Archaeological ruins found on the Loess Plateau dated to be about 5,000 years old could provide crucial clues about the infancy of Chinese civilization. These excavations were carried out at the Nanzou Heritage Site in Qingyang of the Gansu Province. The results from this site could be the biggest known human settlement of its time in China.
     "The site offers key physical evidence for the pivotal role of the middle reaches of the Yellow River in the birth of Chinese civilization," said Han Jianye, a professor at Renmin University of China who is leading the excavation.
     The Nanzuo site dates back to 4,600 to 5,200 years ago and was originally uncovered in 1958, with further excavations taking place in the 80's and 90's. One of the finds from the site is a rammed earth foundation that has an internal measurement of 630 square meters. Since then, archaeologists have uncovered more foundations, an area covering roughly 30 heactares and surrounded by three layers of defensive moats.
     "And the 'palatial' constructions and the defensive system also have extraordinary size," he said. "These findings jointly reflect a strong public power, indicating this region had entered an era of civilization." Apart from the massive buildings, stone and bone arrows were also found with a red dye, which are normally found in Zhou Dynasty excavations as gifts to vassal states (c. 11th century - 256 BCE).
     It is currently believed that the area is from the Yangshao Culture, which dates some 5,000 to 7,000 years back across Northern China. As this culture was discovered nearly a century ago, the new finds mark a solid anniversary gift to Chinese archaeology that sheds new light on this culture. "In the late period of Yangshao Culture, its people returned to their homeland, as Nanzuo indicates," said Li Xinwei, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Archaeology.

Edited from China Daily (2 December 2021), ECNS.cn (3 December 2021)