Eighty Years of Archaeology at Liangzhu (Liangzhu Civilization) 9811931038, 9789811931031

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Liangzhu Civilization

Yefei Zhu

Eighty Years of Archaeology at Liangzhu

Liangzhu Civilization Series Editor Bin Liu, Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Hangzhou, China

The Liangzhu Civilization series consists of 11 volumes, namely: Realm of King and God: Liangzhu City; Fanshan Royal Cemetery: Pyramid of the East; Liangzhu Jade Artifacts: Legal Instrument and Royalty; Liangzhu Pottery: Introversion and Resplendence; Engineering and Tools: The Stone Story of Liangzhu; Painting and Symbol: Primitive Characters of Liangzhu; The Paleoenvironment, Plants and Animals of Liangzhu; China and the World in the Liangzhu Era; Eighty Years of Archaeology at Liangzhu; What Liangzhu Was Like; and One Dig for Five Millennia: Liangzhu in the Eyes of an Archaeological Journalist. Representing the combined efforts of archaeologists from the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Zhejiang Province who have been exploring Liangzhu for over 30 years, the series boasts a wealth of significant findings made at Liangzhu, shares the archaeologists’ valuable experience, and includes abundant pictures of the excavation site. Accordingly, it will help readers develop a deeper understanding of Liangzhu Civilization and reveal the evolutionary course of Chinese civilization, characterized by ‘unity in diversity.’ Both the publication of the Liangzhu Civilization Series and the ‘Liangzhu Civilization Towards the World’ exhibition are expected to serve as a bridge to the public, thereby further disseminating Liangzhu Civilization and promoting an interest in traditional Chinese culture.

Yefei Zhu

Eighty Years of Archaeology at Liangzhu

Yefei Zhu Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology Hangzhou, China Translated by Edward Allen Fudan University Shanghai, China

ISSN 2730-6097 ISSN 2730-6100 (electronic) Liangzhu Civilization ISBN 978-981-19-3103-1 ISBN 978-981-19-3104-8 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3104-8 Jointly published with Zhejiang University Press The print edition is not for sale in China Mainland. Customers from China Mainland please order the print book from: Zhejiang University Press. © Zhejiang University Press 2022 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publishers, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publishers nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publishers remain neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Distribution of Liangzhu Culture sites in Yuhang C-shaped basin. Source Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, 2019. Comprehensive Research Report on the Liangzhu Ancient City. Cultural Relics Press, Beijing

Series Foreword: Liangzhu and Five Thousand Years of Chinese Civilization

The combination of time and space is marvellous. When we look up at the starry sky and see the immense universe, the twinkling stars seem to be permanently embedded in the canopy of the heavens. However, we know from modern science that the light year is a unit of distance, and the light of stars from the depths of the universe was emitted in the distant past— travel across time and space happens in the mere blink of an eye. Archaeology is also a discipline about the travel across time and space. Through the door of time opened by our own hands, we can go back to different moments in human history, and 5000 years ago was a special one. In terms of the whole world, civilization was born in the great era 5000 years ago. Coincidentally, early civilizations all grew up in the world’s major river basins, such as the ancient Egyptian civilization in the Nile River Basin, the Sumerian civilization in the Tigris–Euphrates River Basin and the Harappan civilization in the Indus River Basin. How about the Chinese civilization 5000 years ago? This issue has baffled scholars for quite a long time. They have examined ancient China’s cities, characters, bronzeware, etc., according to the international standards of civilization and found that the ancient Chinese civilization could date back to no earlier than the Shang dynasty when oracle bone script appeared. The history before the emergence of characters is called “prehistory” in archaeology. During China’s prehistoric times, different geographical units in the vast territory have given birth to cultural sequences with various characteristics since 10,000 years ago, which is figuratively called “the sky dotted with stars” in archaeology. China’s prehistory, however, has long been underestimated. We always take the Xia and Shang dynasties as the origin of the Chinese civilization and take the Yellow River civilization as its core, which unconsciously downplays the historic significance of high-level ruins and high-grade relics in surrounding areas, such as those from the Hongshan culture in Western Liaoning, the Shijiahe culture around the Yangtze River and the Han River, the Liangzhu culture in the Taihu Basin, the Taosi culture in Southern Shanxi and the Shimao site in Northern Shaanxi. As we explore the origin of the Chinese culture, we come to realize that some cultures like “stars

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dotting the sky” have showed the sparkles of civilization, and the Liangzhu culture is a particular one among them. The Liangzhu culture, an archaeological culture of jade worship, suddenly came into existence in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River approximately 5300 years ago. Despite the fact that jade had already been widely admired, jade worship came to an unprecedented climax during that period. Different from ornamental jade ware many people love, Liangzhu people’s jade ware was made not only for aesthetic purposes. Represented by cong1 , which belonged to the ritual jade ware system besides yue2 , huang3 , bi4 , crown-shaped ornaments, three-pronged jade artefacts, awl-shaped jade artefacts, tablets and tubes, Liangzhu people’s jade ware symbolized their identity, power or wealth. Various jade ware buried in earth mounds alongside the people with supreme power showed the dignity of the deceased, and the divine emblem often engraved on the jade ware demonstrated Liangzhu people’s unified belief. The owners of the jade ware were Liangzhu’s ruling class who believed they could exercise the god’s will as the embodiment of the god. The types and quantities of the jade ware buried with them imply their social status and responsibility. It seems that the Liangzhu culture was once divided into multiple centres and covered a great number of small states, because extremely high-level tomb groups were found at the sites of Fanshan and Yaoshan in Yuhang District, Hangzhou, the site of Sidun in Wujin District, Changzhou, the site of Gaochengdun in Jiangyin, and the site of Fuquanshan in Shanghai. Fortunately, history gave Yuhang an opportunity: more and more sites of the Liangzhu culture were found around the site of Fanshan, and the good protection of these centrally distributed sites allowed archaeological work to be carried out smoothly in the area. In retrospect, it provided a foundation for the establishment of the Liangzhu culture. Otherwise, no one would have realized that the scattered sites are different parts of the ancient capital city Liangzhu. We now can see that the Liangzhu City, composed of the imperial city, the inner city and the outer city, covers 6.3 km2 , around eight times the size of the Forbidden City. It boasts palaces, royal tombs, city walls, moats, a water transportation system inside the city, and a water conservancy system outside the city. It was a proper capital city in terms of its scale and layout, and the Liangzhu culture could reach the standards of civilization except for characters and bronzeware. Nevertheless, with our minds open, we may find that the general standards of civilization should not be applied rigidly when determining whether a culture has entered a civilized society or not. The significance of etiquette manifested by bronzeware in other civilized societies is reflected in jade ware in the Liangzhu culture. Despite the lack of the character system through which languages can be recorded and thoughts and cultures can be passed down, the symbols incised on ritual jade ware could unify people’s thoughts to a great extent, and the impressive organizational and managerial capabilities of Liangzhu society reflected in large construction projects also suggest that there must have been 1

Cong (琮): a straight tube with a circular bore and square outer section with convex sides. Yue (钺): axe. 3 Huang (璜): semi-circular jade artefact. 4 Bi (璧): flat jade disc with a circular hole in the centre. 2

Series Foreword: Liangzhu and Five Thousand Years of Chinese …

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a certain method for information transmission similar to the character system. For these reasons, the discovery of the Liangzhu City established the existence of the Liangzhu civilization. The archaeological studies of Liangzhu have lasted for more than eight decades. In 1936, Shi Xingeng first discovered black-surfaced pottery and stone tools, and today we have defined the Liangzhu culture as the first regional culture in ancient China that formed an early kingdom; in 1959, Xia Nai put forward the designation of “the Liangzhu culture” and scholars came to know the characteristics of this culture, and today we carry out multi-field and all-dimensional archaeological research on the Liangzhu civilization and the state form of Liangzhu is becoming more and more detailed. This book series, written by young and middle-aged scholars who are devoted to the archaeological work of Liangzhu, focuses on recent archaeological findings and studies of the ruins of the Liangzhu City in Pingyao Town, Yuhang District, Hangzhou, and contains a huge amount of information, including different aspects of the site that people hope to know, the history of the archaeological studies of Liangzhu, the palaeoenvironment, plants and animals of Liangzhu, Fanshan royal cemetery which is the highest level of cemetery in the Liangzhu culture, high-grade jade ware of Liangzhu often discussed by people and a wide range of pottery used in Liangzhu people’s daily life. On top of that, Liangzhu is also compared with other ancient civilized states in the world, and an intriguing series of news reports on Liangzhu is commented on by media professionals. We hope this book series can arouse readers’ interest in the Liangzhu civilization, so more people can be inspired to explore our history. Perhaps many people would ask about the relationship between the Liangzhu civilization and the Chinese civilization because Chinese people are called the descendants of Huaxia5 in modern history, but few people have heard of Liangzhu. This is understandable: we believe the Chinese civilization is a unified civilization of a state with its political power in the Yellow River Basin; it has survived from the Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang dynasties and is still thriving today. However, the archaeologists have launched the “In Search of the Origins of Chinese Civilization” project to gain some insights into the initial cultural form of Chinese civilization, so we should not have too many presuppositions for the initial civilized society. Since we have found a 5,000-year-old regional civilization, the Liangzhu civilization, we may also find the Hongshan civilization in Northern Liaoning and the Shijiahe civilization in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, though we are not able to confirm the existence of these civilizations at this stage due to limited archaeological findings. While the Liangzhu civilization started declining gradually 4,300 years ago, the elements of the civilization have been well inherited because of Liangzhu’s jade, and its influence has spread all over the country—regional civilizations actually have influence on the whole area.

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Huaxia refers to a confederation of tribes—living along the Yellow River—who were the ancestors of what later became the Han ethnic group in China (Source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huaxia).

