The Jiahu site is an important site of the Peiligang Culture, dating from 9000 to 8000 years ago. It is located in Wuyang County, Henan Province. The climate here is humid, the terrain is low, and the rivers are dense. It is an ideal environment for human survival and reproduction. . There is a small lake between the vertical and horizontal rivers, namely Jiahu, and the ruins are distributed on the north bank of the lake. In the 1970s, the ruins were discovered during the construction of a flood detention area. The site was irregularly circular in plan, with a total area of ??55,000 square meters. More than 50 house foundations, more than 10 pottery kilns, and nearly 400 cellars were discovered. There are more than 300 tombs, and numerous relics of various types including pottery, stone, and bones have been unearthed.

The Jiahu site is a relatively well-preserved ancient village. Environmental research results show that short bushes grew on the edges of gullies and cliffs in prehistoric times. On nearby hills and hillsides, there are It is a deciduous broad-leaved forest composed of sparse chestnut, oak, walnut, hazel and other plants. Wild boars and elk often appear in the forest. Outside the settlement there is a vast grassland where raccoon dogs, sika deer, hares and other animals chase and run freely, forming a natural hunting ground. Beside the lake and swamp, there are a large number of birds and animals, and sounds of crows can be heard from time to time. The settlement is surrounded by rice fields planted by the ancestors, and you can occasionally hear the melodious sound of flutes.

The living conditions of the ancestors of Jiahu were very simple, and the area of ??their houses was generally very small, ranging from a few square meters to more than ten square meters. The plan of the house is mainly oval, with some round, square and irregular shapes. The architectural form is basically semi-crypt type, with a small number of semi-crypt type multi-room rooms that have been expanded in sequence, as well as individual ground-level buildings and stilt-type buildings. Most of the doorways are steps, and a few are slope-style. Semi-underground houses are the main buildings in the Jiahu settlement. Shallow pits are dug on the ground. The ground is usually paved with pure loess and tamped. Post holes are dug around the house, and then wooden posts are used to form a wall. They are tied with rattan and bamboo strips, and filled inside and outside with grass mixed with mud to form a wooden bone mud wall. The top of the walls supports a conical roof, which is covered with thatch. There is usually a stove in the house. Most of them are built in the center of the house, and some are built on the side of the doorway. There are usually pots, kettles, pottery tripods for cooking and other pottery around the stove.

Pottery is mainly red pottery, which is fired at a low temperature and easily broken. There are many pottery kilns in the site, so these pottery were also fired locally. The production technology of Jiahu pottery products is in the historical stage of transition from the mud sheet-laying method to the mud-strip construction method, and the latter gradually replaces the former, and has obvious development rules, which provides important information for studying the relationship between the two molding techniques. in accordance with. The methods of firing pottery are kiln firing and open-air firing. The main cooking utensils are tripods and pots, the main water-drawing utensils are small-mouth pots, and the main food containers are basins, bowls, and bowls. They may have had several basic food processing techniques such as boiling, steaming, roasting, and roasting.

The stone tool making technology of the Jiahu people has reached a relatively mature and perfect level, and the main techniques of the entire Neolithic Age are already available. Stone tools such as stone shovels are exquisite and sharp, and the appearance of tunnel holes in ornaments is the earliest example of this craft. The bone-making technology is developed, and there are many types of bone tools, which are exquisite and regular. Some arrowheads are comparable to the metal arrowheads of later generations.

The peaceful and stable living environment in prehistoric times has created the clever minds and simple and optimistic life sentiments of the Jiahu people. In addition to the utensils used in daily life, many rare and special species have also been unearthed in the site. The artifacts include tortoise shells and stone tools with carved symbols, exquisitely crafted and well-preserved bone flutes, and carefully carved stone grinding discs and stone grinding sticks. Primitive witchcraft and religious beliefs are popular among the Jiahu people. Groups of tortoise shells with stones inside, quadruple-shaped bone vessels and other primitive religious implements are buried in tombs. There are phenomena of tortoise spirit worship, ancestor worship, dog sacrifice and the use of tortoises for divination. Carving symbols of different shapes and sizes have been found on tortoise shells, bones, stones and pottery. Some of the symbols are similar to oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty and are related to the original writing. It can be seen from the stones in the belly of the turtle that the Jiahu people have more than 100 concepts of positive integers, understand the odd and even rules of positive integers, and master the operation rules of positive integers.

Bone flutes are rare and rare treasures. There are more than 20 of them. They are made of bird wing bones and have a tube length of about 25 centimeters. They belong to the early, middle and late stages of the Jiahu site, and are divided into five, six, seven and eight hole forms. Many bone flutes are quite well preserved and can still play beautiful music today. . According to research, the earliest actual bone flute is more than 9,000 years old and has 5-6 holes on it. Can play four-tone scales and complete pentatonic scales.

The bone flute of the middle period dates back to about 8,600 years ago. The bone flute has seven holes and can play six and seven tones. The bone flute in the later stage dates back to about 8,200 years ago and can play a complete seven-tone scale as well as some variations other than the seven-tone scale. Most of the bone flutes at the Jiahu site have seven sound holes, and small tuning holes are drilled next to the sound holes, and some are even engraved with bisection symbols, indicating that the bone flute production and playing techniques of this period should have been very mature. They already have a scale structure, and the germination of equal temperament and pure temperament has appeared. They can play melodies with accurate pronunciation and good sound quality, especially the pentatonic scale bone flute. The accuracy of its sound still surprises people and is unimaginable. It is an invention of mankind nearly ten thousand years ago.

A large number of carbonized rice and rice husk imprints as well as a large number of agricultural production and grain processing tools were unearthed from the Jiahu site, indicating that rice agriculture was an important social production department during this period, and the original japonica rice was mainly cultivated. Research on the carbon-13 content in bones also shows that Jiahu people mainly eat rice, rather than millet and millet plants. The climate and environment here are suitable for farming, so it became one of the original origins of rice and an important part of the origin of rice agriculture in China. Through research on the attachments on the unearthed pottery, it was also discovered that the Jiahu people had mastered the brewing method of wine 9,000 years ago and had the earliest brewery in the world.

The many major discoveries at the Jiahu site have shown the world a splendid picture of human society eight or nine thousand years ago, reproduced the prehistoric glory of the upper reaches of the Huaihe River, and were a microcosm of Chinese society at that time. The society at that time provided a batch of rare and important information. Among them are stone millstones, bone flutes, pottery, carving symbols, carbonized rice grains, and residues in pottery, etc., which are very useful for studying the agricultural history, literature history, music history, brewing history of our country and the world, and for understanding the living customs at that time. Status, etc. are all of great significance. In particular, the earliest and best-preserved musical instrument, the bone flute, is the most complete, rich, and best-performing musical object among the remains of the same period in the world. It is the ancestor of Chinese vertical wind instruments and provides information for the study of Chinese music history. precious physical specimens. Its discovery completely broke the conclusion that there was only a pentatonic scale in the Pre-Qin Dynasty, brought the history of the heptatonic scale in my country to eight thousand years ago, rewrote the history of world music, and overturned the "Chinese flute was introduced to the West" and "the heptatonic scale was introduced from outside." " and other misunderstandings had an important impact on the development of Chinese music history in later generations, and have an important historical position in the history of Chinese and even world music.