陵阳河遗址位于莒南县陵阳乡大寺村附近的陵阳河南岸。陵阳河得名于汉代的王陵。该王陵是西汉第一任城阳景王的陵墓，城阳景王是汉高祖刘邦的“糟糠之妻”的长孙。这个长孙名刘章，虽然其奶奶没有做成皇太后，太后的位置被吕后取代，但其皇孙的身份和地位却没有丝毫改变，而且还有些“横”的样子。证据之一就是敢当着吕后的面，在一次家宴上借故杀了一个吕家的子孙，吕后还不敢怎么样他；之二就是和刘邦的旧臣们一起，诛灭了吕家的势力，恢复了“汉家”的天下，并因此而被分封到莒县这个地方，死后也被埋葬在此。刘章陵前这一条小河也就被称为陵阳河。
陵阳河遗址的发现
陵阳河遗址的首次发现得益于“天公”。1957年，一场洪水暴发后，陵阳乡的文书赵明录在河边捡拾到一些石器和陶器，于是，一个著名的遗址被人们所认知。1962年，山东省考古专家闻讯实地考察后，确认这是一处大汶口文化中晚期时代的遗址，并于第二年会同莒县的文化部门对遗址进行了第一次试掘，出土了砭石等150多件原始遗物。
正式的发掘开始于1979年。那时的考古重点是墓葬，因为墓葬埋藏内容丰富，发掘技术难度也不是很高，遗址现象也容易辩认。为了获取更多的资料，省县联合考古队在陵阳河之外，还将发掘范围扩大到距陵阳河七八公里的大、小朱家村遗址。在大朱家村连续挖掘了5天，没有找到什么墓葬，考古队只好全部撤回到陵阳河，陵阳河的考古力量因此而得到了加强。但是，由于陵阳河遗址被掩埋在河沙下面，探查起来十分困难，全体人员工作了20多天，也仅仅找到了5座墓葬。
5月9日，考古队员苏兆庆和赖修田在河边洗手时，无意中发现了一个墓葬，这就是著名的6号大墓。因为它的被发现，不但鼓舞了士气，打消了大家对该地是否还有墓葬的怀疑，而且由此寻找到了遗址上的大墓群，为后来贫富墓葬区的划分奠定了基础，同时也终于找到了一批号称“中华文明曙光”的刻画图象。
文明曙光的标志
文字是文明的标志，已经成为不争的共识。但在原始刻画图像出现以前，最早的文字是甲骨文和金文。甲骨文是刻画在龟甲或牛羊骨头上的文字，是商周时期占卜的记录；金文则是刻或铸在青铜器上的文字。甲骨文和金文都是比较成熟的文字，如此成熟的文字不可能一蹴而就。为此，百余年来众多文人学者为寻找文字的源头和其起始而白发皓首，始终不得其解。陵阳河遗址的发掘，首次掀起了汉字的“盖头”，让世人看见了文字的原始形态，了解到距今5000多年前文字的初始面貌。这一发现，应该称得上“石破天惊”了。
陵阳河的图像文字共发现了17个，除了陵阳河遗址外，还包括陵阳河下游的“杭头遗址”、周边的“大朱家遗址”和“仕阳遗址”等出土的图像。学者们经过深入研究，认为陵阳河的图像和符号至少有7个可以断定为图像文字。
也许，远古时代的陵阳河人也非常明白这些图像的重要意义，所以，在选择刻画器物时，特别选择了个体比较大、器壁比较厚且不易破损的陶器，这就是被考古学家定名为大口、尖底的“灰陶尊”上。另外，陵阳河人在确定图像刻画的具体位置时，显然也有认真的考虑，那就是都选择了临近口沿的陶尊上部。因为，这种尖底、大口尊要想竖立起来，至少要将三分之一的尖底部分栽在土里才行，如果图像刻画在中低部位，则很难引起人们的注意，而接近口部的地方，则比较容易让人们看见。至于有的图像还被染上朱红的颜色，则除了宗教迷信的目的外，恐怕也不排除让图像醒目的意图。
陵阳河图像文字常见的有三种，一是号称“日月山”的图像，二是像斧、凿工具的图像，三是与酒有关的图像。另外，还有关于祭祀和姓氏等内容的图像。
“日月山”图像具体分下来也有两种形态，一是完全形态，上边是“太阳”，中间是“月亮”，下部是“五座山头”。二是不完全形态，只有“太阳”、“月亮”。这“月亮”的含义，有人认为是“云气”，有人认为是“火焰”。关于“日月山”图像定义，有人认为是太阳初升的含义，可以定义为“旦”。只是“太阳”和“火”的话，可以定义为“昊”。古文昊字有上为“曰”、下为“火”的写法。但是，也有人认为这个图像是“物候”的象征。据说陵阳河源头的寺崮山就是五座山头，每当春分那一天，站在陵阳河遗址东望，太阳就从最中间的山头上升起。所以，这一图像可能就是陵阳河人开始春耕的“物候”记号。
