1502^nd article   第1502期双语推文

Set foot in Zhengzhou, and you may scarcely realize every inch of loess beneath your feet holds tales stretching back tens of thousands of years. These long-buried stories are now being unearthed, spade by spade, through archaeological excavation.

当我们的双脚踏在郑州的土地上，或许很少意识到，脚下的每一寸黄土，都埋藏着数千年前乃至数万年前的故事。而这些故事，正在被考古手铲，一铲一铲地唤醒。

Last month, China's Top 10 Archaeological Discoveries of 2025 were announced. Both the Peiligang Site in Xinzheng, Henan and the Zhengzhou Shang City Site made the list. To date, Zhengzhou has secured 18 entries on this prestigious ranking, more than any other city across the nation.

就在上个月，2025年度“全国十大考古新发现”揭晓，河南新郑裴李岗遗址和郑州商城遗址双双入选。至此，郑州地区累计有18个项目榜上有名，数量冠绝全国。

Travel back to the Late Paleolithic Age, between 50,000 and 30,000 years ago. The early inhabitants of the Laonainaimiao Site lit bonfires on river terraces, creating one of East Asia's earliest known human settlements.

让我们把时间拨回到距今5万年至3万年前的旧石器时代晚期。一群在今天被称为“老奶奶庙先民”的古人类，在河流阶地上点燃了篝火，照亮了人类在东亚大陆上最早的栖居形态。

Ten thousand years ago, humanity witnessed an epochal transformation. At the Lijiagou Site in Xinmi, an unassuming stratigraphic section bears witness to one of history's greatest revolutions: the transition from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic Age.

时光流转至1万年前。这是一个天翻地覆的时代。在新密李家沟，一道看似寻常的地层剖面，刻录了人类历史上最伟大的革命之一——从旧石器到新石器的跨越。

Eight thousand years ago, the first light of civilization dawned on the Central Plains. Peiligang is a name forever etched in China's archaeological history. As the type site of the Peiligang Culture, it stands as a benchmark for mid-Neolithic cultures across the Central Plains. Its counterpart, the Tanghu Site in Xinzheng, ranks as the largest Peiligang Culture settlement uncovered to date, boasting the greatest number of residential houses. It can well be described as an "ideal community" dating back 8,000 years.

8000年前，文明的晨曦照亮中原。裴李岗，一个注定要写入中国考古史的名字。它不仅是裴李岗文化的命名地，更是整个中原地区新石器时代中期文化的标杆。与裴李岗相呼应的，是新郑唐户遗址。这是迄今发现面积最大、房址最多的裴李岗文化聚落，堪称8000年前的“理想社区”。

Over 5,000 years ago, ancient inhabitants built the earliest city walls in the Central Plains at Xishan in northern Zhengzhou, adopting the segmented rammed-earth construction technique. At Shuanghuaishu, where the Yellow River and the Luo River converge, emerged a capital-scale settlement known as the Ancient Heluo Kingdom. Its discovery has filled critical gaps in research on the origins of Chinese civilization during a pivotal era in this core region.

5000多年前，在郑州北郊的西山，先民用分段版筑的技法，筑起了中原地区最早的城垣。在河洛交汇处的双槐树，一座被命名为“河洛古国”的都邑级聚落横空出世，填补了中华文明起源关键时期、关键地区的关键材料。

The well-preserved Longshan Culture city site at Guchengzhai in Xinmi, dating back four thousand years, showcases the ingenuity of early urban planners. This site marks a crucial stage in the evolution from chiefdom states to territorial kingdoms, where the embryonic form of early statehood began to take definite shape.

4000年前，新密古城寨。一座保存完好的龙山文化城址向世人展示了早期“城市规划师”的智慧。这是“古国”向“王国”过渡的关键节点，早期国家的雏形，已呼之欲出。

Then the era of imperial dynasties unfolded in full swing. The Xia Dynasty, dimly recorded in ancient documents, has long sparked heated debates among historians. The mid-to-late Xia city site at Dashigu in Xingyang, with its well-ordered city walls and moats, has provided solid archaeological evidence for the existence of the Xia.

而后，王朝时代的大幕轰然拉开。夏，一个在传世文献中若隐若现的王朝，曾经让多少史学家争论不休。在荥阳大师姑，一座夏代中晚期的城址，用规整的城垣与护城河为“夏”按下了实证之锚。

Some 3,600 years ago, all historical threads converged at the Zhengzhou Shang City — a veritable megalopolis. Composed of three nested defensive circuits: the palace city, the inner city and the outer city, it astounds every archaeologist who visits the site with its vast scale and rigorous layout.

最终，一切汇聚于3600年前的郑州商城。这是一座真正意义上的“超级都市”。宫城、内城、外郭，三重城垣层层嵌套，面积之广阔、布局之严整，令每一位踏入遗址的考古工作者都为之震撼。

The splendour of the Shang Dynasty endured, before the Ancient City of Zheng and Han in Xinzheng carried on the legacy for more than 500 years. A great number of complete sets of bronze ritual and musical artefacts, clearly graded by social rank, have been unearthed from its sacrificial remains.

商代的辉煌尚未落幕，新郑的郑韩故城又接续书写了500余年的传奇。祭祀遗址中出土的大批青铜礼乐器，组合完整、等级分明。

How many untold stories lie buried beneath this land? How did our ancestors traverse the long primitive ages to greet the dawn of civilization? The answers are not far to seek. They reside right under our feet, within these eighteen archaeological sites.

这片土地到底埋藏着多少故事？我们的祖先究竟如何走过漫漫长夜、迎来文明曙光？答案，不在远方，而在我们脚下这片土地，在这18个遗址里。