 5000 years later.

Nanzhuangtou

Nanzhuangtou was a Neolithic Yellow River site near Lake Baiyangdian in Xushui County, Hebei, China. The site was discovered under a peat bog. Over forty-seven pieces of pottery were discovered at the site, making Nanzhuangtou the site of the oldest pottery yet discovered in China. Nanzhuangtou is also the earliest Neolithic site yet discovered in northern China. There is evidence that the people at Nanzhuangtou domesticated the dog. Stone grinding slabs and rollers and bone artifacts were also discovered at the site.

Miran (China)

Miran is an ancient oasis town located on the southern rim of the Taklamakan Desert in China, along the famous trade route known as the Silk Road where the Lop Nur desert meets the mountains. Two thousand years ago a river flowed down from the mountain and Miran had a sophisticated irrigation system. Now the ruined city is a sparsely inhabited dusty spot with poor roads and minimal transportation in the of the People's Republic of China, a largely Muslim region.

Archaeology

Marc Aurel Stein was the first archaeologist to systematically study the ruins at Miran in 1907. The many artifacts found in Miran demonstrate the extensive and sophisticated connections these ancient towns had with places as far away as the Mediterranean Sea. Archaeological evidence from Miran shows the influence of Buddhism on artistic work as early as the first century BC. Early Buddhist sculptures and murals excavated from the site show stylistic similarities to the traditions of Central Asia and North India and other artistic aspects of the paintings found there suggest that Miran had a direct connection with and its .

A wealth of manuscripts have been found, mostly official Tibetan documents and military information from the fort, written in early Tibetan script on wood or paper, dating the eighth and ninth century. Since the Tibetan script was invented a century before, these are some of the earliest examples of the script.

Mawangdui

Mawangdui is an archaeological site located in Changsha, China. The site consists of two saddle-shaped hills and contained the tombs of three people from the western Han Dynasty. The tombs belonged to the first Marquis of Dai, his wife, and a male who is believed to be their son. The site was excavated from 1972 to 1974. Most of the artifacts from Mawangdui are displayed at the Hunan Provincial Museum.

The tombs and occupants

The tombs followed a mixture of and western Han Dynasty burial practices. The tombs were made of large planks. The outside of the tombs were layered with white clay and charcoal; white clay layering was a practice that originated with Chu burials, while charcoal layering was a practice that was followed during the early western Han Dynasty in the Changsha area. The tombs contained nested coffins, a Chu burial custom. The tombs also followed the burial practices dictated by Emperor Wen of Han, containing no jade or precious metals.


The eastern tomb, Tomb no. 1, contained the remains of a woman in her fifties . Her body was that researchers were able to perform an autopsy on her body, which showed that she probably died of a . Specifically, her diet was too rich in sugars and meats, and she suffered from arterial-coronary problems. Buried with her were skeletons of various food-animals, jujubes, lotus soup, grains and a complete meal including soup, rice and meat skewers on a lacquer set. Researchers found honeydew melon seeds in her stomach, inferring consumption right before death. She outlived the occupants of the other two tombs. Her personal name was Xinzhui . Xinzhui's tomb was the best preserved tomb by far of the three tombs. A complete cosmetic set, lacquered pieces and finely woven silk garments with paintings are almost perfectly preserved. Her coffins were painted according to Chu customs and beliefs with whirling clouds interwoven with mystical animals and dragons. The corpse was bound tightly in layers of silk cloth and covered with a wonderfully painted T-shaped tapestry depicting the netherworld, earth and heavens with Chinese mythological characters as well as Xinzhui. There was also a silk painting showing a variety of exercises researchers call the forerunner of Tai ji.

The western tomb, Tomb no. 2, was the burial site of the first Marquis of Dai, Li Cang . He died in 186 BC. The Han Dynasty had appointed Li Cang as the chancellor of the Kingdom of Changsha. This tomb had been plundered several times by grave robbers.

Tomb no. 3 was directly south of Tomb no. 1, and contained the tomb of a man in his thirties who died in 168 BC. The occupant is believed to be a relative of Li Cang and his wife. This tomb contained a rich trove of military, medical, and astronomical manuscripts written on silk.

Artifacts

Tombs 1 and 2

One famous artifact type were the lacquered wine-bowls and cosmetic boxes , which showcased the craftsmanship of the regional lacquerware industry. The perfectly preserved 2,000+ year-old corpse of the inhabitant of Tomb no. 1 is by far a more famous and astounding artifact.

