Lijiagou Site, an important witness of the bond between Palaeolithic age and the Neolithic Age

Since the birth of human beings, from the initial use of stone tools, hunting to live, to crafting stone tools, pottery making, houses building, they slowly experienced the transition from the Paleolithic age to the Neolithic Age. The discovery of Lijiagou Site in Xinmi is an important witness connecting the two Neolithic ages.

Located in a hilly region with sloping terrain from northeast to southwest, Lijiagou is located more than 100 meters to the west of Lijiagou Village, Yuecun Town, Xinmi City. The terrain is a hilly area with a slope from northeast to southwest and loess accumulation.

The Lijiagou site was discovered in late 2004. After more than two months of excavation from late August to late October in 2009, an area of nearly 30 square meters was uncovered, and the excavation area is divided into north and south areas. The main geological sections all contain the stratigraphic accumulation from paleolithic to Neolithic age.

In the prominent position of Lijiagou Site Ecological Park, a huge glass house protecting the archaeological excavation site could be seen. When entering the glass house, visitors were confronted with a huge yellow soil section more than 6 meters high. The soil layer was of different colors, and the remaining pottery pieces and animal fossils could be distinguished. The different colors of the section clearly show the cultural aspect of the transition period.

photo/Li Xinhua

Yang Jianmin, director of the Cultural Research Office of Xinmi Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports, told reporters: "From the bottom to the top layer, the soil belongs separately to the late Paleolithic Age 10,500 years ago, the early Neolithic Age about 10,000 years ago, and the Peiligang culture 8,600 years ago, while such triple-layered cultural sites are rare at home and abroad.

People see the transformation of two eras from the relics at the bottom of Lijiagou Site. The early residents were professional hunters with excellent stone processing technology; In the early Neolithic Age, they began to centered on plant food and hunting as complement. The later inhabitants began to settle down and engage in agricultural production, using stone millstones to process grain and other crops."

Yang Jianmin said, "The Central Plains connects the north, south and east and west of China and East Asia, and is the core area for exploring the origin of Chinese civilization.

Lijiagou Site provides important information about the transition process of the Old and Neolithic Ages in Central China from multiple perspectives, such as strata accumulation, tool assemblages, dwelling forms and livelihood modes.

How human beings abandon the "old" into the "new", The process of the innovation course is a long unresolved major issue in archaeology. Lijiagou Site has filled in the gaps of previous archaeology. In 2009, Lijiagou Site was selected as one of the "Top Ten National archaeological Discoveries", and in 2013, it became a national key cultural relic protection unit.