A report from China Daily:
A museum displaying cultural relics that represent one of the largest archaeological discoveries in China in recent decades opened in Shanxi’s Xiangfen county earlier this month.
The Taosi Site Museum, which opened on November 11, was built near the Taosi relics in Xiangfen. It is said to show a civilization from 3,900 to 4,300 years ago.
The Taosi site was discovered in 1958 and a major archaeological excavation began in 1978. Over the years, an urban settlement, a palace complex, a storage area, cemeteries and an observatory altar have been excavated. Researchers believe the site is most likely the ruins of the capital from the time of Yao – a wise emperor who lived more than 4,100 years ago.
More than 5,500 pieces or sets of cultural relics have been unearthed at the Taosi site, providing researchers with sufficient material evidence to understand how the earliest Chinese society and nation were formed.
Among the cultural relics discovered, a total of 230 pieces are exhibited, showing the culture and life of ancient residents, including ceramics, jade, stone and copper. The museum also displays relics that some scientists suspect may have to do with astronomical observation and timekeeping.
The museum is part of the Taosi Archaeological Site Park, which also includes an ancient astronomy exhibition hall and a facility for storing most of the discovered relics. The museum today offers functions such as the exhibition of relics, research and education.
Among the exhibits that, according to Gao Jiangtao, head of the archaeological team for the Taosi ruins, are the museum’s most valuable treasures and deserve visitors’ attention, are a shadow measuring device called Guibiaoa colored pottery slab with a sinuous dragon pattern and a shallow pottery cauldron with red-colored inscriptions.
He said that the colored clay plate with the dragon pattern could indicate the origin of the Chinese dragon totem, and that the red characters engraved on the flat pottery kettle could be the earliest written language in China.
The Gnomon Shadow Meter called Guibiao is part of an ancient observatory discovered in the Taosi ruins. Archaeologists believe this is the earliest known observatory in China.
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