The statues of male ancestors at the Jiahu site in Henan have been restored, dating back to about 9,000 to 7,500 years ago

China News Service, Zhengzhou, September 29 (Reporter Han Zhangyun) A press conference on the progress of the restoration of portraits at the Jiahu site and the transformation of research results was held in Zhengzhou, Henan Province on the 29th. The restored portrait of a male ancestor of the Jiahu site was unveiled.

The Jiahu Site is located in Jiahu Village, Wuyang County, Henan Province. It is an important representative site of the early Neolithic Age with large scale, complete preservation and rich cultural heritage, dating back about 9,000 to 7,500 years ago. The bone flute unearthed at the site is recognized by academic circles as the earliest playable musical instrument in the world.

Zhu Hong, a professor at the Bioarchaeological Laboratory of Jilin University, introduced at the press conference that day that relying on physical anthropology and three-dimensional facial reconstruction technology, based on the human bone specimens unearthed from the Jiahu site, scientific researchers identified the restored individual as a young man aged 25 to 30 years old through hip bone morphological screening, tooth wear degree analysis and scientific data conversion analysis. He had typical "ancient Central Plains type" physical characteristics of prehistoric ancestors.

"Over the past few decades, we have excavated hundreds of tombs at the Jiahu site and obtained a large number of precious human bone specimens. These bones carry a huge amount of information such as the physical characteristics, health conditions, and life traces of the Jiahu ancestors. But what the Jiahu people looked like has long relied on imagination and speculation." Chinese Society Wang Wei, a member of the Academy of Sciences and director of the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said that this successful restoration is not only a breakthrough practice in scientific and technological archaeology, but also a face-to-face meeting across time and space with our ancestors more than 8,000 years ago. It also allows the public to perceive the image and temperament of Jiahu ancestors in the most intuitive way.

On the same day, a popular science book "Searching for the Sound of Heaven and Earth" developed based on the archaeological results of the Jiahu site and a cartoon reflecting the life of the Jiahu people were also released.