浦江上山遺址驚世大發(fā)現(xiàn)

2005年3月9日，日本金大學(xué)中村一慎博士、日本國(guó)學(xué)院大學(xué)考古研究室考古專家?guī)r崎厚志先生在浦江參觀上山遺址，像所有慕名來(lái)訪的專家一樣，驚嘆這是驚世大發(fā)現(xiàn)!自2005年1月20日浙江省文物局、浦江縣人民政府在浦江聯(lián)合舉行“上山遺址考古成果新聞發(fā)布會(huì)”后，浦江縣上山遺址發(fā)現(xiàn)距今萬(wàn)年栽培稻遺存的消息，通過(guò)國(guó)內(nèi)外新聞媒體迅速傳遍了世界，掀起了中外考古界又一輪上山遺址考古熱，先后有澳大利亞、美國(guó)、日本和香港、北京等國(guó)內(nèi)外考古專家分批考察、訪問(wèn)了上山遺址。

山不在高，有仙則名。上山，這塊平淡無(wú)奇的土坡下，竟埋藏著萬(wàn)古謎題，這無(wú)異于平地一聲春雷，把個(gè)荒坡化成了一方“寶地”，頓時(shí)間名聞遐邇。

層層撩開(kāi)萬(wàn)古之謎面紗

浙江浦江上山遺址的發(fā)現(xiàn)并不偶然：早在上世紀(jì)70年代，白馬鎮(zhèn)傅宅村南浦陽(yáng)江北岸在改田中就發(fā)現(xiàn)了石斧、石鏃、紅陶三足鼎等新石器時(shí)代的文物，轟動(dòng)一時(shí)。到上世紀(jì)80年代初，位于浦陽(yáng)江上游的浦江縣黃宅鎮(zhèn)渠南村，又傳出村民燒磚取土發(fā)現(xiàn)了文物的消息。浦江文化部門(mén)獲悉后立即展開(kāi)清理與保護(hù)工作，于是，一個(gè)萬(wàn)古之謎在各級(jí)文物工作者的考古研究下，一步步揭開(kāi)了神秘的面紗。

2000年秋收的季節(jié)，浙江省文物考古研究所、浦江縣博物館在黃宅鎮(zhèn)渠南村塘山背史前文化遺址進(jìn)行了考古發(fā)掘。考古隊(duì)在考察周?chē)牡匦巍⒌孛仓校l(fā)現(xiàn)了塘山北遺址的墓葬區(qū)，然后在北邊發(fā)現(xiàn)了上山遺址。考古隊(duì)在塘山背墓葬出土的近200件鼎、豆、罐、釜、甑、壺等隨葬器物型制及生土地層關(guān)系判斷，認(rèn)為它們具備良渚文化的特征。這就是說(shuō)在這里發(fā)現(xiàn)了錢(qián)塘江以南第一個(gè)良渚文化墓地，而北邊的上山遺址則從石球、磨盤(pán)諸石器及灰坑堆積物中分析，它具有內(nèi)涵比較陌生的許多不確定因素，因此，它是一個(gè)謎團(tuán)，一個(gè)一時(shí)難以破解的考古之謎。

帶著這個(gè)謎，省考古隊(duì)對(duì)上山遺址的發(fā)掘資料進(jìn)行了認(rèn)真研究，把上山遺址四片夾碳陶片送到北京進(jìn)行年代測(cè)試。2003年2月初，北京大學(xué)傳來(lái)測(cè)試的驚人消息：上山遺址的年代距今已約9000—11000年!省文物考古研究所的專家獲此消息，當(dāng)時(shí)的心情既興奮又將信將疑。6月，參加上山遺址的考古專家們又對(duì)發(fā)掘的石器、陶片進(jìn)行全新分析，結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)陶胎中有稻殼遺存，經(jīng)測(cè)定屬于栽培稻范疇。2003年11月，這兩項(xiàng)重大發(fā)現(xiàn)在《中國(guó)文物報(bào)》上發(fā)表。