One of the most famous artifacts from Mawangdui were the silk funeral banners; the T-shaped banners were draped on the coffin of Tomb no. 1. The banners depicted the Chinese abstraction of the cosmos and the afterlife at the time of the western Han Dynasty. A silk banner of similar style and function were found in Tomb no. 3 on the coffin of Lady Dai's son.

The T-shaped silk funeral banner in the tomb of the Marquisate is called the "name banner" with the written name of the deceased replaced with their portrait. We know the name because the tomb's original inventory is still intact, and this is what it is called on the inventory. The Marquisate, Lady Dai, was buried in four coffins, the silk banner drapes the innermost of the coffins.

On the T-shaped painted silk garment, the uppermost horizontal section of the T represents heaven. The bottom of the vertical section of the T represents the underworld. The middle represents earth. In heaven we can see Chinese deities such as Nuwa and Chang'e, as well as Daoist symbols such as cranes . Between heaven and earth we can see heavenly messengers sent to bring Lady Dai to heaven. Underneath this are Lady Dai's family offering sacrifices to help her journey to heaven. Underneath them is the underworld - two giant sea serpents intertwined.

The contents of Tomb no. 2 were destroyed during various attempts to rob the grave. An excavation report has been published within the last 5 years in Chinese, there has not been a publication of the tomb contents in English yet.

Tombs 3

Tomb no. 3 contained a silk name banner and three maps drawn on silk: a topographic map, a military map and a prefecture map. The maps display the Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi region and depict the political boundary between the Han Dynasty and Nanyue. The maps are some of the oldest discovered in China. At the time of its discovery, they were the oldest maps yet discovered in China, until 1986 when maps dating to the 4th century BC were found.

Tomb no. 3 contained a wealth of classical texts. The tomb contained texts on astronomy, which accurately depicted the planetary orbits for Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Saturn and described various comets. The tomb also contained a rich collection of , as well a copy of the Zhan Guo Ce. The tomb also contained various medical texts, including depictions of qigong exercises, as well as a historical text, the Chunqiu shiyu.

Books

*Lee, Sherman E., 1994, ''A History of Far Eastern Art'', Fifth edition, Prentice Hall

Journals

* Buck, David D., 1975, Three Han Dynasty Tombs at Ma-Wang-Tui. ''World Archaeology'', 7: 30-45.
* Hsu, Mei-Ling, 1978, The Han Maps and Early Chinese Cartography. ''Annals of the Association of American Geographers'', 68: 45-60.

List of Quarternary Mammalian Faunas of China

This is a list of archaeologically important quaternary mammalian fauna of North China:

*Nihewan 泥河湾
*Gongwangling 公王岭
*Zhoukoudian 周口店
*Salawusu/Sjara-osso-gol 萨拉乌素

Literature

''Zhongguo da baike quanshu: Kaoguxue'' , Beijing: Zhongguo da baike quanshu, 1986

List of Bronze Age sites in China

This is a list of Bronze Age sites and cultures in China, discovered from archaeologists:

*-
*Chuxiong county, Yunnan, -5th century)
*Dongxiafeng
*Erligang culture
*Erlitou culture 二里頭, first and second period
*Feng-Hao
*Jinsha
*Liaoning bronze dagger culture
*Lower Xiajiadian culture
*Majiayao culture
*Panlongcheng
*Qijia culture
*Sanxingdui
*Shajing
*Shizhaishan
*Siba
*Siwa
*Taosi
*Upper Xiajiadian culture
*Wanjiaba (e.g. the bronzes form the burials in Wanjiaba,
*Wucheng culture
*Xijiadian, lower stratum and upper stratum
*Xindian
*Xin'gan
*Xituanshan
*Yueshi
*Zhukaigou culture
*Zhouyuan

Linzi

Linzi was the capital of from 859 BC to 221 BC during the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period in China. The ruins of the city lie in modern day Linzi District, Shandong, China. The city was one of the largest and richest during the Spring and Autumn Period. It was conquered by in 221 BC. The ruins of the ancient city were excavated in 1926 by Japanese archaeologists and in 1964 by Chinese archaeologists.

Layout

Linzi covered an area of around 20 km?. The city was built between two parallel rivers that ran north-south, the to its east and the old course of the to its west.

The city was surrounded by a 14 km perimeter of rammed earth wall. The city consisted of an outer city and an inner city. The outer city wall reached a maximum of 43 meters in base width, averaging between 20 to 30 meters in width. The inner city wall reached a maximum of 60 meters in base width. The city had a sewer and water works system.

