Discoveries illuminate origins of civilization

The latest archaeological efforts in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, are shedding light on the studies of the origins of the Chinese civilization, Gu Wanfa, a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress, who is also head of Zhengzhou's cultural heritage bureau, said on the sidelines of the recently concluded two sessions.

Excavations at the Shuanghuaishu Site in Gongyi unearthed the remnants of a sprawling city that traces its origins to the middle and late stages of the Yangshao Culture, a Neolithic culture dating back 4,600 to 7,000 years across the northern part of China.

Gu, who was former head of Shuanghuaishu's archaeological team, says human bone analysis reveals that most of the males were from the area, but many of the females displayed a diversity of genes, suggesting they came from other areas. This suggests that marriages in Shuanghuaishu were mostly between local men and women from elsewhere.

An important tomb has been discovered near an altar, in which archaeologists discovered funerary objects, including a jade yue axe and a tortoise shell.

Gu says that in ancient China, yue axes symbolized military power, while tortoise shells were often related to witchcraft, suggesting the tomb's inhabitant might have had multiple identities, as both a soldier and a practitioner of magic.

The Yangshao cultural site in Chuwan village, Xingyang city, yielded a carved jade silkworm chrysalis last year and a large amount of silk, adding new evidence to the 5,000-year history of sericulture in China.

"We discovered a carved tusk in the form of a silkworm at Shuanghuaishu, and stone and pottery silkworm chrysalises at other sites, but this is the first jade silkworm. It tells us that silk culture formed in present-day Zhengzhou at the time Chuwan was built," Gu says.

He also says that jade and silk are important components of ritual culture. The jade silkworm is a combination of both, and likely had significant ritual meaning.

As one of the most symbolic Neolithic cultures in China, the Yangshao Culture was mainly present in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, which is often regarded as the birthplace of China. The latest discoveries have significantly advanced the importance of Yangshao Culture in the early stages of civilization in the Zhengzhou region.