為進(jìn)一步解開(kāi)謎題，擴(kuò)大成果，2004年10月，浙江省文物考古研究所、浦江縣博物館聯(lián)合對(duì)上山遺址進(jìn)行第二次發(fā)掘，并邀請(qǐng)香港中文大學(xué)人類學(xué)系的中國(guó)社會(huì)科學(xué)院考古研究所的專家一道進(jìn)行研究。這一次發(fā)掘用多學(xué)科的手段，采取浮選收集植物遺存措施，經(jīng)過(guò)數(shù)周的艱苦發(fā)掘，發(fā)現(xiàn)了數(shù)量較多的打制石器。專家介紹，這種打制、磨制石器并存，并以打制石器為主的遺存現(xiàn)象，反映了上山遺址保留著濃厚的由舊石器向新石器過(guò)渡的原始特征，這就進(jìn)一步證明了遺址的原始性與古老性。就這樣，人們發(fā)現(xiàn)了震驚中外的上山遺址。上山遺址釋放出史前文化的最新信息。

考古的重大突破

上山遺址的發(fā)現(xiàn)為什么會(huì)在考古界引起震動(dòng)?浙江省文物考古研究所研究員、浦江上山遺址考古領(lǐng)隊(duì)蔣樂(lè)平說(shuō)，目前歷史和考古學(xué)界最重要的三大課題是：人類的起源、農(nóng)業(yè)(稻作)文明的起源和國(guó)家的起源。在我國(guó)，人類起源的代表性發(fā)現(xiàn)有北京猿人，農(nóng)業(yè)文明的代表性發(fā)現(xiàn)有河姆渡遺址等，國(guó)家起源的代表性發(fā)現(xiàn)有良渚遺址等，而上山遺址的發(fā)現(xiàn)將在農(nóng)業(yè)起源的研究方面產(chǎn)生巨大的影響。

我國(guó)栽種水稻的歷史，早年在河南澠池縣仰韶村新石器時(shí)代遺址的陶片中得到了印證，河南澠池是距今約5000余年前稻米顆粒的遺址，后在上世紀(jì)70年代發(fā)掘的浙江河姆渡新石器時(shí)代遺址中發(fā)現(xiàn)的稻谷，時(shí)代斷定為距今7000余年，此后在江西、湖南等地又發(fā)現(xiàn)了距今1萬(wàn)年前后的栽培稻后遺跡。浦江上山遺址出土的夾炭陶片表面，發(fā)現(xiàn)了較多的稻殼印痕，胎土中夾雜著大量的稻殼。經(jīng)過(guò)專家研究表明：上山遺址是迄今發(fā)現(xiàn)的、保存豐富栽培稻遺存的、年代最早的新石器時(shí)代遺址，它比河姆渡早3000年!這證明了上山遺址所在的長(zhǎng)江下游地區(qū)，是世界稻作農(nóng)業(yè)的最早發(fā)源地之一。

上山遺址的發(fā)現(xiàn)，是中國(guó)早期新石器時(shí)代考古的重大突破。使用陶器、制作磨光石工具、營(yíng)建房屋及村落，是考古學(xué)上所見(jiàn)我國(guó)新石器時(shí)代的主要特征，這次發(fā)掘的上山遺址文化層多達(dá)七層，第三至七層為新石器時(shí)代堆積，厚度約40—50厘米，在這里發(fā)現(xiàn)的圓石球、不規(guī)則扁方長(zhǎng)體的石磨棒，形體較大的石磨盤(pán)，據(jù)考古專家分析，當(dāng)年的浦江先人已經(jīng)開(kāi)始把谷放在石磨盤(pán)上加工，然而用石磨棒來(lái)回磨出大米。而那100多個(gè)石球，是浦江先人用來(lái)狩獵還是敲砸堅(jiān)果的呢?考古人員則無(wú)法定論。還有那中央有一個(gè)圓形凹陷的石槽，專家推測(cè)那是用來(lái)砸堅(jiān)果的，這說(shuō)明那時(shí)還保留著采集時(shí)代的特點(diǎn)。在這里發(fā)現(xiàn)的外形單調(diào)的大口盤(pán)、侈口釜、直口罐等陶器，據(jù)考古專家說(shuō)，這是新石器時(shí)代原始性的表現(xiàn)。這里還發(fā)現(xiàn)了較規(guī)整的圓形和正方形灰坑、干欄式房基以及溝槽形式的房基建筑遺跡，遺跡的第三層下發(fā)現(xiàn)的1號(hào)房址，還具有明確的結(jié)構(gòu)單元，總長(zhǎng)14米，總寬約6米，西北——東南向，柱洞分三列，基本平行分布，每列間的柱洞一一對(duì)應(yīng)，這種類型的建筑布局與河姆渡遺址的干欄建筑有相似之處，2號(hào)房址發(fā)現(xiàn)在第七層下，初步確定為基槽式房址。所有組合性砸器、刮削器、尖狀器、小石器和石核石器等打磨石器的大量出土及發(fā)現(xiàn)結(jié)構(gòu)比較完整的木構(gòu)建筑基址，都充分反映了長(zhǎng)江下游地區(qū)在新石器時(shí)代早期的生產(chǎn)、生活模式。

