Springside Stories in the New Era | Archaeology of Jinan

A series of short videos, Stories in the City of Springs in the New Era: The Practices of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era in Jinan, supervised by the Publicity Department of the CPC Jinan Municipal Committee and produced by Jinan International Communication Center is being continuously updated. The 19th episode, Archaeology of Jinan tells the new archeological model of "investigation and exploration" implemented by Jinan archaeological department. This provides a new idea for the protection of underground cultural relics.

Archaeology is about walking through the tunnels of civilization, and mapping out the way the city has traveled. Starting from the Houli Culture 9000 years ago, Jinan has gone through the periods of Beixin Culture, Dawenkou Culture and Longshan Culture. The city has revealed thousands of years of historical development through years of archaeological work and cultural relics protection.

At the Longfengzhuang village historic site in Mashan Town, Changqing District, Jinan City, several archeologists are drilling into the soil with a Luoyang shovel. They will look at the extracted core samples, and then based on the color of each section of the core, to look for archaeological clues deep underground.

According to He Li, director of the investigation and exploration department of the Jinan Archaeological Research Institute, the historic site of Longfengzhuang village in Changqing District is located within the construction land of the Mashan Jingang project, which is the key project of Jinan City. In order to ensure the smooth transfer of this land and protect the cultural heritage well, Jinan Archaeological Research Institute sent a professional team to carry out rescue excavation of the Longfengzhuang village historic site.

　　"Jinan has taken the lead in the implementation of archaeological preparatory work nationwide. Before the land is sold, archaeology is carried out to investigate and explore the area to see if there are any cultural relics in the area to be developed." "He Li explained. Put archaeological work in front of land transfer and storage, so that it can ensure the net land transfer. This way can effectively solve the contradiction between capital construction and cultural relics protection.

　　Because of the complexity of burial and the chance of discovery, the underground cultural relic is difficult to explore and excavate. But it is also an important carrier for recording splendid civilization and inheriting historic culture, and is a non-renewable cultural resource.

　　In June 2020, the municipal government issued the "Implementation Opinions on the Pre-requisite of Archaeological Investigation and Excavation for State-owned Construction Land". It required that archaeological investigation and excavation should be completed before state-owned construction land supply.While protecting cultural relics, it has also effectively ensured the smooth implementation of a number of provincial and municipal key projects, promoting the win-win development of urban construction and cultural relics protection.

　　Since 2020, Jinan has made remarkable archaeological achievements, especially the discovery of the historic sites of Liangwang and Qiaodian, which have important historical and academic value. The archaeological achievements of Jinan City occupy a leading position among all cities in the country, and eight archaeological projects have been selected as "Top 10 National New Archaeological Discoveries". Archaeological work not only enriches the historical and cultural connotation of Jinan, but also provides rare physical materials for the study of Jinan's urban development and social culture, burial system and customs in various periods.

　　About protecting the underground cultural relic, and bring it to life is the key step to realize the permanent protection, inheritance and utilization of it, which provides the material basis for enriching the historical connotation of Jinan and displaying the splendid civilization of Jinan.