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Series Foreword: Liangzhu and Five Thousand Years of Chinese …

Human migration and communication have never ceased since the Palaeolithic era. Population movement of different scales, degrees and forms has facilitated collisions, exchanges and integration between cultures, and the development of regional civilization is also a dynamic process. The one thousand years following the Liangzhu civilization—the earliest Chinese civilization we can confirm as of today—witnessed the successive prosperity of Taosi, Shimao and Erlitou, and the centre of regional civilization changed from time to time. In this process, the elements of civilization, such as etiquette, hierarchical society models and city structures, were inherited and integrated till the beginning of the Xia and Shang dynasties. In fact, the Xia and Shang cultures evolved in their respective regions, and the change of the dynasties was also the change of dominance of the two regional civilizations—the regions were much larger this time and the civilizations fought against each other during that period for the control over the territory. It was not until the Qin dynasty that a state unified by centralized political power appeared in China. In this regard, the period from Liangzhu to the Shang and Zhou dynasties saw the Chinese civilization’s continued evolution from a regional civilization to a unified one, so this period can by no means be separated apart. Written in Liangzhu May 2019

Bin Liu

Contents

1 Shi Xingeng and Liangzhu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 The Research Society of Wuyue History and Geography . . . . . . . . . 1.2 Shi Xingeng and Liangzhu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1 1 8 16

2 Naming Liangzhu Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Qianshanyang and Qiucheng in Huzhou . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 Xia Nai Names “Liangzhu Culture” in 1959 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 Sujiacun’s Half Jade Cong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

19 19 24 29 33

3 The Liangzhu Site Cluster and the “Dawn of Civilization” . . . . . . . . . 3.1 The Wujiabu Site, 1981 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 The Fanshan Excavation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 Excavating the Altars and Cemeteries at Yaoshan and Huiguanshan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4 Proposing the “Liangzhu Site Cluster” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5 Mojiaoshan and “The Earliest Hangzhou” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

35 36 37 49 61 64 70

4 “China’s First City”—Liangzhu Ancient City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 4.1 Discovering the City Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 4.2 Archaeological Work Inside Liangzhu Ancient City . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 4.3 The Jiangjiashan Cemetery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 4.4 The Ancient River at Zhongjiagang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 4.5 Searching for the Outer City Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 5 The Irrigation System on the Liangzhu Ancient City Periphery . . . . . 105 5.1 From “Earth Wall” to “Tang Hill” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 5.2 Discovering the Elevated Dam System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

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Contents

5.3 Corona, the “Eye of Providence”: Discovery of the Depressed Dam System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 5.4 Dam Excavation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Chapter 1

Shi Xingeng and Liangzhu

1.1 The Research Society of Wuyue History and Geography China has a venerable epigraphic tradition that continued to grow from the Northern Song Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, but epigraphy is always mistaken as the predecessor of archaeology in China. Archaeology, which shoulders the mission of field surveys and excavation, was actually an academic discipline introduced from abroad in the twentieth century. Chinese archaeology emerged against the background of the May Fourth Movement of 1919, which advocated the concepts of democracy and science. The Ku Shih Pien School (School of Debating Ancient History), headed by Gu Jiegang, explored the truth and falsehood of historical materials and legends. When Scholars of the time proposed establishing the history of ancient China in the scientific sense, “archaeology was the only avenue.” Many explorers and archaeologists had arrived in China from Japan and the West from the mid-nineteenth century onwards, not only introducing Western archaeological theories and methods to China, but also kindling the flame of patriotism among Chinese scholars. In the 1920s, Li Ji,1 Liang

1

Li Ji (1896–1979): modern Chinese archaeologist and the first Chinese scholar independently practicing field archaeology. Li graduated from the Tsinghua Academy in 1918, and was immediately dispatched to the United States for study. Li majored in psychology and sociology at Clark University in Massachusetts before entering Harvard University to study anthropology in 1920, and earned his PhD degree in 1923. After returning to China, he was appointed to a teaching position at Nankai University. He began field archaeological work in 1924, with a survey and clearing of locale with unearthed the bronzes of the Spring and Autumn Period in Xinzheng, Henan Province. He was appointed lecturer in anthropology at the Tsinghua National Research Academy in 1925. His 1926 excavation of the Xiyincun Site in Xia County, Shanxi Province, was China’s first self-directed archaeological excavation. He was appointed Director of the Archaeology Section at the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica in early 1929.

© Zhejiang University Press 2022 Y. Zhu, Eighty Years of Archaeology at Liangzhu, Liangzhu Civilization, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3104-8_1

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Siyong,2 and other scholars returned to China after they completed their studies overseas. When the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica was founded in 1928, the Archaeological Section was formed as well, and in October that same year Dong Zuobin3 was dispatched to conduct a survey and trial excavation at Xiaotun Village in Anyang, Henan Province. This marked the beginning of independent scientific excavations by Chinese academic organizations, and the birth of Chinese archaeology.4 In 1921, the Swedish archaeologist Johan Gunnar Andersson5 excavated Yangshao Village in Mianchi, Henan Province and discovered the typical colored pottery

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Liang Siyong (1904–1954): modern Chinese archaeologist. In 1923, he graduated from the U.S. Study Abroad Preparation Group, following which he headed to graduate school at Harvard University to study archaeology and anthropology, earning his MA degree in 1930. He worked in the Archaeology Section in the Institute of History and Philology at Academia Sinica and provided a positive impetus for bringing Chinese field archaeology onto a scientific track. He either directed or participated in the following major excavations (in chronological order): the Neolithic Angangxi Site, the Chengziya and Liangchengzhen Sites, Anyang Yinxu and the Houjiazhuang Shang King Tomb Zone, and the Hougang Site. He was bedridden and recuperating over a long period following the worsening of his tuberculosis in the early 1940s. With the founding of the PRC, he was appointed Vice Director of the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Directing daily work from his sickbed, he made an enormous contribution to the institute’s founding and the development of China’s archaeological cause. 3 Dong Zuobin (1895–1963): modern Chinese oracle bones scholar. From 1923–1924, he enrolled in the International Division of the Peking University Research Institute as a graduate student. He took successive appointments as lecturer, associate professor, and professor at Fukien Christian University, Henan Zhongzhou University, and Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou from 1925– 1927. He worked at the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica from 1928–1946, taking up positions as dispatcher, editor, researcher, and acting director. He either directed or participated in excavations at Yinxu on eight occasions from 1928–1934, after which he was exclusively engaged in research on oracle bones script. His edited volumes The Yinxu Script: Volume One [殷虚文字甲 编] (1948) and The Yinxu Script: Volume 2 [殷虚文字乙编] (1948–1953) selected 13,047 sherds of oracle bones with characters, unearthed from the first through fifteenth Yinxu excavations prior to the Sino-Japanese War. 4 Chen (2015). 5 Andersson, Johan Gunnar (1874–1960): Swedish geologist and archaeologist. He was appointed advisor to the Mining Division under the Beiyang Government Department of Agriculture and Commerce. He was Head of the Museum for Far Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm from 1926–1939. In 1937 he returned to China to survey glaciers in Sichuan, and continued his research following his retirement in 1939, completing his works on Chinese archaeology. During his appointment in China he focused on Cenozoic before he gradually shifted toward archaeology. His survey of the Zhoukoudian fossil locus was the harbinger for the discovery of Peking Man. He discovered the Yangshao culture of Neolithic Period at Yangshao Village in Mianchi, Henan Province, and excavate a large batch of sites tracking back to Neolithic Period through Bronze Age in Gansu Province and Qinghai Province, dividing the above findings into Qijia, Yangshao (Banshan), Machang, Xindian, Siwa (Kayue), and Shajing Cultures, with inferences as to their absolute dating. Andersson is one of the earlier scholars to be involved in China’s Neolithic research. Limited by methodology and archaeological materials, some of his judgments on the periodization of China’s prehistoric culture was inaccurate, and he also proposed a theory for the Western origins of Chinese culture. Yet his contribution is there, in the development of archaeological work in China.

1.1 The Research Society of Wuyue History and Geography

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of of Yangshao Culture. In 1928, Wu Jinding6 discovered a site with burnished black pottery at Chengziya, near Longshan Township in Licheng County, Shandong Province. These remains were named “Longshan Culture.” Liang Siyong excavated the Chengziya site in 1931 and proceeded to write Chengziya—A Black Pottery Site at Longshan Township, Licheng County, Shandong [城子崖—山东历城县龙山镇 之黑陶文化遗址]. This was China’s first field archaeology excavation report. Liang, excavating the Hougang Site in Anyang, became the first to stratigraphically determine the temporal sequence of Yangshao Culture-Longshan Culture-Shang Culture, and to clarify the relative dating of two cultures from Neolithic Period and historical remains. These archaeological surveys and excavations promoted the rapid development of Yellow River prehistoric archaeology, establishing a Longshan Culture typified by its black pottery, a Yangshao Culture represented by colored pottery, as well as a theory on the opposition of two great cultures in the east [Longshan] and the west [Yangshao]. Prehistoric archaeology in the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River was initiated following the discovery of Yancheng in Changzhou, Qianshanyang in Huzhou, and Qijiadun in Jinshan. In 1930, the Director of Nanjing Institute for Preservation of Antiquities Wei Juxian, along with others, located a trio of locales with unearthed stone tools and geometric pottery at Jiaoweiba Cave under Qixia Mountain, Nanjing, and at Xigangtou and Tushence in Ganxia Town, respectively. Mr. Wei believed these were remains of the Neolithic Period. This opened the stage for prehistoric culture research in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.7

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Wu Jinding (1901–1948): modern Chinese archaeologist, discoverer of Longshan Culture. Failing to complete studies at Cheloo University (Jinan) in his early years, he passed into the Tsinghua National Research Academy in 1926, where he applied himself to the anthropology program under Li Ji. He arrived to work at the Archaeology Section at the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica in 1930, and, in 1933, traveled to the UK to study under Professor Percival Yetts at the University of London. He once accompanied Flinders Petrie to Pakistan on a field archaeology apprenticeship, and acquired his PhD in 1937. During the Sino-Japanese War he first worked in the Planning and Construction Office at the Nanjing National Museum, before returning to work at the Institute of History and Philology. He was a participant in archaeological excavations at Chengziya in Licheng, Shandong Province, at Yinxu in Anyang, Henan Province, and at the Dalaidian Site in Xun County, Henan Province. He also directed, in chronological order, excavations at ancient sites in the Cang’er Region in Yunnan Province, the Han cliff tombs at Pengshan in Sichuan Province, and the tomb of Wang Jian, King of Former State of Shu in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. His outstanding academic achievement was his 1928 discovery of the Longshan Culture remains at Chengziya. 7 Chen (1997).