The palace was located in the inner city, located in the southwestern corner of Linzi. A large rammed earth platform was found inside the inner zcity, commonly referred to as the platform. The remains of the platform measures at 86 by 70 meters and is 14 meters high.

Tombs

The ruins of the city are surrounded by over 100 tumulus, some as far as 10 km away. Many of the tombs around Linzi had been looted in antiquity. Over 600 horses were sacrificed in two rows, found in a tomb pit, near what is considered the tomb of Duke Jing of Qi. The sacrificial horse pit is now the site of a museum, the Museum of the State of Qi.

Liangzhu culture

The Liangzhu culture was the last Neolithic jade culture in the Yangtze River Delta of China. Its area of influence extended from Lake Tai in the north to Nanjing and Shanghai in the east and Hangzhou in the south. The culture was highly stratified, as jade, silk, ivory and lacquer artifacts were found exclusively in elite burials, while pottery was more commonly found in the burial plots of poorer individuals. The type site at Liangzhu was discovered in Yuhang County, Zhejiang and initially excavated by Shi Xingeng in 1936.

The culture possessed advanced agriculture, included irrigation, paddy rice cultivation and aquaculture. Houses were often constructed with stilts on rivers or shorelines.

The jade from this culture is characterized by finely worked large ritual jades, commonly incised with the taotie motif. The most exemplary artefacts from the culture were its . The largest cong discovered weighed 3.5 kg. and Yue axes were also found. Jade pendants were also found, designed with engraved representations of small birds, turtles and fish. Many Liangzhu jade artefacts had a white milky bone-like aspect due to its tremolite rock origin and influence of water-based fluids at the burial sites, although jade made from actinolite and serpentine were also commonly found.

A neolithic altar from the Liangzhu culture, excavated at Yaoshan in Zhejiang, demonstrate that religious structures were elaborate and made of carefully positioned piles of stones and rock walls, indicating that religion was of considerable importance. The altar has three levels, the highest being a platform of rammed earth. Three additional platforms were paved with cobblestones. There are the remains of a stone wall. On the altar are twelve graves in two rows.
A new discovery of ancient city wall base relics was announced by the Zhejiang provincial government on November 29, 2007. All the relics previously identified were parts of city construction. It was concluded the site was the ancient capital of the Liangzhu Kingdom, whose influnce spread as far as modern-day Jiangsu, Shanghai, and Shandong Provinces.

Lajia

Lajia is an site located in , Haidong Prefecture in Northwest China's Qinghai province. Lajia is associated with the Qijia culture and was discovered by archaeologists in 2000. The site covers an area of around 200,000 square meters. Archaeologists believe the site was abandoned after being victimized by an earthquake and subsequent flood.

In 2005, the oldest intact noodles yet discovered were located at Lajia, estimated at over 4,000 years old. The noodles were made from millet.

King Cuo of Zhongshan

King Cuo of Zhongshan was the fifth ruler of the state of during the Warring States Period in ancient China. He reigned for 15 years.

As the son of Duke Cheng of Zhongshan, he inherited the state from his father and expanded it to its peak size. He attacked to the north and to the south and expanded his territory to nearly double what he inherited. His new gains from Zhao broke the state of Zhao into North and South pieces, laying the future cause for the state of Zhao to destroy the country.

Tomb of King Cuo of Zhongshan

The Tomb of King Cuo of Zhongshan is an archaeological site located in , Pingshan, Hebei, China. The tomb was built near the ancient city of Lingshou on the Hutuo River. The tomb contained the burial of King Cuo.

The plans for the tomb complex was engraved on a bronze diagram found inside the tomb. The original plan was designed to house five tomb complexes in a row, with the tomb of the king in the center, flanked by tombs of two queens, then flanked by outer tombs of two consorts; the tomb complex was never completed as designed.

The site was excavated in the 1970s. Although the central burial chamber had already been looted in antiquity, archaeologists were still able to uncover hundreds of bronze, jade, lacquer and pottery artefacts. Six others were buried alongside the king. Two horse and chariot pits were included in King Cuo's burial complex. Three boats were uncovered, and an underground canal linked the tomb to the Hutuo River.

The bronze artefacts underwent a drastic change in usage and style during the fourteenth year of King Cuo's reign. Among the changes was a de-emphasis on ritual bronzes vessels and a new focus on luxury bronze objects. A bronze vessel from the tomb recorded a previously unrecorded invasion of during that year that may have contributed to the change in style; some archaeologists believe that the new techniques may have been introduced by Yan artisans or copied from looted Yan bronzes. The new technique included the use of inlaid silver and gold onto bronze objects, often portraying mythical beasts.

