The appearance of jade is obviously an important event.

Chinese archaeologists have unearthed many ritual vessels of the same style in tombs of the Shang and Zhou dynasties.

That is, the six vessels in "The Rites of Zhou".

Jade bis were also unearthed from the Lajia site.

This means that although the Lajia site was suddenly destroyed due to a catastrophic disaster, at least some of the culture of the Lajia site was still passed down to later generations.

After discussing these two precious three-huang couplets for a few words, Li Chunchao continued to introduce them in depth: "Lao Kong, that's not all."

"The jades found in the fill are only peripheral burial objects."

"The owner of the tomb buried in the center of the altar is a man aged 45-50."

"Moreover, there was a wooden coffin when he was buried. He was lying in it with his head facing north and his back upright. He also placed seven jade articles on his body."

"The jade bis, jade rings, large jade swords, jade axes, and jade adzes are complete."

Kong Wenjian nodded: "The jade bis and jade rings represent the high status of the owner of the tomb, and the large jade sword means that the owner of the tomb is very powerful, or that he has the right to conquer the tribe."

"The jade ax and adze may have been the productivity tools commonly used by the tomb owner during his lifetime, or they may represent the tomb owner's control over the tribe's production work."

If this set of jade articles were unearthed, if it were not for the special feature of the tomb pit in the center of the altar, we could simply assume that these jade articles were all commonly used by the tomb owner during his lifetime.

But the tomb is so special, so these unearthed jades may also be given special meanings.

Axes and axes, for example, symbolized rights in ancient times. When the emperor divided the feudal lords, he would give axes, axes, bows and arrows to show rights.

When princes were buried, axes and axes were often buried with them.

Kong Wenjian is not over-interpreted.

However, this interpretation cannot be confirmed.

After all, no text has been unearthed from the Lajia site to describe whether these jades have symbolic meaning.

But no matter what, the status of this tomb owner is definitely high.

"On the southeast edge of the altar, we also found more than ten sacrificial tombs."

Li Chunchao pursed his lips toward the southeast: "There is no pattern in the location of these dozen tombs, and the adult tombs and children's tombs are also mixed together."

"Except for a few whose heads are the same as the owner of Tomb No. M17 in the center of the altar, the heads of the owners of other tombs are all facing the northwest or west."

"We guess that the one with the same head orientation as M17 may be the burial tomb of the owner of tomb M17, or a sacrificial pit."

"The remaining ones may be the later tribal leaders and their tombs."

Kong Wenjian frowned.

The lack of writing is a disadvantage. In all the unearthed tombs, who was inside and why they were buried there, everything can only be inferred and guessed.

It is never possible to find the absolutely accurate truth.

Unlike the tombs after the Shang and Zhou dynasties, which basically have epitaphs or tokens engraved with the name of the tomb owner, it is very easy to find out who the owner of the tomb is and what he did during his lifetime by looking up historical records.

Those who do archaeological work on prehistoric sites are basically confused when they are excavating, half confused when cleaning up, and when summarizing the report, they are also filled with a bunch of inferences, guesses, maybe, maybe, and the like.

Come from the fog, go to the fog.

Li Chunchao was quite indifferent and was very satisfied with having made so many discoveries.

He looked at the busy construction site No. 2 with satisfaction, chuckled and said:

"What can be determined now is that the small square, the altar, and the special ground building next to it should constitute a public activity space for the ancestors of the Lajia site."

"It should be an important sacrificial area."

"However, I heard from the villagers of Lajia Village that they had found some jade objects not far to the north of the altar in the previous years. Perhaps the scope of this sacrificial area is even larger."

"It's just that this will have to wait for further archaeological excavation and research to confirm."

"Well, such a huge relic cannot be sorted out in ten or eight years."

Kong Wenjian nodded and was about to say a few words before leaving. A young man from the Qinghai Archaeological Institute ran over from a distance and gasped:

"Li Suo, those geologists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have made preliminary research results on the destruction of the Lajia ruins!"

"What?!"

Kong Wenjian's eyes widened. He didn't care about the small talk, so he ran towards the geological working group.

Li Chunchao also chased after him quickly, and cursed: "Lao Kong, you are a fucking rabbit, aren't you? Wait for me!"

The two of them walked one behind the other and quickly walked through the No. 2 construction site and ran to the geological workers' station.

"Professor Zhang! Professor Zhang!"

Before anyone arrived, Kong Wenjian's loud voice spread throughout the geological workers' station.

Zhang Cheng, a senior researcher at the Institute of Geology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, heard the sound and walked out of the mobile house, and was bumped into by Kong Wenjian.

Kong Wenjian took Zhang Cheng's hand and walked inside, asking again and again impatiently: "Professor Zhang, have you got the results of your geological research?"

"What natural disaster caused this Lajia ruins to be suddenly destroyed?"

Zhang Cheng, who was caught by Kong Wenjian, smiled helplessly. He could understand the excitement of these archaeologists.

Zhang Cheng waved, and one of his team members brought a laptop over.

"Director Kong, look."

Zhang Cheng pointed to several geological maps on the computer interface, as well as pictures of the excavated soil layers at the site, as well as some photos taken during his field trips, and said in a slightly heavy tone:

"It is certain that the Lajia site is the only disaster site in China."

"And it's a very complex disaster."

After calling up several pictures of the large cracks found at the excavated site, Zhang Cheng said with certainty: "Around 4100 years ago, a major earthquake occurred here."

"The earthquake caused ground damage to the Lajia ruins and the collapse of houses."

"The skeletons that were crushed in the house most likely died in this sudden earthquake."

"Preliminary judgment shows that the epicenter of this earthquake is about 130 kilometers away from the Lajia ruins. The scale of this earthquake is very large!"

"So, the Lajia ruins were destroyed because of the earthquake? That's what we also guessed." Li Chunchao said with a sure expression on his face.

But Zhang Cheng nodded first and then shook his head.

"No."

"What the Lajia ruins suffered was not just an earthquake."

"Remember the red sediment you found in the ruins?"

Kong Wenjian and Li Chunchao both nodded.

"The seemingly ordinary red sediment was the reason for the complete destruction of the Lajia ruins."

Zhang Cheng sighed: "In the past two months, our team traveled around Lajia Village and conducted detailed geological surveys."

"Lajia Village is close to the Yellow River, and in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, about 25 kilometers away from Lajia Village, there is a place called Jishi Gorge."

"During the geological survey in Jishixia, our team accidentally saw some special debris and collected them for study."

"Soon, we confirmed that these debris were deposits from a huge outburst flood in ancient times."

"If we combine this with the red sediments discovered during the archaeological excavation of the Lajia site, the situation becomes very clear."

"The situation at that time should be like this."

"A strong earthquake triggered a large-scale landslide in Jishixia, which blocked the Yellow River for 6 to 9 months, forming a huge barrier lake and blocking the Yellow River."

"This blockage and the continuous increase in water volume for nine months caused the barrier lake to burst. As much as 11 billion to 16 billion cubic meters of lake water was rapidly released in a short period of time, forming a huge flood."

"The Lajia ruins should have suffered a major earthquake and then a huge flood in less than a year."
Chapter completed!