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Wei Juxian

In 1934, Shen Weizhi, a student at the University of Shanghai, collected stone arrowheads, sectioned stone ben-adzes, shouldered stone fu-axes and stone plows at Qianshanyang in Huzhou. In 1935, Wei Juxian and others also uncovered geometricpattern pottery at Yancheng in Changzhou and Qijiadun in Jinshan. Both events stirred an increased academic interest in the prehistoric culture of Zhejiang Province.8

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Chen (1997).

1.1 The Research Society of Wuyue History and Geography

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Shen Weizhi

Along with these discoveries—Yancheng in Changzhou, Qianshanyang in Huzhou, Qijiadun in Jinshan—research on the ancient culture in the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River received increasing attention from the historiographical and archaeological communities. Historiographers, represented by Wei Juxian, began to plan the construction of an academic organization for better arranging the archaeological activities in the Yangtze delta—Research Society of Wuyue History and Geography. The inaugural meeting of the Research Society of Wuyue History and Geography was held in Shanghai on August 30, 1936. As the chairman, Cai Yuanpei stated in his “Speech at the Inaugural Meeting of the Research Society of Wuyue History and Geography” [吴越史地研究会成立开会词]: “The overall purpose of this society in fact originates in the consecutive finds—at Gudang, Qianshanyang, Shaoxing and Jinshan—of the stone tools and pottery of ancient man. These discoveries have considerable historical value, and prove that the cultures in Jiang-Zhe [Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces] reached a high level around five to six thousand years ago. It cannot be true that Zhejiang and Jiangsu were wilderness during the Spring and Autumn Period. Surely a great number of ancient artefacts of such a kind still remain in various parts of Jiang-Zhe. I hope that members of this new society will continue

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to make many discoveries to support our research, so as to cast a light on historical evolution and our ancestors’ lives.”9 After the founding of the society, it took less than a year before the Marco Polo Bridge Incident broke out on July 7, 1937. Even within such a short period, several members contributed to discoveries, excavation, and research into Liangzhu Culture. Members also published essays in the China Times [时事新报] and organized a variety of exhibitions and lectures, encouraging more to learn about Liangzhu Culture. From March through June, 1937, the China Times “Ancient Culture” section edited by the society serialized several dozen essays on Liangzhu Culture, including Wei Juxian’s Reevaluating the Ancient Culture Period of Jiangsu Province [江苏古文 化时期之重新估定] (24 March, 1937. Issue 1), Shi Xingeng’s Brief Record of a Trial Excavation at the Ancient Culture Site at Zone Two in Hang County [杭县第 二区远古文化遗址试掘简录] (14 April, 1937. Issue 3; 21 April, 1937. Issue 4), He Tianxing’s The Prehistoric Remains and Black Pottery Culture at Zone Two in Hang County [杭县第二区的史前遗存与黑陶文化] (19 May, 1937. Issue 9), and Shen Weizhi’s lecture script Insights from the Discoveries of Stone Tools at Qianshanyang in Huzhou [从湖州钱山漾发现石器说起] (12 June, 1937. Issue 14). The society also published a book series which included He Tianxing’s The Lithics and Black Pottery of Liangzhu Township in Hang County [杭县良渚镇之石器和黑 陶], Shi Xingeng’s Liangzhu [良渚], Shen Weizhi’s The Discovery of the Qianshanyang Lithics and the Origin of Chinese Culture [湖州钱山漾石器之发现与 中国文化之起源], and as well as the Prospecting Report for the Neolithic Site at Gudang in Hangzhou [杭州古荡新石器时代遗址之试探报告] as co-edited with West Lake Museum of Zhejiang Province.

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Wei (2005).

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Collected Essays on Wu-Yue Culture [吴越文化论丛]

Edited by the Research Society of Wuyue History and Geography and published by the Jiangsu Research Society, 1937. The Research Society of Wuyue History and Geography was founded in 1936, with the aim of conducting research on the history and geography of Wu-Yue (Jiangsu and Zhejiang). Brief records and essays on the Liangzhu Culture collected in this book include Shi Xingeng’s The Prehistoric Remains and Black Pottery Culture at Zone Two in Hang County, Shen Weizhi’s The Discovery of the Qianshanyang Lithics and the Origin of Chinese Culture, Hu Xingzhi’s There’s Neolithic Culture in Zhejiang Province? [浙江果有新石器时代 文化乎], Liu Zhiyuan’s Inquiry into Lithic Formation and Stratigraphy [石器的形 成与地层之探讨], and Wei Juxian’s A Discussion on the Stone Age in Zhejiang [浙 江石器年代的讨论]. The book title was written by Cai Yuanpei.

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1 Shi Xingeng and Liangzhu

1.2 Shi Xingeng and Liangzhu In 1936, Wei Juxian went to Hangzhou to borrow some porcelain. At an antiques market, he purchased a stone arrowhead and a stone shovel. He learned that the stone tools originated from Gudang, five kilometers west of Hangzhou. Wei, together with his friend Zhou Yongxian (an instructor of literary history at Sun Yat-sen Middle School, Hangzhou), went to conduct a field survey. They found the public cemetery was under construction, and bought more than 30 shovels, ge-dagger-axes and arrowheads from the workers. They received permission to excavate, after consulting the West Lake Museum (predecessor to the Zhejiang Provincial Museum). The excavation was financed by the museum, and the team consisted of members from the Research Society of Wuyue History and Geography and West Lake Museum. The trial excavation process is recorded in Report on a Trial Excavation on the Neolithic Site at Gudang, Hangzhou [杭州古荡新石器时代遗址之试掘报告]: “It took only one day, extending from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but six stone tools were discovered. Along with other findings on the previous day, we found sixteen stone tools, and also excavated three Wu-Yue pottery sherds. In other words, the results of our excavation were quite satisfactory.”10

10

Wei Juxian, Hu Xingzhi. 1936. Report on a Trial Excavation on the Neolithic Site at Gudang, Hangzhou [杭州古荡新石器时代遗址之试掘报告] co-edited by Research Society of Wuyue History and Geography and West Lake Museum of Zhejiang Province. Report on a Trial Excavation on the Neolithic Site at Gudang, Hangzhou [杭州古荡新石器时代遗址之发掘报告].

1.2 Shi Xingeng and Liangzhu

9

Report on a Trial Excavation on the Neolithic Site at Gudang, Hangzhou [杭州古荡新石器时代 遗址之发掘报告]. 1936

The report was co-edited by the Research Society of Wuyue History and Geography, and West Lake Museum of Zhejiang Province in 1936. The report contains the findings and discussions on excavation at Gudang, Hangzhou on May 31, 1936. During the one-day excavation, they opened up three deep pits, discovered six stone tools and three pottery sherds, and collected over ten additional stone tools. The report also includes Wei Juxian and Hu Xingzhi’s Report on a Trial Excavation on the Neolithic Site at Gudang, Hangzhou, Liu Qingxiang’s Topography in the Vicinity of Gudang [古荡附近地质], Hu Xingzhi’s The Value of Gudang’s Excavated Stone Tools in the Southeastern Culture [古荡石器出土在东南文化上之价 值], Wei Juxian’s Conjectures on Gudang as a Stone Tools Workshop [古荡为制造 石器工厂之推测], and Le Bingsi’s Archaeological Prospects for Gudang [古荡考 古之前途]. Wei Juxian’s The Stone Tools of Neolithic Age Unearthed from Gudang and Wu-Yue Culture [古荡出土之新石器与吴越文化] is carried in an appendix. The book title was written by Cai Yuanpei. A total of over 10 stone tools were collected and excavated at Gudang, which reflected different types of stone tools in Liangzhu Culture. After the excavation of the Gudang Site was completed, the Research Society of Wuyue History and Geography and West Lake Museum of Zhejiang Province co-edited the Report on a Trial Excavation on the Neolithic Site at Gudang, Hangzhou. Cai Yuanpei was

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1 Shi Xingeng and Liangzhu

invited to write the book title, with Wei Juxian writing a preface and arranging its publication. The trial excavation at Gudang directly promoted archaeological work in this region and especially Liangzhu. In fact, the archaeological surveys and trial excavations that Shi Xingeng and He Tianxing carried out in Liangzhu were inspired by this trial excavation. In their essay A Few More Words about Those Who Discovered Liangzhu Culture [也谈良渚文化的发现人], Zhang Binghuo and Jiang Weidong provide a detailed account of Shi and He’s archaeological survey, trial excavation and research, with the following evaluation: “Both Shi Xingeng and He Tianxing made pioneering and outstanding contributions to the discovery and research of Liangzhu Culture. In the 1930s, their surveys and trial excavations at Liangzhu site, and the publication of their monographs and reports, lifted the curtain on field archaeology and research on Liangzhu Culture. Hence ‘new terrain was opened up in Jiangnan archaeology, one that the stick-in-the-muds, with their old-hat historiographical views, couldn’t have even dreamed of.’ They were the forerunners of Liangzhu Culture research.”11

Shi Xingeng

Shi Xingeng hailed from Liangzhu in Yuhang. In 1926, he joined the art apprenticeship class at Zhejiang Provincial High-Level Industrial College after he graduated 11

Zhang and Jiang (2006).

