The Xinle culture (新樂文化) ( 5500–

4800 BC The 5th millennium BC spanned the years 5000 BC to 4001 BC (c. 7 ka to c. 6 ka). It is impossible to precisely date events that happened around the time of this millennium and all dates mentioned here are estimates mostly based on geological an ...

''Archaeology of Asia'', pp.129) was a

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

culture in northeast China, found primarily around the lower Liao River on the

Liaodong Peninsula The Liaodong Peninsula (also Liaotung Peninsula, ) is a peninsula in southern Liaoning province in Northeast China, and makes up the southwestern coastal half of the Liaodong region. It is located between the mouths of the Daliao River ...

in Liaoning. The culture showed evidence of millet cultivation and pig domestication. The

type site In archaeology, a type site is the site used to define a particular archaeological culture or other typological unit, which is often named after it. For example, discoveries at La Tène and Hallstatt led scholars to divide the European Iron A ...

at Xinle was discovered in the Huanggu District of Shenyang, Liaoning. The site is named after an old inn, upon whose grounds the remains were first discovered.

Naming

The site of the ancient settlement was discovered in the grounds of an old accommodation block for an electrical factory. The accommodation block was called the Xinle Dormitory () and hence the discovery was named the Xinle Relic. When it was discovered that the settlement was that of a hitherto unknown civilization, the whole civilization was named after the relic and hence became known as the Xinle civilization. Although more recent discoveries in nearby areas have been extremely significant, especially one in Xinmin, the original name has prevailed.

Excavations

In 1973, excavations at the site discovered evidence for some 40 neolithic houses. Artifacts uncovered during the dig included stone tools, pottery, jade, bone tools, wood carvings, and refined coal. In 1978, another dig uncovered yet more artifacts including one wooden carving that was some 7,200 years old, presumably a type of

totem A totem (from oj, ᑑᑌᒼ, italics=no or '' doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system. While ''the ...

worshipped by the clan. No other find in the whole of Shenyang has been older, and the find is one of the oldest wooden carvings found anywhere in the world. The excavations also discovered two Khitan tombs from 1,000 years ago.

Museum

In 1984, the Museum of the Xinle Civilization () was founded. The museum is divided into two sections, north and south. The southern section contains displays of the various artifacts unearthed during the various excavations that have taken place on the site. The northern section contains a reconstruction of a 7,000-year-old Xinle village. Some of the houses in the settlement contain representations of life 7,000 years ago.

Gallery

Notes

References