Archaeologists (考古學家, kǎo gǔ xué jiā) in central China's Henan Province (河南省, hé nán shěng) have unearthed (出土, chū tǔ) a large number of fragments of tile-shaped earthenware (大量瓦形陶器碎片, dà liáng wǎ xíng táo qì suì piàn), which may be the earliest earthenware tiles dating back some 5,800 years (距今約5800年前的最早陶瓦, jù jīn yuē wǔ qiān bā bǎi nián qián de zuì zǎo táo wǎ).

The fragmented earthenware discovered at the ruins of Beiyangping in the city of Lingbao (靈寶市北陽平遺址, líng bǎo shì běi yáng píng yí zhǐ) is believed to have been used on house ridges to prevent rainwater leakage (用在房脊處以防止房屋漏水的陶瓦, yòng zài fáng jǐ chù yǐ fáng zhǐ fáng wū lòu shuǐ de táo wǎ), according to Wei Xingtao, deputy chief of the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology (河南省文物考古研究院副院長魏興濤, hé nán shěng wén wù kǎo gǔ yán jiū yuàn fù yuàn zhǎng wèi xīng tāo).

Wei, who is also the team leader of the excavation project of the ruins, said smaller pieces of the earthenware were found in previous years at various parts of the ruins, but they were too fragmented to ascertain their specific use (由于破碎嚴重，難以判斷用處, yóu yú pò suì yán zhòng , nán yǐ pàn duàn yòng chu).

"Now with the discovery of larger pieces resembling earthenware tiles, we assume that the tile-shaped objects might have served as construction materials used on roofs (房頂建筑用物, fáng dǐng jiàn zhù yòng wù)," Wei said.

If the assumption can be further validated, the discovery will extend the history of Chinese earthenware tiles to the middle Yangshao period about 5,800 years ago (將中國陶瓦歷史上提至距今約5800年前的仰韶中期, jiāng zhōng guó táo wǎ lì shǐ shàng tí zhì jù jīn yuē wǔ qiān bā bǎi nián qián de yǎng sháo zhōng qī), he added, noting that the findings also provide important materials for studying the history of Chinese architecture and the origins of tiles as construction materials (也為中國建筑史和瓦類建材的起源研究提供了較為重要的實證材料, yě wèi zhōng guó jiàn zhù shǐ hé wǎ lèi jiàn cái de qǐ yuán yán jiū tí gōng le jiào wéi zhòng yào de shí zhèng cái liào).

The Yangshao culture (仰韶文化, yǎng sháo wén huà), dating back 5,000 to 7,000 years, was a Neolithic culture that originated along the middle reaches of the Yellow River (發(fā)源于黃河中游地區(qū)的新石器時代文化, fā yuán yú huáng hé zhōng yóu dì qū de xīn shí qì shí dài wén huà).

來源：新華網(wǎng)
編輯：萬月英