1.2 Shi Xingeng and Liangzhu

11

from high school. When the West Lake Exposition opened in Hangzhou in 1929, Shi was appointed a docent at the exposition museum on a teacher’s recommendation. Through his employment he familiarized himself with a variety of cultural artefacts and mineral specimens. The conclusion to the exposition saw the founding of the West Lake Museum. Thanks to his work experience at the exposition, he became a draftsman at the museum’s mineral products group. It was as an employee of the West Lake Museum that Shi Xingeng participated in the excavation of the Gudang Site in Hangzhou in 1936. In the course of the excavation, his attention was drawn to the similarity between the stone tools being unearthed at Gudang and the stone tools he frequently saw in his Liangzhu hometown. Shi recalled the excavation in his Brief Record of a Trial Excavation at the Ancient Culture Site at Zone Two in Hang County. “The trial excavation only took a day, but the artefacts I saw collected seemed very familiar. They were the objects I often found at hometown—a kind of rectangular stone fu-ax (or stone shovel) with round perforations predominated. In fact, I used to think it existed together with jade wares, so I rarely noticed it.” “The following day (June 1),” Shi went on to write, “I hurriedly returned to my hometown (Zone Two, Hang County) to gather [specimens]. Aside from stone shovels I was surprised to gain a number of stone tools of different shapes, such as stone ge (dagger), stone lian (sickle), stone zao (chisel), and stone paoding (cooking implement)… at the time I considered using the riverside marsh-bed to inspect the stratigraphy in cross-section, and information contained therein.”12 Shi Xingeng returned to Liangzhu in July, 1936 and gained a rough picture of how stone tools were distributed through several days of zoned searching. In November, he was back at his hometown, investigating and discovering two pieces of dark-black glossy black pottery at a dried-up marsh near Qipanfen. Inspired from the Chengziya report, Shi believed the Liangzhu Site was “the product of one and the same culture” as Chengziya site in Shandong. Then directed by Dong Yumao, the West Lake Museum held Shi Xingeng’s discovery in great esteem. In accordance with the “Law for the Preservation of Ancient Artefacts” [古物保存法] promulgated by the government of the Republic of China, they submitted an application to the Central Commission for the Preservation of Antiquities, and were granted an excavation license. Shi represented the museum on three occasions in trial excavations at six sites—Qipanfen, Hengweili, Maianqian, Gujingfen, Xunshandonglu, and Zhongjia Village at Changmingqiao— which ran from 1–10 December, 1936, 26–30 December, 1936, and 8–20 March, 1937 respectively. The excavation findings included many pottery and stone tools, and the surveys discovered 12 sites around Liangzhu. The survey and trial excavation carried out by Shi Xingeng at Liangzhu from June, 1936 through March, 1937 was the first scientific survey and excavation at the site. In his own works, Shi gave a detailed account of the archaeological survey, trial excavation, and subsequent report compilation concerning Liangzhu site. Brief Record of a Trial Excavation at the Ancient Culture Site at Zone Two in Hang County is Shi’s earliest essay to introduce and research the Liangzhu site. The Brief Record 12

Shi (1937).

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1 Shi Xingeng and Liangzhu

consisted of several parts, such as discovery and trial excavation, stratigraphy and cultural levels, review of cultural artefacts and historical periods, providing detailed record of the trial excavation. Liangzhu: Initial Report on a Black Pottery Culture Site at Zone Two in Hang County [良渚—杭县第二区黑陶文化遗址初步报告] (Liangzhu below), published in 1938, recorded the full archaeological survey and trial investigation at the site. The volume consisted of an introduction, site, stratigraphy, remains and conclusions, with detailed records on the unearthed artifacts, dating, analysis of cultural form and on the editing and writing of the report itself. “The articles are clear, the narrative precise, the illustrations and text both rich, thus painting a comprehensive view of the site situation and artifact traits, with emphasis on the use of categorization and comparative research method.”13 Liangzhu is the most influential of the early archaeological reports on Liangzhu Culture, and an epoch-making report in Chinese archaeological history. Another archaeologist who took an interest in the Liangzhu site, Wang Mingda, has evaluated the work of Shi Xingeng and the Liangzhu report as follows. “His survey and excavation in Liangzhu or his Liangzhu report, which was completed in hard circumstances, despite some shortcomings in our eyes, is an archaeological work of discoveries, invention, and progress, and will go down in history…Because of his high benchmark, his single work of field archaeology during his a brief life—the survey and excavation of Liangzhu—emerged as a milestone in the archaeological history of southeast China.”14 Shi’s work at Liangzhu received attention from the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, which was known to be “an advanced organ of Chinese archaeology.” Liang Siyong and Dong Zuobin would take a special excursion to the site of the trial excavation. The first copy of Liangzhu also benefited from corrections and suggestions provided by Liang Siyong, Dong Zuobin, Liu Yao, Qi Yanpei, and Wu Jinding, thus showing “the strong attention paid by the Chinese archaeological community to this new discovery.”15 Shi also made a vital contribution toward naming Liangzhu Culture. Xia Nai would formally put forward the archaeological nomenclature “Liangzhu Culture” at the meeting of Cultural Relics Excavation Team Leaders of the Yangtze River Planning Office on December 26, 1959. The culture was named after the Liangzhu Site, and Shi made great efforts in determining the name. “There is much deliberation on the use of names in reports—most archaeological site names given in such reports are toponymical—for example Chengziya, Piziwo, and so on, a practice I shall emulate. Since the excavated area sits so close to Liangzhu Township in Hang County, naming it Liangzhu would be most proper. ‘Zhu’ means ‘river islet,’ and ‘Liang’ means ‘fine/ agreeable.’ Based on the topographic evidence, my supposition is that the Liangzhu Period was time of frequent flooding and a profusion of sandbar islets. These were still newly formed sandbars along rivers, and it was only the agreeable environment 13

Nan (1999). Mingda (1996). 15 Chen (1997). 14

1.2 Shi Xingeng and Liangzhu

13

that allowed people to move in. Therefore, I decide to use these two characters, which manage, quite wonderfully, to combine name and reality. The geographic concept also facilitated comparisons. For example, the artifacts in the Liangzhu report, or what we may call the Liangzhu stone tools, might be separated from the stone tools discovered in Chengziya or Yangshao Village. In fact, genus and species in biology are named in identical fashion.”16 In his Research on Prehistoric Chinese Archaeology (1895–1949) [中国史前考古 学史研究 (1895–1949)], Chen Xingcan of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) evaluates Shi’s endeavors as follows: “If the Gudang stone tools were too few and the trial excavations too restricted to establish certainty on cultural nature, the discovery of the Liangzhu black pottery level was ample evidence to confirm the culture’s primitiveness and complexity. Shi Xingeng was confident that it belonged to the same cultural system as Chengziya Longshan Culture, that it was undeniably a Late Neolithic site. He therefore precisely revealed this prehistoric Yangtze culture to the archaeological community. This was a milestone in the history of Chinese prehistoric archaeology.”17 Practically simultaneous to Shi, He Tianxing conducted several surveys of the Liangzhu area, and gathered a considerable number of stone tools and pottery around Xunshan [Xun Mountain] and Changmingqiao, including the ovoid black carved pattern pan-tray that was mainly considered in his The Lithics and Black Pottery at Liangzhu Township in Hang County [杭县良渚镇之石器与黑陶]. He Tianxing finished his book in April, 1937, whose title was written by Cai Yuanpei. It was published in English-Chinese edition, making it one of the earlier works to introduce Liangzhu Culture outside China. He wrote in his preface, “The discoveries on this occasion are not only pioneering in the archaeology in South China… owing to the absolute dearth of accurate historical materials of pre-Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period in Zhejiang, the local culture was less glorious. The south was the area beyond the pale, where the people were always thought to have tattooed their bodies and cut off their hair. But the discovery of such an outstanding cultural site shows the extreme remoteness of Zhejiang’s ancient history, and that the source of Wu-Yue culture can stretch back several thousand years. This discovery has not only supplemented the shortage of written materials, but established a new basis and avenue for the ancient culture of Southeast China when it comes to the origins and development of Chinese culture.”

16 17

Shi (1938). Chen (1997).

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Liangzhu: Initial Report on a Black Pottery Culture Site at Zone Two in Hang County

The report was authored by Shi Xingeng and published by the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Education [浙江省教育厅] in 1939. From 1936 to 1937, Shi Xingeng from the West Lake Museum surveyed and excavated in the Liangzhu, Changming, and Anxi, discovering a total of 12 sites and collecting some stone tools and pottery. The report collected and examined these materials, and included a preface, remains, stratigraphy, artifacts, and conclusion, with over 50,000 characters, and more than 100 photographs. This was the first archaeological report on the Liangzhu site, with a significant academic influence and value.

1.2 Shi Xingeng and Liangzhu

15

(Left) Liangzhu site pottery, 1936 (from Liangzhu); (Right) black pottery hu-flask from the Liangzhu excavation, 1936, presently housed at the Zhejiang Province Museum (from Zhejiang Museum, The “Double Treasures” of Prehistory [史前双壁])

In his book, He analyzed and compared ten carved symbols on ovoid black pottery pan-trays he had collected, believing “these characters were carved around the rim of the original vessel, in a network of serrated-shapes, hence we know they were characters and not drawings, while there were, additionally, such purely carved images on black pottery excavated in Hang County. These are incontrovertible pieces of evidence for written characters, though they clearly remained in the initial phase and likely evolved from pictograms. When we inspect the body of these pictographic characters, we find they predate bronze carvings in bird-seal script transmitted from the Spring and Autumn Period in the State of Yue, and must also have predated oracle bones.” This was roundly affirmed by the Research Society of Wuyue History and Geography in the preface of The Lithics and Black Pottery of Liangzhu Township in Hang County, believing He Tianxing’s lithic and black pottery findings “represent a twofold academic contribution: one as chipped stone tools… the other as black pottery characters… the characters predating oracle bones are the earliest in China.” In an essay titled The Discovery of China’s Earliest Characters [中国最古的文字已发现], Wei Juxian reaffirmed He’s discovery: “There are carved characters on the black pottery found by He Tianxing in Hang County. The characters predate oracle bones writing… Although the characters are limited and have not been deciphered, we can still assert that they are China’s earliest.” He Tianxing was therefore the first to discover and research characters on prehistoric pottery. His unique insights are acclaimed in the archaeological community even today.

