本書內(nèi)容介紹：From 1984 to 2003, the Hubei Province Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and collaborating institutions carried out four seasons of excavation at the Dalupu site, about 80,000 square meters in dimen sion, in Yangxin County, Hubei Province. Based on the layout of the site, excavations were executed in the eastern, western, and northern zones, and a great quantity of Neolithic and Bronze Age (synchronic with Shang and Zhou periods in the Central Plain in northern China) materials were acquired. I. Neolithic Materials Neolithic cultural features of this site consist of: 1 ) the 7th-10th layers, as well as trashpits, houses (postholes), and fire-places in the south of the eastern zone; 2) the 7th-8th layers, as well as trashpits, houses (postholes), and fire-places in the middle of the eastern zone; 3) the 6th-9th layers and trashpits in the north of the eastern zone; 4) the 7th layer in the western zone; 5 ) houses (postholes) and tombs in the northern zone. Among the artifacts found at the site, there are ceramic, stone, bone, copper-based arti facts, in combination with copper ore, furnace fragments, and slag. The Neolithic culture of this site, which appears to be a loeal variant of the Shijiahe Culture of the Longshan Period, and falls into two periods ( three sub-periods). Dating to 4350- 4100BP, it overlaps with the beginning of the historical Xia Dynasty. II. Bronze Age Materials Bronze Age euhural remains consist of this site consist of: 1 ) the 2nd-6th layers in the south of the eastern zone ; 2) the 2nd-6th layers in the middle of the eastern zone; 3 ) the 2nd-Sth layers in the north of the eastern zone; 4) the 3rd-6th layers in the weslern zone; 5 ) the 2nd4th layers in the northern zone. In addition, trashpits, trash trenches, houses (postholes), stoves (pits), kilns, wells, fireplaces, fired earth debris, and tombs, and pottery, copper-based, lacquered wooden, stone, and jadeite artifacts were found. The Bronze Age culture of this site is characterized by/i-tripods with incised lines on their legs, yah tripods with a pair of clay appliqu6 on their rims, dou-tureens with rectangular openwork on their stands, and lei-jars with bird-crown-shaped ears, and bird-head-shaped ears. Sites of this culture have been found in a area centering on Daye and Yangxin in Hubei Province, and Ruichang in Jiangxi, and deserve the nomination of a distinctive culture--the Dalupu Culture, which passes through four periods, in terms of the chronology of Bronze Age cultures in the Central Plain: 1 ) early late Shang; 2) from late Yinxu to early Western Zhou; 3) middle Western Zhou; 4) from late Western Zhou to early Spring-Autmnn. The Datupu site is rich in smelting and metalworking remains. Apart from slag, copper ore, and fur nace fragments that have been found in large quantities, a number of artifacts and features that are related to copper smelting and casting operations were also discovered. The stone anvils, pestles, smelting-related firing pits, malting-related urns, and casting-related pottery/stone molds provide fresh data for the study of mining and casting activities in the Yangxin and Daye areas in Hubei Province, and for the study of Chinese ancient metallurgy.