A long, long time ago, when I was on the land of Shenzhou, there was a historical legend about the Sanmiao tribe in the "Four Sins". At that time, the ancient group of Sanmiao, along with three other tribal leaders known as "Sin", Huandou, Gonggong and Kun, was regarded as a fierce rival by the Huaxia group in the Central Plains. In our historical memory, we once thought that the Sanmiao tribe was a relatively backward force, and it was difficult to compete with the Central Plains Huaxia Group. However, with the deepening of archaeological excavations and new advances in historical research, a true story that has been hidden for a long time is gradually revealed.
Last year, in December 2023, an expert seminar was held at the Qujialing site in Jingmen, Hubei. This archaeological work has made major new discoveries, and it turns out that the earliest water conservancy facilities in our country are here! The remains of crops such as rice have been excavated, and the age has been determined using the carbon-14 technique. The results show that the younger dam was built between 4900 and 4800 years ago, while the older dam dates back to 5100 to 4900 years ago.
To the northeast of the ancient ruins, on a tributary of the Aoki Ridge River, stands the Xiongjialing Dam, which is made of earth and rock. The dam acted as a silent watchman, connecting the mountains to the north and south, providing a valuable water source for the inhabitants of the time. The Xiongjialing Dam we see today is about 2 meters high and 13 meters wide; The bottom of the dam is wider, about 27 meters, and the entire dam extends about 180 meters long from north to south. At present, the dam was not built all at once, and the later dam was expanded to be taller and wider.
Experts have found many roots of grasses in different layers of the dam body. This is just like the "steel bar" used in our modern dam construction, the ancients skillfully used plant fibers to increase the stability of the dam body, this primitive "reinforcement process" is really wonderful. In addition, they also found some traces similar to "grass wrapped in mud", just like the way we use straw bags to strengthen the embankment, which shows that the wisdom of the ancient ancestors is similar to the practice of modern people.
In the winter of 1954, when a water conservancy project was being built in the Qujialing area of Jingmen City, Hubei Province, this mysterious ancient relic was accidentally discovered. Between June 1956 and February 1957, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences organized a large-scale excavation. Mr. Wang Jin, who has personally experienced the first excavation of Qujialing culture, said that the Qujialing site is an important historical site excavated for the first time in the Jianghan Plain after the liberation of China, and it is also the first representative cultural site found in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.
In a previous ancient book called "Warring States Policy", it was said: "I think back then, the mysterious Sanmiao people, their home is really a treasure of feng shui." Looking to the east, it is the sparkling Pengli Lake; Looking to the west, it is the vast Dongting Lake; The south side is like the beautiful mountains and rivers written by literati and ink writers; As for the north, it is what the ancients called Hengshan, which is now the area south of Nanzhao County, Nanyang, Henan. ”
In the Neolithic Age, there was a group of wise people living in the Yangtze River Valley. They turned wild animals and plants into livestock and crops. In this way, a new way of life was born, that is, the agrarian civilization. It is said that in Qujialing, archaeologists have found very early rice remains in the ruins, which are very similar to the rice we grow in the Yangtze River basin now! It seems that as early as thousands of years ago, the people of Qujialing began to grow rice and had quite mature farming techniques. Thousands of years ago, they used their wisdom to build dams and plant rice, laying the foundation for the development of later civilizations.
According to the archaeological records of the Huangshan site in Nanyang, the earliest inhabitants were the ancestors of the Yangshao culture. About 5,000 years ago, during the Qujialing cultural period, a powerful force quietly rose, like a turning point in a historical stage play. From south to north, they gradually replaced the Yangshao culture that originally occupied the Nanyang area.
The secrets discovered by these archaeologists fill in the blank history of the period before the five emperors of antiquity. It turned out that in that distant era, the tribes of the Yangtze River basin and the Central Plains tribes of the Yellow River basin had already had fierce conflicts and contentions. The legendary "King of the Three Miao" challenged the Central Plains magnates, perhaps not an illusory story, but a real thing.
So what happened to this Sanmiao later? What other lessons does the archaeology of the site give us? Are our legends really just legends? We'll talk about it tomorrow!