Khara-Khoto

Khara-Khoto is a medieval Tangut city in the Ejin Banner khoshuu of Alxa League, in western Inner Mongolia, near the ancient Juyan Lake. It was first found by Tsogt Badmajapov who conducted primary research. Its ruins were then excavated in 1908 by Russian explorer Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov, who had paid a bribe to the local Torghut lord Dashi Beile for permission to dig in the sacred site.

The city was founded in 1032 and became a thriving center of Tangut trade in the 11th century. Over 2,000 books in Tangut language were uncovered there by Kozlov's team. There are remains of -high ramparts and -thick outer walls—as much as to a side. The walled fortress was taken by Genghis Khan in 1227, but — contrary to a widely-circulated misunderstanding — the city continued to flourish under Mongol overlordship. During Kublai Khan, the city was expanded, reaching a size three times bigger than during the Tangut Empire. Khan concentrated his preparation for reconquest of China at Khara-Khoto. The city was located on the crossroads connecting Karakorum, Xanadu and Kumul.

In 1372 a Mongol military general named Khara Bator {) was surrounded with his troops by the armies of China's Ming dynasty. Diverting the Ejin River, the city's water source that flowed just outside the fortress, the denied Khara-Khoto water for its gardens and wells. As time passed and Khara Bator recognized his fate, he murdered his family and then himself. After his suicide, Khara Bator's soldiers waited within the fortress until the Ming finally attacked and killed the remaining inhabitants. Another version of the legend holds that Khara Bator made a clearance in the northwestern corner of the city wall and escaped through it. The remains of the city has a clearance through which a rider can pass.

A historian from Inner Mongolia Chimeddorji is studying time scriptures written in Phagspa and Mongolian scripts found in the ruins of Khara-Khoto.

Jinsha (archaeological site)

Jinsha is an archaeological site in Sichuan, China. Located in the western suburbs of Chengdu, Jinsha was accidentally discovered in February 2001 during real estate construction. Located about 50 kilometers away from Sanxingdui, the site flourished around 1000 BC and shares similarities in burial objects with the Sanxingdui site. Ivory, jade artifacts, bronze objects, gold objects and carved stone objects were found at the site. Unlike the site at Sanxingdui, Jinsha did not have a city wall.

Jiangzhai

Jiangzhai is a Banpo phase Yangshao culture village site in the east of Xi'an, where excavated the earliest copper artifacts in China.

Hongcun

Hongcun is a village in Yixian county, Anhui province , located near the southwest slope of Mount Huangshan, in China.

The village is arranged in the shape of an ox: A nearby hill is interpreted as the head, and two trees standing on it mark the horns. Four bridges across the Jiyin stream can be seen as the legs and the houses of the village form the body. Inside the “body”, the Jiyin stream can be seen as the intestines and the lakes — such as the “South Lake” — as the stomachs.

The architecture and carvings of the approximately 150 residences dating back to the and dynasties are said to be among the best of their kind in China. One of the biggest of the residences open to visitors, ''Chenzhi Hall'', also contains a small residence museum.

Together with Xidi it was made a UNESCO in 2000. Hongcun was a location where the film ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'' was shot. Since then, tourism has dramatically increased.

Gungnae-seong

Gungnae-seong was the second capital city of the ancient Korean Kingdom of Goguryeo. It was chosen to become the capital city by the kingdom's second ruler, during the 10th month of the year 3 AD. The city was sacked several times until the rise of the 19th ruler , who greatly expanded Goguryeo's territory and made it a formidable power in the northeast Asia. When King Gwanggaeto died during 413 AD, his son, , inherited the throne and moved the capital down to Pyongyang in the year 427 AD.

Just before the fall of Goguryeo, Gungnae-seong fell to the Silla- alliance when General Yeon Namsaeng, son of Yeon Gaesomun, surrendered the city in 666 AD. The kingdom of Goguryeo itself fell in 668 AD when army captured Pyongyang and took and Yeon Namgeon into custody.

This place is present-day .

Empress Dowager Wenming tomb

The Empress Dowager Wenming tomb is the final resting place of , formally Empress Wenming and the wife of Emperor Wencheng of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The tomb and is located on the famed Silk Route. When her husband died in 465, Empress Dowager Wenming became regent until her stepson, Emperor Xiaowen, attained his adulthood. While Emperor Xiaowen assumed the imperial powers upon adulthood, she remained highly influential until her death in 490. This was at the time Buddhism became a state religion and Empress Dowager Wenming was responsible for the imperial shrines at Yungang Grottoes. There is evidence that The Empress Dowager Wenming masterminded the transformation of the government and the sinification movement.