浦江縣對(duì)上山遺址的發(fā)掘給予高度重視，縣長(zhǎng)趙敏在上山“遺址考古成果新聞發(fā)布會(huì)”中指出：上山遺址的發(fā)掘，充分展示了浦江悠久的歷史，也為長(zhǎng)江下游東南沿海地區(qū)新石器早期的文化研究提供了一個(gè)新的坐標(biāo)。據(jù)悉，浙江省文物局和浦江縣政府已上報(bào)國(guó)家文物局，決定在2005年夏季開(kāi)始擴(kuò)大上山遺址的發(fā)掘規(guī)模，并在發(fā)掘工作中加大多學(xué)科合作研究的力度以進(jìn)一步確立上山遺址在早期新石器時(shí)代世界稻作文明史上的地位。

Unearthing Ancient Farming

By Hong Guorong Archaeology

On January 20， 2005， a press conference was held to release news on the archaeological results of the Shangshan Site in Pujiang County， Zhejiang Province. Since then archaeologists from both home and abroad have come to take a look at the unusual wonder.

What was found at the site was rice cultivation that took place about 10，000 ago.

Why is the news sensational?

Jiang Leping， leader of the archaeological team at the site says that the three major historical and archaeological important subjects today are origins of humanity， agriculture and state. In China， Peking man points to the origin of human beings in the country. The Humudu Site in Zhejiang relates the story of the country's prehistorical agricultural civilization， and the Liangzhu Site represents the state power in its initial shape. As one of the earliest sites of the ancient rice cultivation in the country， the archaeological finds at the Shangshan Site will shed light on ancient farming.

The rice remnants at the Shangshan site are the best preserved at the earliest Neolithic site. The finds there are regarded as a breakthrough in archaeological probes into the Neolithic Age. Our ancestors there began using tools for rice milling. There are roughly round and square ash pits， house foundations， and building remnants. Among the finds are ceramics， stone tools， and foundations of wooden buildings， all pointing to the life and production modes in the earlier period of the Neolithic Age in the lower reach of the Yangtze River.

It is by no accident that archaeologists zeroed in on the site. In the early 1970s， local farmers in Pujiang County found Neolithic articles by a river when they were trying to turn some river bank area into crop fields. In the early 1980s， villagers in Pujiang County dug out relic articles when they fetched soil from a pit to make bricks.

In the autumn of 2000， archaeologists from the Institute of Zhejiang Cultural Relic Archaeology and Pujiang Museum joined hands to dig into a prehistorical site near Shangshan. They looked around the site and found a burial ground and then they spotted Shangshan. In the burial ground they unearthed more than 200 tools buried with the dead. At Shangshan， they found ash pits and stone tools. After analyzing what they found in the pits， they thought they had spotted something they had never seen before. Four pottery shards with charcoal were dispatched to Beijing University for further analysis. The feedback came in February 2003: the pottery shards were about 9，000-10，000 years old. In June， the experts in the province conducted new analyses on the stone tools and pottery shards. Rice hulls were found as ingredients embedded in the pottery pieces. After further studies， the experts confirmed that the rice was a cultivated species.

In October 2004， the archaeologists started another massive campaign at the site， hoping to unearth more convincing evidence. Experts from the Archaeological Research Institute of China Academy of Social Sciences were invited. After several weeks， a great number of flaked stone tools were found there. Experts say that the coexistence of flaked stone tools and polished stone tools found at the site means that the primitive residents were in a transition period from the Paleolithic Age to the Neolithic Age. The new finds confirmed the antiquity of the site.