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The Lithics and Black Pottery at Liangzhu Township in Hang County

(Part of the Research Society of Wuyue History and Geography Series). The book was written by He Tianxiang, and edited by the Research Society of Wuyue History and Geography, and published in 1937. The book provides an introduction to the stone tools and black pottery found at Liangzhu Township in Zone Two, Hang County, Zhejiang in 1936, and contains preface, discovery of site, overview of stratigraphy, categorization of artifacts, and conclusion, with illustrations and explanations. Wei Juxian’s Discovery of China’s Earliest Characters was also included. The book was included in the Research Society of Wuyue History and Geography series, in both Chinese and English. Cai Yuanpei penned the inscription.

References Chen, X. (2015). Chinese archaeology against the double variation of history and reality [历史和 现实双重变奏下的中国考古学]. Social Sciences Weekly [社会科学报]. Chen, X. (1997). Research on the History of Chinese Prehistoric Archaeology (1895–1949) [中国 史前考古学史研究 (1895–1949)]. SDX Joint Publishing Company.

References

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Nan, Y. (1999). Shi Xingeng and Liangzhu [施昕更与⟨良渚⟩ ]. In Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (Eds.), Research on Liangzhu Culture: Collected Essays from the International Academic Conference to Commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Liangzhu Discovery [良渚文化研究—纪念良渚文化发现六十周年国际学术讨论会文 集]. Science Press. Shi, X. (1937). Brief record of a trial excavation of the ancient culture site at zone two in Hang County [杭县第二区远古文化遗址试掘简录], collected essays on Wu-Yue culture [吴越文化 论丛]. Jiangsu Research Press. Shi, X. (1938). Liangzhu: Initial report on a black pottery culture site at zone two in Hang county [良渚—杭县第二区黑陶文化遗址初步报告]. Zhejiang Provincial Department of Education. Mingda, W. (1996). Summary of Archaeological Fieldwork at the Liangzhu Site Cluster [良渚遗 址群田野考古概述]. In Yuhang City CPPC Research Institute of Cultural History Committee et al. (Ed.), Liangzhu culture: Dawn of civilization [文明的曙光—良渚文化]. Zhejiang People’s Publishing House. Wei, J. (2005). The history of Chinese archaeology [中国考古学史]. Tuanjie Press. Zhang, B., & Jiang, W. (2006). More words about those who discovered Liangzhu Culture [也谈 良渚文化的发现人]. In Probing the Secrets of Liangzhu [良渚文化探秘]. People’s Publishing House.

Chapter 2

Naming Liangzhu Culture

2.1 Qianshanyang and Qiucheng in Huzhou Archaeology ushered in a new era after the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949. In November that year the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) took over the former Historical Research Institute of Beiping Academy and Beiping Historical Materials Processing Office of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, and planned to establish the Institute of Archaeology. The Institute of Archaeology under CAS was founded in August, 1950. In March that same year, the Planning Division of the National Museum was renamed the Nanjing Museum, under the Management Office for Cultural Relics Affairs in the Ministry of Culture. Leadership was transferred to the East China Military-Civil Committee Cultural Division in July, 1950. In January, 1953, in a bid to salvage ancient sites and artifacts found in large-scale infrastructure construction projects across East China, and to implement the decision by the Ministry of Culture to “make best use of the expertise” of archaeologists, the East China Cultural Relics Taskforce was created, with its office in the Nanjing Museum. This taskforce was responsible for excavating Laoheshan site in Hangzhou (the “Gudang” site discovered by the West Lake Museum and the Research Society of Wuyue History and Geography on 31 May, 1936). After the East China region itself was annulled in 1954, field archaeology work in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai was conducted by their respective organizations. The major archaeological discoveries of Neolithic Age included Xianlidun in Wuxi (Jiangsu) in 1954, Zhucundou in Liangzhu, Yuhang (Zhejiang) in 1955, Qianshanyang in Huzhou (Zhejiang) from 1956 to 1958, Qiucheng in Huzhou (Zhejiang) in 1957, and Shuitianfan in Hangzhou (Zhejiang) in 1958), of which Qianshanyang and Qiucheng in Huzhou were the most significant.1

1

Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Nanjing Museum, Shanghai Museum (2016).

© Zhejiang University Press 2022 Y. Zhu, Eighty Years of Archaeology at Liangzhu, Liangzhu Civilization, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3104-8_2

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The first fieldwork at Liangzhu after the founding of the PRC was the excavation at the Changfen Site. In early winter, 1955, villagers at Zhucundou in Liangzhu were dredging mud and stacking manure at the pond in Changfen when they discovered a startling number of pottery sherds and pieces of charred wood in the blackishgrey mud. Wang Jiying and others from Zhejiang Committee for the Management of Cultural Relics opened a 2 × 8 m trench at the northern end of the pond, where he excavated and collected pottery and pottery sherds filling more than 40 baskets, including over 200 restorable pottery wares.2 Qianshanyang was located at the ancient village of Lucun in Balidian Township, Wuxing District, Huzhou, southwest of Qianshanyang Lake. In the 1930s, Shen Weizhi became fascinated by the large volume of stonewares he excavated at Qianshanyang, near his hometown at Lucun. Shen also published his The Discovery of the Qianshanyang Lithics and the Origin of Chinese Culture [湖州钱山漾石器之 发现与中国文化之起源] in the Wu-Yue Culture Series.

Qianshanyang today

The Zhejiang Committee for the Management of Cultural Relics conducted two excavations at Qianshanyang in 1956 and from February to March of 1958, respectively, within a combined area of 731.5 m2 . These first and second excavations divided the cultural deposits into an upper layer and a lower layer. The pottery ware assemblage found in the middle layer and lower layer (now confirmed as Qianshanyang culture), typified by arced-back gill-shaped foot ding-cauldron and slender neck bagfeet gui-tureen, was hugely significant for the naming of Liangzhu Culture. Another major discovery in the lower-level deposits consisted of the rich plant seeds and organic remains such as silks (pieces, ribbons), ramie, and woven bamboos.3 2 3

Jiying and Hua (1956). Zhejiang Committee for the Management of Cultural Relics (1960).

2.1 Qianshanyang and Qiucheng in Huzhou

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Qiucheng

The Qiucheng Site is located in north Huzhou. Its name means “the land occupied by the Qiu clan during the Han dynasty.” Northwards it faces Taihu Lake, while the Little Meixiang River flows to the lake from the east, and to the west is Bian Mountain, a part of the Tianmu Mountains. This makes Qiucheng a small elevated site bordering mountain and water. The 吕-shaped earthen city walls, accommodate two peaks in their ambits, forming a north Qiucheng and south Qiucheng. The site surrounding the west, the south, and the east of southern Qiuchengshan [Qiucheng Mountain], covering an area of over 6000 m2 . Multiple excavations were conducted in 1957, 1973, 1986, 1992, and 2012. The site dates from the Neolithic Age through the Spring and Autumn Period.

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2 Naming Liangzhu Culture

(Top) trench layout prior to excavation at Qiucheng in 1957. (Bottom left) H2 deposits, Qiucheng, Liangzhu Culture. (Bottom right) excavation clearing, Qiucheng 1957

2.1 Qianshanyang and Qiucheng in Huzhou

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Part of the excavated artifacts from H2, Qiucheng

The 1957 excavation revealed for the first time the triple overlay, including the lower layer Qiucheng (later named Majiabang Culture) with its sand-tempered thick red pottery and clay red slip pottery, the middle layer (later named Songze Culture and Liangzhu Culture respectively) and an upper layer (later named either the Gaojitai Type or Maqiao Culture) containing piles of a patterned-impressed pottery.4

4

Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (2005).

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Group photo of the Qiucheng Archaeology Team with then Deputy Director of the Zhejiang Committee for the Management of Cultural Relics, Li Chengquan. (Bottom row, from left: Yao Zhongyuan, Lou Zhenhua, Mei Fugen, Jiang Zhongxian)

2.2 Xia Nai Names “Liangzhu Culture” in 1959 In 1959, at the meeting of Cultural Relics Excavation Team Leaders of Yangtze River Planning Office, Xia Nai formally put forward the archaeological nomenclature “Liangzhu Culture.” “The Liangzhu Culture along the shores of Taihu Lake and around Hangzhou Bay,” Xia believed, “was a variant of late culture influenced by Longshan Culture.” The term was quickly accepted by the academic community and has remained in use until today. Xia Nai had already noticed the peculiarity of this archaeological culture around Taihu Lake. In the preface to An Atlas of Cultural Artifacts of Neolithic Age in Zhejiang [浙江新石器时代文物图录], Xia described how, “as for several sites already excavated—Qianshanyang in Wuxing, Liangzhu in Hang County, Laoheshan in Hangzhou, and the lower-level culture at Jinxian in Chun’an—these apparently belong to a separate culture.”5 In Carbon-14 Dating and Chinese Prehistoric Archaeology [碳-14 测定年代 和中国史前考古学], published after the naming of Liangzhu Culture, Xia wrote how “Liangzhu Culture inherited the Majiabang Culture of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. We have already examined seven specimens from four foci pertaining to Liangzhu Culture: four from Qianshanyang in Wuxing, and one from Anxi in Yuhang, Quemuqiao in Jiaxing, and Tinglin in Jinshan separately. The range of carbon-14 dates runs from 3310 ± 135 BC at Qianshanyang to 2250 ± 145 BC at Tinglin. If all data are reliable and the two data above approach the upper and lower limit, it means Liangzhu Culture persisted for around a millennium from 3300– 2250 BC, equivalent to the Henan Longshan and Shandong Longshan cultures in the Yellow River region, but beginning earlier.”