将“日月山”图像释义为“旦”、“昊”二字，十分巧合地拉开了文明的序幕，让象形文字从此走进了人类社会，并演化为独特的方块字，成为中华各民族进行交流和历史记录的重要工具，使蒙昧从此退出了历史舞台。文明的曙光在中国东方冉冉升起，一个文明的国度因此而为世界所瞩目。
酒与酒神图像
和文字的诞生一样，酒的问世也是人类文明的重要表现。因为有了酒，就使得人类生活方式发生了重大变化，而且还促进和密切了人与人之间的交流和理解。对于陵阳河人来说，酒的发现似乎比文字更加重要，也更加为大多数人所钟爱。因为，在陵阳河已经出土的2800件随葬品中，45%以上的器物与酒有关，而且在45座墓葬中，共随葬了663件酒杯类的器物。陵阳河人与酒的关系由此可见一斑。
陵阳河有关酒的图像一是滤酒图像，该图像好像一个花盆，王树明先生根据其形态推断为滤酒表现，后来演化成酒神祭祀的仪式。另一种图像类似于“凸”字形，其下部有串串水珠或气泡，象征酒在容器中的发酵。根据与甲骨文和金文中类似形象文字的排比，王先生认为可将其释读为“享”字，“享”也是祭祀的内容。这些图像被刻画在较大的容器如盆、樽等器物的肩颈部，其含义可能有二:一是感谢神明庇佑，酿酒成功；二是告诫众人，能够成功酿造出酒来的器物是灵物，神圣不可侵犯。刻画上此类图像并涂抹上朱红的颜色，其神圣的意义不言自明。
陵阳河众多酒器和酿酒图像的出现，表明早在五六千年以前，山东东南部地区就已经十分富庶，因为酒的出现是与粮食的多余相关连的。在食不果腹的情况下，人们是很难形成或流行饮酒习俗的。
古史传说，陵阳河人所生活的东方沿海地域，是东夷人的天下。东夷的时代是早于“三代（夏商周）”王朝的土著居民，因此有不少专家认为，考古发现的大汶口、龙山文化人就是古史传说的东夷人。东夷人的性格比较开朗，感情丰富，能歌善舞，这可能与善于饮酒有密切的联系。后来，在东方崛起的商民族，同样以善饮而闻名，并在社会生活中形成了“重酒”的习俗，死后无不随葬上几件酒器、酒具，以期在黄泉世界继续痛痛快快地喝下去。这种“重酒”习俗曾经让黄河中上游地区“重食”的周民族瞠目结舌，在他们取代商的天下后，其统治者不得不将“戒酒令（《酒诰》）”铸造在青铜器上，告诫其子孙后代不可因酒误国。
陵阳河遗址区区不足50万平方米的范围之中，就承载了如此丰厚的文化遗产，不能不说是一个奇迹。但在如此偏僻的地方集聚了这么多原始宝藏也说明了大汶口文化时代的社会进步和文明发达程度，说明大汶口文化在相同时代的原始文化中所处的领先位置，这是陵阳河的骄傲，也是东方的骄傲。
T he Lingyanghe relics are located along the southern bank of the Lingyang River near Dasi Village, Lingyang Township, Junan County, Shandong Province. The Lingyanghe relics were discovered in the mausoleum of Liu Zhang, who became King Cheng Yang Jing and was a grandson of Liu Bang, the first emperor of the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C. - 24 A.D.), and his first wife.
