Ruins of Qijia Culture Discovered in QinghaiChinese archaeologists have discovered a site of Qijia Culture in northwest China's Qinghai Province.The Qijia Culture flourished in the transition period from the Neolithic Age to the Bronze Age, some 3,500 to 4,000 years ago, according to the Qinghai Provincial Archaeological Research Institute. The ruins are located in Lajia Village, Minhe County, on the upper reaches of the Yellow River, believed to be the first of its kind ever found in China. The site includes two half-pit houses. In one house, archaeologists found 14 human skeletons, including adults and children, men and women. One of them, a woman, is holding a baby. In this house, there is a round kitchen range with a diameter of 80 cm, on top of which was the skeleton of a man whose arms and legs were bent. The other 13 skeletons stood in a circle along the walls of the house. Two skeletons of women holding babies were discovered in the other house. It is possible that these people died in a sudden event, or that their deaths had some ritual meaning. |
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