From Hongshan to Notre-Dame, forum highlights archaeological discoveries

Systematic studies of the Neolithic Hongshan culture, dating back 6,500-4,800 years, and other major global archaeological discoveries from the past two years, were recognized at the Sixth Shanghai Archaeology Forum on Tuesday.

The four-day forum, jointly organized by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Shanghai municipal government, brought together nearly 300 archaeological professionals from more than 40 countries and regions.

The research on the Hongshan societies — which spanned what are today's Liaoning and Hebei provinces and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region — and 10 other new findings were showcased as outstanding examples of field discoveries in recent years, marking their importance in deepening or altering the understanding of humankind's past, both locally and globally.

Jia Xiaobing, an archaeologist with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, says the latest studies on the Hongshan culture's Zhengjiagou site in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, expand the original understanding of the culture's scope and push its lower time limit to 4,800 years ago.

The site has not only yielded evidence of sacrifices and stone mounds, as in the central area of Hongshan culture, but also shows local characteristics of the northwestern area of Hebei, demonstrating a scenario of cultural integration in the Neolithic era.

"As one of the earliest cultures to integrate into the unified process of Chinese civilization, the Hongshan culture, while inheriting its own traditions, actively absorbed and embraced cultural elements from surrounding regions. In doing so, it became one of the pioneering cultures to cross the threshold into civilization," says Jia.

Also highlighted at the forum were the archaeological discoveries at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris after the devastating fire in 2019, which severely damaged the roof and interior structure of the ancient building.

Efforts to document and safeguard areas at further risk led archaeologists to find many remains indicating that Notre-Dame was originally at the edge of a densely populated area in the 12th century.

The finding suggests that Ile de la Cite — a natural island of the River Seine and believed to be the place where Paris was first settled — was inhabited by people from ancient times through the medieval period, according to Christophe Besnier, an archaeologist from the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research in France.

Discoveries of fragments of a choir screen from the 13th century also offer a greater understanding of the medieval liturgy, while two tombs show the complex's role as a funerary place for high-status religious figures.

"The debris resulting from the collapse should not be treated as simple construction waste. Instead, these materials are to be considered a stratified archaeological assemblage capable of providing crucial technical, environmental, and historical information," he says.

Among other projects, archaeologists in Uzbekistan gained a better understanding of how the technological and economic interactions of the Silk Road were facilitated by the growth of the mountainous urban centers of Central Asia from the 6th to 11th centuries through studies of the Tugunbulak site. Artificial intelligence played a big role in decoding information hidden in the geoglyphs across the Nasca Pampa in Peru. Studies on the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan in Mexico have enhanced understanding of Mexica cosmology and Tenochtitlan's role as the capital of the Aztec empire.

Eleven other projects were honored as outstanding research programs, highlighting archaeological research based on rigorous studies of specific subjects and laboratory and scientific analyses.

The theme for the event this year was "Technology, Society and Archaeology", guiding scholars to elaborate on how technologies arise from societies, how they shape humankind's future and how archaeological insights help us respond to the challenges of our time.

Since its establishment in 2013, the biennial event has become an important platform devoted to global dialogue, shared discovery, and the advancement of archaeological knowledge.