In history, though Liu Zhang’s grandmother had no chance to become the empress and her position was taken by Empress Lv, Liu Zhang’s capacity as the grandson of the emperor was not impaired at all. On the contrary, he was very arrogant in his wielding of power within the royal family. One prime example of this is that, at a family banquet and in Empress Lv’s presence, he dared to seize some pretext that pleased him and killed one of her grandsons and she could do nothing about it.
A second evidence is that, together with Liu Bang’s former ministers, Liu Zhang eliminated the power of the Lv family at the imperial court and restored the power of the Liu family. Through such measures, Liu Zhang gained control of what is present-day’s Junan County in Shandong Province, proclaimed himself to be King Cheng Yang Jing and was eventually buried here. The river in front of his mausoleum came to be known as the Lingyang River, according to his supplementary title as the Lingyang King.
Discovery of the Lingyang Relics
In 1957, after a heavy rainfall, a person named Zhao Minglu picked up some stone and pottery wares by the riverside, which commenced the discovery of the Lingyanghe cultural relics site. In 1962, after on the spot investigation, the archaeologists of Shandong Province confirmed that this is a relics at the same period of the mid-period of the Dawenkou Culture. In the second year, the first excavation found more than 150 pieces of primitive relics.
The formal excavation of the Lingyanghe relics commenced in 1979. At the time, priorities were given to the excavation of the tombs, since they continued many funeral articles and were not difficult to excavate. Later, in order to obtain even more relevant information, the archaeological team expanded the scope of excavation to include the Big Zhujia Village and Small Zhujia Village relics, which are about seven or eight kilometers away from the Lingyanghe relics. However, after five consecutive days of excavation, the archaeological team found no tombs at these sites and had to retreat to Lingyanghe. Since the Lingyanghe relics were discovered under the sand of the river, it was very difficult to dig them out. After more than 20 days of excavation, the archaeological team only found five tombs.
Mark of the Dawn of Civilization
Writing is the mark of civilization. Before primitive graphics, the earliest characters in Chinese history were the oracle bone inscriptions and inscriptions on ancient bronze objects, both of which were relatively well developed systems of characters. Over the past century, many scholars have tried to find out the origin of these characters. However, nobody has found the key. The excavation of the Lingyanghe relics, for the first time, reveals the primitive status of the Chinese characters more than 5000 years ago.
Among the Lingyanghe relics, 17 graphic characters were found. After deep research, scholars made a conclusion that at least seven of them are definitely graphic characters.
Wine and Images of the Wine God
Like writing, the discovery and development of various processes for making alcoholic drinks is also a universal mark of human civilization; and each country has its favorites, such as grape wines for the French, beer for the Germans, saki for the Japanese, ouzo for the Greeks, and bai zhou or “white wine” for the Chinese.
The appearance of “the wine culture” in China greatly changed the life of human beings here, promoting both communication and understanding. For this reason, the discovery of elements of wine culture among the Lingyanghe relics is even more significant than the discovery of graphic characters. Among the 2800 pieces of funeral articles excavated here, 45% of the articles have relations with wine. Moreover, in the 45 tombs excavated to date, 663 wine ware items were found.
The Lingyanghe relics, covering an area of only 500,000 square meters and providing access to so many cultural relics, are the pride of Lingyanghe as well as Shandong and China itself.