5

Zhejiang Committee for the Management of Cultural Relics, Zhejiang Museum (1958).

2.2 Xia Nai Names “Liangzhu Culture” in 1959

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The Laoheshan Neolithic Site in Hangzhou

In 1963, to commemorate the founding of the Archaeological Society of China, Mou Yongkang wrote the Preliminary Discussion of the Neolithic Sites in North Zhejiang [试论浙江北部新石器时代遗址], published under the name of the research group. Mou divided the Neolithic sites in north Zhejiang into an early, middle, and late period, in accordance with finds from Qiucheng evacuation in 1957. Mou later spoke on “Majiabang Culture and Liangzhu Culture: Questions of Periodization in the Primitive Cultures of the Taihu Lake” [马家浜文化和良渚文化— 太湖流域原始文化的分期问题] at an academic conference on the Neolithic Age of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in Nanjing in October, 1977.

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Part of the jade wares excavated at Laoheshan, 1959. (From An Atlas of Cultural Artifacts of Neolithic Age in Zhejiang)

Distribution of 89 measured carbon-14 dates in China by region and time (Source: Xia Nai, Carbon14 Dating, and Chinese Prehistoric Archaeology [碳14测定年代和中国史前考古学], 1977)

2.2 Xia Nai Names “Liangzhu Culture” in 1959

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Handwritten manuscript for Mou Yongkang, Preliminary Discussion of the Neolithic Sites in North Zhejiang [试论浙江北部新石器时代遗址]

In 1963, to honor the founding of the Archaeological Society of China, Mou Yongkang wrote his Preliminary Discussion of the Neolithic Sites in North Zhejiang, proposing that the Neolithic Age in north Zhejiang fall into two categories, including Qiucheng and Liangzhu in a chronological order. He said that “(I) initially believed it to be a factor of Longshan Culture, though this should be reconsidered in an appropriate manner.” Since the Archaeological Society of China was unable to open

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as scheduled, the essay was at first to be published by the journal Archaeology [考 古], but was later rejected. When Archaeology resumed its operation in 1972, An Zhimin and Xu Yuanbang visited Hangzhou to solicit contributions, hoping to have Mou’s essay published. The essay was later retitled Majiabang Culture and Liangzhu Culture: Periodization in the Primitive Cultures of the Taihu Lake [马家浜文化和 良渚文化—太湖流域原始文化的分期问题] and signed jointly by Mou and Wei Zhengjin, at an academic conference on the Neolithic Age of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in Nanjing in October, 1977. In Majiabang Culture and Liangzhu Culture: Periodization in the Primitive Cultures of the Taihu Lake [马家浜文化和良渚文化], Mou examined the stratigraphic relationship linking Qiucheng in Wuxing, Songze in Shanghai, Weidun in Changzhou, Shuangqiao in Jiaxing, Yuecheng in Jiangsu, Meiyan in Jiangsu and Qianshanyang in Huzhou, concluded “the four-level stratigraphic order consisting of the deposits with impressed-pattern pottery, Liangzhu, Songze (middle level), and Majiabang from top to bottom… Liangzhu, Songze middle-level burial ground (“Songze” for short) and Majiabang have formed the three developmental stages of the Neolithic cultures around Taihu Lake.”6 At the abovementioned Nanjing conference of 1977, the Neolithic culture in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River was formally recognized in terms of time, region, and cultural development series.7 At the conference, Su Bingqi was the first to propose “envisioning, piece-bypiece,” regionally categorizing archaeological cultures. This entailed dividing the lower Yangtze into an area covering Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan, and Sizhou, which are to the west of Weishan Lake—Hongze Lake, and the Ningzhen Region with Nanjing as the center, and Taihu Lake-Qiantang River Area. This paved the way for subsequent research.8

6

Yongkang (2009b). Archaeological Conference of China (1980). 8 Bingqi (1978), Bingqi and Weizhang (1981). 7

2.3 Sujiacun’s Half Jade Cong

29

Group photography of attendees at the academic conference on the lower Yangtze Neolithic in Nanjing in 1977

Meanwhile, Yan Wenming submitted his On the Relationship between Qingliangang Culture and Dawenkou Culture, [论青莲岗文化和大汶口文化的关系]. Yan believed Qingliangang and Dawenkou belonged to a single cultural system, and split Qingliangang Culture into Qianliangang Phase and Liulin Phase, and Dawenkou Culture into Huating Phase and Jingzhi Phase. In his view, Majiabang Phase and Qingliangang Phase in south Jiangsu and north Zhejiang almost fell within the same period of time. The same was true of the relation between Songze Phase and Yuecheng Phase, on the one hand, and Liulin Phase and Huating Phase on the other hand. “The cultures, beginning with Hemudu Culture, and through to Majiabang Phase, Songze Phase, and Yuecheng Phase, and finally to Liangzhu Culture, belonged to a single cultural system. This was different from the system extending from Qingliangang Culture, through Dawenkou Culture, and to Longshan Culture in north Jiangsu and Shandong.”9

2.3 Sujiacun’s Half Jade Cong Jade wares had been unearthed at Liangzhu since the Qing Dynasty. They were found for the most part by farmers improving their paddy fields, who later searched far more consciously. Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty collected several jade wares belonging to Liangzhu Culture, which were probably from the Liangzhu area. In the winter of 1963, the Zhejiang Committee for the Management of Cultural Relics and Zhejiang Museum, cooperating with repair work on the Xixian Great Dike, selected Anxicun in Anxi for excavation. The site sits around 500 m on the 9

Wenming (1980).

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2 Naming Liangzhu Culture

western flank of Anxi town, around a kilometer from the north edge of Qianshan [Qian Mountain], hewing close to South Tiao Brook. The most significant finding of this excavation was a half jade cong, from the Liangzhu Culture deposits. As Mou Yongkang wrote in Some Remembrances of Liangzhu and Majiabang Archaeology [关于良渚、马家浜考古的若干回忆], “the excavated site showed no trace of the burial pits of later generations, nor any signs of disturbance. We have strong evidence to confirm that this jade cong as a Liangzhu Culture artifact through stratigraphic principles. In fact, when Shi Xingeng excavated Liangzhu site in 1936, he noticed “Beixiang in Hang County has always been renowned for its excavated Han jades,” and “I often heard of jade wares discovered from this layer… but unfortunately never laid eyes on one.” Naturally it delighted us to excavate, that year, a cong that Shi had never ‘laid eyes on.’ But how could a cong or bi-disc of Zhou or Han dynasties have showed up in a Neolithic stratum? Moreover, there were no metallic grinding wheels in the prehistoric period. How could such a solid jade have been carved? An array of doubts emerging from the traditional points of view robbed us of the courage to seize the opportunity.”10

10

Yongkang (2009a).

2.3 Sujiacun’s Half Jade Cong

31

(Top) Jade cong of Liangzhu Culture excavated from the Caoxieshan site. (Bottom) M1 excavation spot of Caoxieshan site

With the Sujiacun excavation having concluded, and based on information on excavated jades provided by workers, Mou, and others performed an on-site survey at Huangnikou, at the turning point of the Tiao Brook. Huangnikou sits at the terminus of Biandan Mountain, where, as the stories ran, the most jades had been excavated. It also sat within the project ambit for salvage excavations at the Xixian Great Dike. The original plan was for excavation to begin at Huangnikou in the following year, a plan which, most unfortunately, could not be realized. In the early summer of 1971, the Cultural Relics Commercial Store in Hangzhou took receipt of two jade bi-discs brought in by Wen Yuncai, a farmer at Sangshutou in Changming, Hangzhou. Soon Wen revealed 17 exquisite perforated stone yuebattle-axes excavated at around the same time as Mou Yongkang, whom he led to the site along with comrades from the Hangzhou Cultural Relics Clearing Group and Yuhang County Cultural Centre. Surveying Sangshutou, Mou Yongkang discovered “sparse yet visible traces of burial pits on the site” and confirmed it was likely correct that the jade bi and stone yue-battle-ax had both emerged from a single burial: “This stone yue-battle-ax variety is indeed a classic Liangzhu Culture type. Evidently the jade bi-disc must be a contemporary artifact. This has once again corroborated the discoveries at Sujiacun in 1963.”

Liangzhu Culture burial M1, Caoxieshan

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2 Naming Liangzhu Culture

The Caoxieshan site

In 1973 a high-rank burial with Liangzhu Culture jades and pottery was cleared at Caoxieshan in Wu County, Jiangsu. The rich variety of jades covered cong, bidisc, yue-battle-ax, fu-ax, zhuo-bracelet, beads, guan-tubes, and zhui-awl-shaped objects. Nine pottery wares were unearthed in addition, including ding-cauldron, hu-flask, pen-basin, and dou-stemmed cup. The Caoxieshan excavation provided the first stratigraphic proof of Liangzhu Period cong and bi-disc artifacts. The fact was reconfirmed following the excavation of Zhanglingshan in Wu County in 1977. Eleven Neolithic burials were cleared at Zhanglingshan, including five Liangzhu entombments. Most numerically and typologically abundant were the jades: cong, yuan (large socket bi-disc), zhuo-bracelet, huan-bracelet, guan-pipe, huang-pendant and bead.

References

33 Pottery from burial M1, Caoxieshan

These excavations at Caoxieshan and Zhanglingshan in Wu County restored the original historical look of the cong and bi-disc, originally mistaken as “Han jades.” They also confirmed the veracity of the findings at Sujiacun in 1963 and Sangshutou in 1971.

