The Neolithic remains of the Shuangta Site in Baicheng City, Jilin

Abstract

AbstractFrom August to October 2007, the Research Center for Chinese Frontier Archaeology of Jilin University and Jilin Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology conducted a joint rescue excavation in the western part of the Shuangta Site in Baicheng, Jilin Province. Remains from the Phases I and II of the site belonged to the Neolithic Age. The remains of the Phase I include pits, ditches, postholes, potsherd deposits and burials. The surfaces of most of the pottery wares are plain and the shapes are not very regular, and part of the wares’ surface showed that they were constructed by clay barcoiling method. The 14C analysis of the human bones and the TL measurements of the potsherds showed that the date of these remains was at least 10ka BP, which are the earliest Neolithic remains discovered so far in Northeast China. The remains of Phase II found in this excavation were only four burials. The grave goods include pottery wares and jades; the style of the jades is very similar to that of the Hongshan Culture, but the pottery wares have distinctive local characteristics very different from that. The tombs’ structures and the burial customs have even greater differences with that of the Hongshan Culture. Therefore, these remains certainly belonged to a new archaeological culture.