20101with the approval of National Cultural Heritage Administration, entrusted by Shaanxi Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics, Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology organized professionals to conduct archaeological excavations on the xia and Shang cultural sites discovered from Xi to Shangluo expressway via Laoniupo site. The excavation area is about 5,800 square meters. There are 29 ash pits 129, 4 pottery kilns, 25 tombs, 8 houses, 5 stove pits, 3 pits and 2 ditches, and more than 600 cultural relics such as pottery, stone, jade, bone, mussels and copper have been unearthed, which has achieved fruitful results. Among them, ash pits are mostly large and medium-sized, with circular, rectangular and irregular shapes. Judging from the shape, size and the relationship with the adjacent relics, some of these ash pits are the operation rooms of pottery kilns, and some may be abandoned semi-crypt houses. More formal small ash pits are mostly pits. Ceramic kilns are all vertical holes, which are composed of kiln chamber, kiln grate, fire hole, fire chamber and operation pit. Some fire holes also have clay blocks to control the fire temperature. Compared with the horizontal cave-in pottery kiln in Neolithic age, this vertical cave-in pottery kiln can make maximum use of firepower and improve the temperature of the kiln chamber and the quality of pottery.
This excavation found 20 tombs of Shang Dynasty, 4 tombs of Xia Dynasty and/kloc-0 tombs of Qing Dynasty, all of which were small tombs. There are only five tombs with funerary objects in Shang tombs, all of which are pottery, preserved in combination, beans, cans or preserved, cans, and some only have 1 piece of Tao Ge. There is a waist pit at the bottom of the tomb, where there are martyrs. The burial methods are mainly upright burial and limb burial, and there are two kinds of prone burial and one kind of collective burial. No trace of funerary objects was found in the tombs, and the area of the tombs was only enough to accommodate them. Most tombs had no funerary objects. It is speculated that the owners of these graves may be low-ranking craftsmen, poor people or slaves. There are 4 tombs in Xia Dynasty, all of which have funerary objects, and the number varies from 8 to 2. Among them, M6 has 6 pottery and 2 stone tools, and M24 has 2 painted pottery.
Most houses are semi-crypt-shaped, some houses have inclined steps to enter the room, some houses have small pits for storing daily necessities, and some houses have treads on the ground. There is only one house on the ground, which is badly damaged. There are only two big pillars and a few small pillar holes, so it should be a bigger building. Among the three pits found, one contains more Oracle Bone Inscriptions, human skull and animal bones, and there is a complete middle-aged woman's skeleton. A bronze arrow was found under her pelvis, which may be related to the woman's death. Judging from the unearthed cultural relics and skulls of many individuals, it is speculated that the pit is a sacrificial pit. The other two pits are larger, with basically the same shape, size, depth and direction. They are rectangular vertical holes with big mouths and small bottoms. One of them has a complete horse skeleton in the middle layer and a few pebbles in the bottom layer; The bottom of another building is covered with pebbles from big rivers, and there are two large column holes. Are these two pits sacrificial pits in nature? Or a storage pit? Need to further study and judge in the future. Found a north-south ditch with a residual length of more than 70 meters. There are many pottery and fragments equivalent to the late Erlitou culture, and there are no artifacts as late as Shang Dynasty or later generations. The formation time of the ditch should be no later than Xia Dynasty. There are more than 10 stone walls unearthed in this ditch, which should have special significance, and the nature and use of this ditch deserve deep consideration.
Laoniupo Site is the largest site of Shang Dynasty in Shaanxi and the largest "base" of Shang Dynasty in the Western Regions. Although the previous archaeological excavations have achieved remarkable results, this large-scale archaeological excavation is also fruitful. In addition to a large number of cultural relics with high research value, the discovery of many semi-basement houses in Shang Dynasty can basically confirm that this is the residential area of civilians, craftsmen and inferior people in the late Shang Dynasty, which provides important information for understanding the settlement layout of Lao Niupo Site in Shang Dynasty. In addition, the tombs, ash pits and long ditches excavated at Laoniupo site are the remains of Xia culture discovered in the west, which shows that the sphere of influence of Xia dynasty has reached the central part of Guanzhong, and provides valuable physical data for us to study the distribution and political territory of Xia dynasty.
The cemetery is located on the south side of the site. In addition to the chariots and horses pit, there are more than 50 tombs, and the medium-sized tombs have side boxes. This is the earliest example of the tomb side box found in China, which is of great significance to the study of the development of Xia culture, the distribution of Shang culture and the development of multi-ethnic civilization in Shang Dynasty.
Laoniupo site is an important site in the western part of Shang culture, with a large area and rich remains. The discovery of large-scale building sites, bronze smelting and high-grade tombs shows that it is a central settlement site in the Wei River Basin of Shang Dynasty.
Laoniupo site remains Shang Dynasty house sites, ash pits, tombs, chariots and horses pits, pottery kilns, etc. A large palace site, bronze smelting residue and pottery model found in the site is a large settlement of Shang Dynasty in Weihe River basin, which is of great significance to the study of the development and distribution of Xia and Shang cultures.
The Shang Dynasty cemetery discovered by Laoniupo is the most striking. There are 45 cemeteries and 2 ash pits/kloc-0 each, which are built in groups around several tombs according to the terrain. Its burial utensils are made of wood, only the gray marks left on the board. Unearthed cultural relics are rich, including bronzes, jades and pottery. Among them, bronzes are the most abundant, with different shapes, including ding, bow, ge, cymbal, axe, chisel, cone, arrow, ox head, birds and animals, chariots and horses, etc.
Jade unearthed from the site also has its own characteristics.
The shape of jade is between a jade bracelet and a jade cong, which is an intermediate form. Some jade articles are also painted with the popular outline of Feng Niaowen, with unique shapes, which are excellent materials for studying Shang culture and works of art in this historical period.
Ma Hang and Che Ma Hang were also found in many tombs in the site, and some tombs found martyrs. Archaeologists found that some people were beheaded and put into graves for martyrdom, which showed the cruel historical reality at that time.