For a province already celebrated for its UNESCO World Heritage Sites—from West Lake to Liangzhu Ancient City (良渚古城)—Zhejiang continues to rewrite the narrative of China's prehistoric past. The recent announcement of its 2024 Top 10 Archaeological Discoveries offers a thrilling glimpse into civilizations that thrived here up to 10,000 years ago. Among the highlights are the Neolithic Xiatang Village (下汤村), the enigmatic Huangchao Mound (皇朝墩), and two newly unearthed urban relics from Hangzhou. Let's dive into these time capsules reshaping our understanding of East Asia's early societies.
Xiatang: A 10,000-Year-Old Time Capsule
Nestled in the upper reaches of the Yong'an River Valley, the Xiatang Site (下汤遗址) in Taizhou's Xianju County (台州仙居县) has stunned archaeologists with its near-complete chronicle of Neolithic life. First discovered in 1984, this 30,000-square-meter settlement spans four distinct cultural phases: the Shangshan (10,000–8,500 BCE上山文化), Kuahuqiao (8,000–7,000 BCE跨湖桥文化), Hemudu (7,000–6,000 BCE 河姆渡文化), and Haochuan (4,500–4,000 BCE 好川文化) cultures.
"Xiatang is like a fossilized imprint of China's earliest agricultural communities," explains Zhong Zhaobing, lead archaeologist at the site. Recent excavations revealed a sophisticated village layout: defensive trenches, raised earthen platforms, pottery kilns, food-processing areas, and even a ceremonial "plaza" paved with fired clay. Among the 400+ artifacts uncovered—stone tools, bone implements, and intricately patterned pottery—the most striking find was a 9,000-year-old elite tomb, the largest Shangshan-era burial ever discovered.
"This high-status grave, accompanied by 20 ritual vessels, hints at social stratification far earlier than we imagined," notes Dr. Qin Ling of Peking University. "It challenges our assumptions about equality in early farming societies."
Huangchao Mound: Rewriting Agricultural History
Meanwhile, 200 kilometers west in Quzhou (衢州), the 9,300-year-old Huangchao Mound site is revolutionizing our understanding of prehistoric rice cultivation. Archaeologists uncovered a massive moat-like trench encircling the settlement and a 15,000-square-meter depression packed with rice phytoliths—ancient plant silica particles—at densities of 5,000–7,000 grains per gram of soil.
"This wasn't just wild rice gathering," says Zhang Sen, director of Zhejiang's Western Archaeology Center. "These were intentional, large-scale farming practices—a game-changer for studying the Shangshan culture's settlement patterns and food systems."
Hangzhou's Urban Chronicles: From Liangzhu to Wuyue
As Zhejiang's modern capital, Hangzhou added two more chapters to its 5,000-year urban saga in 2024:
Lugongqiao Site (鲁公桥遗址) – Spanning from the Liangzhu culture (3,300–2,300 BCE) to the Ming-Qing dynasties, this 9,000-square-meter dig in Xiaoshan District yielded over 3,000 artifacts. Its layered ruins trace how Liangzhu's jade-wielding elites influenced southern China's cultural expansion.
Yijincheng City Wall (衣锦城城墙) – Built during the late Tang Dynasty by King Qian Liu of Wuyue (吴越王钱镠), this 1,400-year-old fortress wall features bricks stamped with the character guan (官), meaning "official." "It's a blueprint of ancient urban defense and flood control," remarks a Hangzhou Archaeology Institute spokesperson.
Beyond fieldwork, Zhejiang is pioneering high-tech heritage preservation. The 2024 launch of the Wenlan Reborn project (“文澜重光”项目) digitally reunited the 18th-century Complete Library of the Four Treasuries (四宝全书)—a 36,000-volume encyclopedia—with its original storage pavilion at Hangzhou's Wenlan Pavilion.
"We're not just digging up the past; we're making it breathe again," declares Chen Guangsheng, Director of Zhejiang's Culture and Tourism Department. Under the 2025–2030 Archaeology Morning Star initiative, the province plans to establish a national archaeology hub, amplify global outreach, and develop immersive heritage tourism experiences.
These finds aren't just about China—they're milestones in humanity's shared story. The Shangshan culture's rice cultivation predates Mesopotamia's wheat domestication, while Liangzhu's urban planning rivals contemporaneous Indus Valley cities. As Zhejiang's ancient villages and royal capitals resurface, they offer fresh clues to a timeless question: What forces transformed hunter-gatherers into architects of civilizations?