(Top) jade cong unearthed from burial M198 at Caoxieshan. (Bottom) jade bi-disc from the same burial

References Archaeological Conference of China. (1980). Collected Essays from the First Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Conference of China [中国考古学会第一次年会论文集] (1979). Cultural Relics Press. Bingqi, S. (1978). Abbreviated comments on Neolithic archaeology on China’s Southeast Coast: Outline of a speech at the lower Yangtze Neolithic Culture Academic

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Forum [略谈我国东南沿海地区的新石器时代考古—在长江下游新石器时代文化学术讨论 会上的一次发言提纲]. Cultural Relics [文物]. Bingqi, S., & Weizhang, Y. (1981). Questions concerning the regional categorization of archaeological cultures [关于考古学文化的区系类型问题]. Cultural Relics [文物]. Jiying, W., & Hua, D. (1956). Summary of clearance work at the Liangzhu Changfen Black Pottery Site [良渚长坟黑陶遗址清理工作概况]. Cultural Relics Reference Materials [文物参考资料]. Wenming, Y. (1980). On the relationship between Qingliangang Culture and Dawenkou Culture [ 论青莲岗文化和大汶口文化的关系]. Collected Papers on Cultural Relics, 1. Yongkang, M. (2009a). Some remembrances of Liangzhu and Majiabang archaeology [关于良渚 、马家浜考古的若干回忆]. In Collected archaeological essays of Mou Yongkang [牟永抗考 古学文集]. Science Press. Yongkang, M. (2009b). Majiabang Culture and Liangzhu Culture [马家浜文化和良渚文化]. In Collected essays of Mou Yongkang [牟永抗文集]. Science Press. Zhejiang Committee for the Management of Cultural Relics, & Zhejiang Museum. (1958). An atlas of cultural artifacts of Neolithic age in Zhejiang [浙江新石器时代文物图录]. Zhejiang People’s Publishing House. Zhejiang Committee for the Management of Cultural Relics. (1960, February). The first and second excavations at the Qianshanyang Site, Wuxing [吴兴钱山漾遗址第一、二次发掘报告]. Acta Archaeologica Sinica [考古学报]. Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Nanjing Museum, & Shanghai Museum. (2016). 80 Years of Liangzhu [良渚八十年]. Cultural Relics Press. Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (Eds.). (2005). The Academic Journal of the Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics (Vol. 7). Hangzhou Press.

Chapter 3

The Liangzhu Site Cluster and the “Dawn of Civilization”

On-site excavation at Wujiabu

© Zhejiang University Press 2022 Y. Zhu, Eighty Years of Archaeology at Liangzhu, Liangzhu Civilization, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3104-8_3

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3 The Liangzhu Site Cluster and the “Dawn of Civilization”

3.1 The Wujiabu Site, 1981 The Hemudu excavations in 1973 once again lifted the curtain on the Neolithic archaeology of Zhejiang Province. After the Chinese New Year in 1978, and with the conclusion of the second season of excavations at Hemudu, Mou Yongkang, Fei Guoping, and others headed to Haining County to excavate at Qianjinjiao, Xubuqiao, and Shengjiadai. Most people had believed that Liangzhu Culture graves consisted of burials on even ground without tomb pits. This had a definite impact on determination of burial remains during field excavations. But the excavations at the three Haining sites above provided the first evidence of earth pit burials for Liangzhu graves. This was the breakthrough for discovering a large number of Liangzhu Culture remains arranged in clear units. The excavations at Qianjinjiao, Xubuqiao, and Shengjiadai increased the capability of field workers and laid the foundation for a team of archaeological talents in Zhejiang Province. The founding of the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology in 1979 added muscle to archaeological work in Zhejiang Province. Additionally, a number of infrastructure construction projects provided an opportunity for archaeology during the post-Cultural Revolution period. Liangzhu, furthermore, was a focal point for the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. The institute implemented a large-scale archaeological work in the region from the 1980s onward. In 1981, jade cong, bi-disc, and stone yue-battle-ax—all Liangzhu relics—were found by the North Lake Brick Factory of Pingyao when extracting earth at the southwest slope of Wujiabu, 1.5 km to the northwest of Pingyao Town. When the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology was informed, it would immediately organize a team that began salvage archaeology at the site from 11 March through 26 June, 1981. The team conducted the second Wujiabu excavation from October 4 through December 5 in the same year.1 Majiabang Culture, Songze Culture, and Liangzhu Culture deposits were found at Wujiabu site. A total of 8 Majiabang burials were cleared, and 20 from the later Songze period and Liangzhu Culture, unearthing a significant number of pottery, stone tools, and jade. This represented the first large excavation in the Liangzhu Site Cluster, and proved the presence of earlier Majiabang Culture and Songze Culture within and outside of Liangzhu Culture remains. Following the excavation of Wujiabu site, Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology rent land from local people for the construction of the Wujiabu Work Station, grounding the foundation for the subsequent work at the Liangzhu Site Cluster.

1

Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (1993a).

3.2 The Fanshan Excavation

37

From the end of 1981 through early 1982, the institute organized a team to carry out targeted archaeological surveys in the Liangzhu Site Cluster and its surroundings. They began at Tangxi in the east, reached a sub-mountain chain of the Tianmu Mountains in the north (at the border of Yuhang County and Deqing County), then Penggong in the west, and went south as far as Sandun in Gouzhuang. Over 20 prehistoric sites were discovered, with several more Liangzhu sites at Gouzhuang Yownship in Yuhang and at Sanhe Township in Deqing. We had acquired a rough understanding on the spread of Liangzhu sites. The Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology re-excavated Quemuqiao in Jiaxing from the end of 1983 through early 1984, clearing 5 Liangzhu burials. A clearing was conducted after a farmer had discovered Liangzhu jade cong, bi-disc, and zhui-pendant while digging a fish pond at the Huishan Site in Deqing County around the beginning of 1986—two Liangzhu Culture burials with wooden coffins dating to 2100 B.C. were cleared. The clearance of small Liangzhu tombs at Qianjinjiao, Xubuqiao, and Shengjiadai in Haining, Pingqiudun in Pinghu, Wujiabu in Yuhang, Quemuqiao in Jiaxing, and Huishan in Deqing from 1978–1986 furnished rich resources for studying the development and periodization and internal cultural contents of Liangzhu Culture.2

3.2 The Fanshan Excavation As a matter of administrative division, archaeological work in the Taihu Lake watershed was carried out by archaeologists from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai respectively. Yet exchanges were frequent and information flowed between these groups, thus quickening scientific advance and development. Following the Nanjing Museum’ discovery of Liangzhu noble burial objects like cong, bi-disc, and yuebattle-ax at Caoxieshan in Wu County, a group of noble burials with identical features were discovered in rapid succession at Zhanglingshan and Sidun in Jiangsu and at Fuquanshan in Shanghai—major findings that naturally elicited enormous attention. Su Bingqi spoke at the “Taihu Lake Watershed Ancient Biota, Ancient Humanity and Ancient Culture Academic Conference” [太湖流域古动物、古人类、古文化学术 座谈会] in November, 1984, directly following the conclusion of the second Fuquanshan excavation, pointing to the resplendent social body that Liangzhu Culture represents in the history of ancient Chinese civilization, and vividly comparing the large and lofty mounds of the Fuquanshan variety to “pyramid made of earth.”

2

Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (1993b).

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3 The Liangzhu Site Cluster and the “Dawn of Civilization”

“The results of excavations by colleagues in Jiangsu and Shanghai—and the instruction given by Su Bingqi—have had a formative impact on our work; Zhejiang’s archaeologists redoubled efforts, and the naming of Liangzhu Culture ushered in a new breakthrough: the Fanshan excavation!”3 In 1979, 1982, 1983 to 1984, and 1986 to 1987, the Shanghai Cultural Relics Management Committee excavated Fuquanshan in Qingpu, Shanghai on four occasions, discovering large Liangzhu burials with a considerable number of jade wares. Apart from the clearance of large Liangzhu Culture burials, the focus of efforts at Fuquanshan also converged on the earthen mound itself, an irregular rectangle on a northeast–southwest gradient, which was roughly 94 m long from east to west, 84 m wide from north to south, and approximately 7.5 m high. It was confirmed by the excavations that the mound was in reality the base of an artificially constructed elevated platform, upon which was discovered the remains of one living space of Songze Culture, 18 burials of Songze Culture, and 32 burials of Liangzhu Culture.

Fuquanshan burials M74 (left) and M109 (right)

There were human activities at Fuquanshan as early as the Majiabang period. Use of the northwest rise of the earthen platform as a burial ground began in the Songze Culture. The cemetery began a southward shift during the early Liangzhu with platform height constantly increasing through artificial embanking for burials. In the late Liangzhu period, the large-scale construction work was conducted at 3

Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute (2005b).

3.2 The Fanshan Excavation

39

the cemetery, expanding it to the east—primarily for burial of high-rank nobles. A “pyramid made of earth,” in Su Bingqi’s analogy.

