During excavations of the Laohudun Site in Gaohu, Jing'an of Jiangxi Province (southern China) archaeologists have discovered the Terracotta and Painted Pottery Culture, which flourished around 4000 BCE. An important collection of late Neolithic remains and items were discovered in the dig, located in the middle of a rice paddy field.
     Xu Changqing, the excavation team leader, stated that in the lower layer of the site - where the Terracotta Pottery Culture relics were found - they unearthed some stoneware, including hatchets, adze, stone ploughs and stone walls as well as some pottery ware. The items have been preliminarily estimated to be 6,000 years old.
     Moreover, archaeologists unearthed a large table dated between 4,000 to 5,000 years ago, 114 tombs and an architectural ruin made from red scorched earth. Mounded by yellow clay of high purity, the table of sacrifice has an area of 3,000 square meters, with its thickness in some parts reaching 80 centimeters.

Edited from People's Daily Online (7 January 2011)