When the Empress died she was buried with extraordinary honors. Emperor Xiaowen was distraught and could not eat or drink for five days.

The double-chambered royal tomb, with its distinctive architecture, is dug into the side of a hill. It was created in the period before the capital of the Northern Wei moved to Luoyang. Over her bricked tomb was built a huge mound almost 33 metres high with a square base. Leading down from the mound was a diagonal ramp leading into an antechamber, then through a connective passageway to a large burial chamber. The total length of the interior was almost 18 metres, larger than any tomb in the area and one of the largest tombs of the Wei excavated so far. The walls were covered with relief sculptures. As mentioned, this royal tomb has two chambers, the first an anteroom to which the bricked pathway led. Single chamber tombs were more common for nonroyal burials.

The anteroom had a simple barrel vault roof. However, the roof of the burial chamber in the back had a coffer ceiling that, although vaulted, had a flat wooden beamed top. A stone Hall of Eternal Resoluteness was built 600 metres to the south of the tomb with a walkway lined with stelae with inscriptions of funerary text and lined with sculptures of animals. A wall enclosed the whole funerary area with the entrance marked by free standing gate towers . The tomb is oriented on a north-south with the tomb's entrance on the south.

Dandan Oilik

Dandan Oilik is a deserted historical town and desert oasis in the Taklamakan Desert of China. Having been abandoned hundreds of years ago, it was found and lost to shifting desert sands several times. Most recently, a German expedition led by Christoph Baumer found the city based on the accounts of previous explorers, and uncovered relics dating to the 7th and 8th Century. They also marked its GPS position, and the city is now being studied by Chinese archeologists.

Dandan Oilik was an important centre of local Buddhism and trade on the Silk Road.

Chengtoushan

Chengtoushan was a Neolithic settlement located on the northwestern edge of Dongting Lake in Lixian County, Changde, Hunan, China.

The site contains the earliest dated rice field in China . The settlement spanned three separate cultures: the Daxi culture, the Qujialing culture and the Shijiahe culture. The site was abandoned around the middle period of the Shijiahe culture.

Chengtoushan was a round settlement surrounded by a moat and rammed earth wall, which was first built during the Daxi culture. The remains of human sacrifices were discovered under the foundation of the wall. The remains of a gravel road, a river bridge and a river-control gate were also discovered at Chengtoushan.

Bashidang

Bashidang was the site of a Neolithic Yangtze River settlement in Lixian County, Hunan, China. Bashidang is considered to be a very late site of the Pengtoushan culture. The site is the earliest in China to feature both a wall and a ditch; the ditch was the outermost perimeter. A raised, star-shaped platform was found at the center of the settlement, possibly used for ceremonial purposes.

The people at Bashidang cultivated rice, along with water caltrop and ''Nelumbo nucifera''. Over 15,000 grains of rice were found at Bashidang, the largest find discovered in a Neolithic site in China. The size of the rice was close to the size of modern domesticated rice. Several different types of cultivated rice were found at Bashidang.

Banpo

Banpo is an archaeological site first discovered in 1953 and located in the Yellow River Valley just east of Xi'an, China. It contains the remains of several well organised Neolithic settlements dating from approximately 4500 BCE. It is a large area of sixty square kilometers and surrounded by a ditch, probably a defensive moat, five or six meters wide. The houses were circular, build of mud and wood with overhanging thatched roofs. They sat on low foundations. There appears to be communal burial areas.

Banpo is the type-site associated with . Archaeological sites with similarities to the first phase at Banpo are considered to be part of the Banpo phase of the Yangshao culture. Banpo was excavated from 1954 to 1957 and covers an area of around 50,000 square metres.

The settlement was surrounded by a moat, with the graves and pottery kilns located outside of the moat perimeter. Many of the houses were semisubterranean with the floor typically a meter below the ground surface. The houses were supported by timber poles and had steeply pitched thatched roofs.

According to the that was prevalent in the People's Republic of China during the time of the excavation of the site, Banpo was considered to be a society; however, new research contradicts this claim, and the Marxist paradigm is gradually being phased out in modern Chinese archaeological research. Currently, little can be said of the religious or political structure from these ruins from the archeological evidence.

The site is now home to the Xi'an Banpo Museum.