The Jartai Pass Site in Nilka County, Xinjiang
Abstract
In 2015 and 2016, the Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology excavated the Jartai Pass (Jirentai Goukou) Site in Nilka County, Ili Prefecture. The excavation recovered 2500sq m in total, finding 20 house foundations and eight early burials as well as over 1000 artifacts including pottery, stone objects, and bronzes. The Jartai Pass Site was assigned to the Andronovo Culture with a date of about 3600 BP. It thus is the largest and earliest settlement site of the Bronze Age in the Ili River valley found to date. At this site, the earliest evidence for coal use in the world was found as well as evidence for bronze smelting and casting industries and iron ingots of an earlier period. This excavation provided important data for establishing the sequence of the prehistoric archaeological cultures in this area.
Postscript
The samples collected at the bottom of houses F2, F3, and F6 of Phase I of Jartai Pass Site were radiocarbon dated by the AMS Laboratory of Peking University. F2 dates to 3195±35 and 3285±30 BP, and F3 to 3275±30 BP, F6 to 3250±30 BP, and the calibrated date is about 3600 BP. M49 and M75 date to 2935±20 BP and 2950±25 BP, i.e., about 3200–3100 BP. The samples collected at F2 and F5 were radiocarbon dated in the United States by Beta Laboratory. F2 dates to 3300±30 BP, and the calibrated date is about 3600–3500 BP. Phase II represented by F5 is dated 2860±30 BP, and the calibrated date is about 3100–3000 BP (F5 intruding into F2). The team leader for the excavation is Qiurong Ruan 阮秋荣. The original report published in Kaogu 考古 (Archaeology) 2017.7:57–70 was coauthored by Qiurong Ruan and Yongqiang Wang 王永强. This English version is translated by Anke Hein 安可.
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© 2018 by Walter de Gruyter, Inc. · Boston · Berlin
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- New archaeological discoveries
- The Banlashan Cemetery of Hongshan Culture in Chaoyang City, Liaoning
- Surveys and excavations in 2014–2016 at Shijiahe Site in Tianmen City, Hubei
- The Imperial City Terrace Locality of the Shimao City Site in Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province
- The Jartai Pass Site in Nilka County, Xinjiang
- Reports
- The excavation of the Modaoshan Site of the Paleolithic Age in Yunan County, Guangdong
- The excavation of the Daxi Cultural remains at Dashuitian Site in Wushan County, Chongqing
- The excavation of the Wujiachang Cemetery in Fuquanshan Site, Shanghai in 2010
- The Shang burials at the Yangjiawan Locality of the Panlongcheng Site in Wuhan
- The excavation of burial M89 at Tiesan Road at the Yinxu Site in Anyang, Henan
- The excavation of the burial M8 at the Zhoujiazhai Cemetery in Suizhou, Hubei
- The recovering of the Qianfosi cliff sculptures in Tongnan County, Chongqing
- Research
- On the subsistence types of the Xiantouling Culture
- On the origin and formation of the early Qin Culture
- On the provenance study method of the archaeological relics based on styles and distributions
- Maitreya statues in the Southern Dynasties and the incarnation of Fu Dashi as Maitreya
- A preliminary research on the burials of the Mongol Khanate period and Yuan Dynasty in northern area
- The emergence and early utilization of domestic sheep in Xinjiang
- The development and formation of soldering technique on the bronze ritual vessel casting of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties
- Brief report on the laboratory archaeology of the tomb M1 at Dahekou
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- New archaeological discoveries
- The Banlashan Cemetery of Hongshan Culture in Chaoyang City, Liaoning
- Surveys and excavations in 2014–2016 at Shijiahe Site in Tianmen City, Hubei
- The Imperial City Terrace Locality of the Shimao City Site in Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province
- The Jartai Pass Site in Nilka County, Xinjiang
- Reports
- The excavation of the Modaoshan Site of the Paleolithic Age in Yunan County, Guangdong
- The excavation of the Daxi Cultural remains at Dashuitian Site in Wushan County, Chongqing
- The excavation of the Wujiachang Cemetery in Fuquanshan Site, Shanghai in 2010
- The Shang burials at the Yangjiawan Locality of the Panlongcheng Site in Wuhan
- The excavation of burial M89 at Tiesan Road at the Yinxu Site in Anyang, Henan
- The excavation of the burial M8 at the Zhoujiazhai Cemetery in Suizhou, Hubei
- The recovering of the Qianfosi cliff sculptures in Tongnan County, Chongqing
- Research
- On the subsistence types of the Xiantouling Culture
- On the origin and formation of the early Qin Culture
- On the provenance study method of the archaeological relics based on styles and distributions
- Maitreya statues in the Southern Dynasties and the incarnation of Fu Dashi as Maitreya
- A preliminary research on the burials of the Mongol Khanate period and Yuan Dynasty in northern area
- The emergence and early utilization of domestic sheep in Xinjiang
- The development and formation of soldering technique on the bronze ritual vessel casting of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties
- Brief report on the laboratory archaeology of the tomb M1 at Dahekou