(Left) full view of Fuquanshan and (right) on-site excavation

The Fuquanshan excavation was the first archaeological-stratigraphic confirmation that the artificially embanked elevated-platform cemetery was the main means of burial in noble cemeteries in Liangzhu Culture. This provided important experience and clues for finding similar noble burials in the days ahead.4 In 1986, inspired by the archaeological discoveries and knowldge gained at Zhanglingshan and Sidun in Jiangsu and Fuquanshan in Shanghai, the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology discovered a high-rank Liangzhu Culture cemetery at Fanshan in Changming, Yuhang County, clearing 11 Liangzhu burials and unearthing over 1200 grave goods (individual items or sets). Fanshan runs around 90 m from east to west and is 30 m wide from north to south, with an earthen mound standing a height of four meters. In the latter half of 1985, the Changming Town Agricultural Machinery Manufacturing and Repair Factory was reorganized as the “Xuhang County Changming Tire Materials Factory,” and Fanshan was selected as the site of a new 30-mu factory. While planning the construction, a northern surrounding wall was erected on the north edge of the peak at Fanshan [Fan Mountain]. When Fei Guoping (who lived at Zhishan Village, excavated Hemudu in 1977, and was later appointed a project collaborator by the Zhejiang Institute) learned of this, he hurriedly reported it. The business departments established in the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology from 1984–1988 included Office One (Preservation of Ancient Buildings and Cultural Relics), Office Two (Prehistoric Archaeology), Office Three (Historical Archaeology), and Office Four (Ceramic Kiln Site Archaeology). Mou Yongkang was director of Office Two, whose members were Wang Mingda, Yang Nan, Rui Guoyao, and Liu Bin. Separately, located at the Wujiabu Work Station itself were Dong Yongchang, Xu Zhihua, Fei Guoping, Chen Yuenan, and Chen Huanle, members of the Committee for the Management of Cultural Affairs. Having received the report, Wang Mingda and Rui Guoyao accompanied Fei 4

Shanghai Municipal Cultural Relics Management Committee (2000).

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3 The Liangzhu Site Cluster and the “Dawn of Civilization”

Guoping to Fanshan for an on-site survey that confirmed the presence of a “mature earth mound” at Fanshan (“mature earth” is not a strict archaeological term; any relatively undisturbed raw earth in layered deposits of any kind that has been artificially shifted or transported falls under the category of “mature earth”). The Zhejiang Institute formally listed the site in the institute’s working plans after Chinese New Year’s in 1986. The Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology then drew up a detailed strategy for excavating Fanshan. Filling in the excavation application, Wang Mingda attached and submitted a draft copy of his Particulars regarding Liangzhu Culture Burial Excavation at Fanshan, Changming Town, Yuhang County [余杭县 长命乡反山良渚文化墓葬发掘操作细则]: Particulars regarding Liangzhu Culture Burial Excavation at Fanshan, Changming Town, Yuhang County. Fanshan is a freestanding mature earth mound within the Liangzhu site, which harbors an extremely limited volume of Liangzhu Culture pottery sherds and possibly Liangzhu burial, that is, a “pyramid made of earth.” The excavation of this large tomb variety is a trial project for our province and, in order to raise archaeological excavation standards and pool the relevant experience, aside from strictly adhering to regulations in the Operational Guidelines for Field Archaeology [田野考古操作规 程], the following particulars have been purposefully implemented: (1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

Fanshan covers an area of 2000 m2 , and its excavation has been divided into two phases. The west is to be unearthed in the first half of the year, and the east in the latter half. A dividing ridge of two meters’ width, running north to east, is to be maintained in the middle as a long-term stratigraphic profile. Trench methods are to be employed for each season, with the spread of 10 × 10 m trenches, and a dividing ridge of one meter’s width both to the east and north. A rough standard is to be maintained in the trench excavations. Changes in soil texture and color should be distinguished with special attention when excavating, and the surface smoothed even after every 10 cm, the presence or absence of a burial scrupulously examined, attention also paid to the presence or absence of relevant remains such as earth-tamped grooves or tool marks, while all pottery sherds that are found must be collected. All sides must be smoothed even following the discovery of a burial. If the burial’s edges extend to a neighboring trench, then, pending approval from the team leader, a dividing ridge is first to be built, and all four edges of the burial must be precisely located before one can initiate burial excavation. Excavation inside the burial is not allowed as long as the edges remain incomplete. The burial chamber ought to be a vertical shaft pit burial, and must be picked out delicately with small tools, with attention paid to the original features of the tomb wall, observations to changes in filler earth, and special regard to the presence or absence of a coffin and its state of decay, aside from focusing on the sherds. Once grave goods are exposed to the air, any soil on them must be

3.2 The Fanshan Excavation

(6)

(7)

41

picked off by switching to use of bamboo slip or brush, with no further use of metal tools. One should pay attention to the proper preservation of cultural artifacts such as pottery, jades, stone tools, and ivory manufactures, which may not be casually moved. The sketching of site maps, transfer of grave goods, and processing of skeletons are items work to be designated to specific individuals by the team leader. Excavators in any pit should report to the team leader in a timely manner concerning any artifacts or remains found, in order to strengthen on-site research and allow things to be dealt with following agreement. Protect the site, and preserve objects on site. An outline of safety procedures and other matters will be researched in good time, once the situation has been clarified during the excavation itself, and corresponding measures taken.

March, 1986. On April 22, 1986, the excavation license No. 183 (for 1986), bearing the seal of the “Ministry of Culture, People’s Republic of China,” arrived, approving excavation at Fanshan. This formally began on 9 May, 1986, with six 10 × 10 m excavation trenches in the west of Fanshan. The excavation work proceeded smoothly, first uncovering and clearing 11 Han brick chamber burials below the surface soil. This deposited soil contained only charred earth aside from the Han burials, proving mound construction preceded the Han. On May 29, a splotchy brown earth appeared in the middle of trench T3. It differed from the surrounding yellow earth. Trench depth had reached around 1.5 m by this point. T3 was, under Wang Mingda’s direction, smoothly troweled off, revealing rectangular remain which was around 3.1 m long from north to south, and 1.65 m wide from east to west. It was determined from the shape, dimensions, and crumbly mottled earth that the remains were most likely a Liangzhu Culture burial, and so were processed according to burial-excavation principles. After digging down a further half-meter without catching sight of any artefacts, the grave pit had become very distinct, reaching a depth that had already exceeded that of previously understood Liangzhu burials. But Wang Mingda remained steady, committed to keep clearing the way down: “May 31: a day worth remembering for the Fanshan excavation. Finally, the first large noble burial of Liangzhu Culture has been found! Just as we were about to wrap up the morning’s work, the round lid of a piece of russet sand-tempered pottery, more than thirty cm in diameter, popped out in the middle of the north edge of the “pit,” at a depth of 90 cm. We carefully picked away the surrounding mud, but the pottery had an extremely low firing temperature. Its admixture was thick, so the surrounding mud had no sooner been scraped away than the vessel crumbled and fell apart, so work was stopped after a small piece was removed. This is our first artefact after three days of digging, and we weren’t initially able to identity it, and only continued to excavate with greater care. At 3 p.m. Wang Mingda was standing on the north ridge of T3, together with Yang Nan and Fei Guoping, discussing the imminent hail. Chen Yuenan held in his hands a piece of freshly cleared earth, containing a speck

42

3 The Liangzhu Site Cluster and the “Dawn of Civilization”

of jade and some lacquer skin, which he handed over right before our eyes. Wang Mingda took one glance, jumped from the 1.6 m high ridge, hurriedly clambered down into the pit, and delicately turned over a clod of clay with a stick of bamboo, again revealing a considerable number of jade specks and lacquer skin—the very same engraved lacquer cup labeled Fanshan M12: 1! Next to be scraped off was the target-hole of a jade cong (M12: 97)…” “June 2. The rains stopped. In the afternoon Wang Mingda convened with Mou Yongkang, Qiang Chaomei, and Shao Haiqin (responsible for filming and photography) and they visited the worksite together. Rui Guiyao and Liu Bin had already come over from the Wujiabu Work Station. All was unbearably mucky after the torrential rains, such that sprucing up the site took us a considerable amount of time. In the afternoon, around 10 leaders from the Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau and Institute visited the worksite, to inspect the site and receive a director’s working report. To provide conclusive evidence that the burials discovered were large Liangzhu graves, Mou Yongkang told Wang Mingda to scrape off some additional filler earth from inside the pit and exhibit some artifacts that could be identified as such. When Mang picked off a jade cong (M12: 97) and its square exterior and round interior was revealed, he jabbered in astonished excitement: ‘Call Mou over, quick! Call him over, quick! We’re sure of it! We’re sure!’ The crew gathered around the pit, where aside from the jade cong, a large pile of gleaming white jades had been exposed at the perimeter. Through our on-site investigation and decision, conservation-style excavation methods were selected for the Fanshan excavation: aside from extracting the artifacts, the burial pits and such remains are to be preserved, so that a museum can be built when future conditions permit.”5 Throughout this passage, description of the excavation process recorded in the excavation report Fanshan [反山], still infects us with the excitement of the archaeologists at the time. This was the first discovery of a noble burial from Liangzhu Culture. In accordance with site excavation order, the burial was labeled M12, and three full days passed from exposing the artifacts to completing clearing. The largest individual jade cong and jade yue-battle-ax found to date was unearthed from this particular burial. It weighed 6.5 kg, and divine emblems were carved on each of the four corners, with a pair of complete images in the vertical troughs on all four sides, earning it the title of the “King of Jade Cong.” The jade battle ax was not only broad, but also carved with intact divine emblem images and bird pattern on either side. It was styled the “King of Jade Yue-battle-axes.”

5

Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute (2005).

3.2 The Fanshan Excavation

43

Fanshan archaeology team members discussing the remains (Seated in the center is Mou Yongkang; on the left is Wang Mingda, and from left top to bottom are Rui Guoyao, Liu Bin, and Yang Nan)

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3 The Liangzhu Site Cluster and the “Dawn of Civilization”

On-site excavation at the Fanshan cemetery

Archaeological clearance at burials M12-M19 was completed from June 3 through July 5, and at M20–M23 from September 3 through October 10. A total of 11 large Liangzhu burials were cleared at Fanshan, which included nine elevated platforms from the early Liangzhu period, centered around M12 (M12, M14–M18, M20, M22, and M23), with remnants of two burials (M19, M21) from the construction of a further platform during the late Liangzhu period. 1200 grave goods (or sets) were unearthed, which included 37 pottery wares—ding-cauldron, zeng-steamer, doustemmed cup, guan-jar, filters and large-mouth gang-vat—with 1100 jade wares (or jade sets) amounting to more than 3500 units—twenty varieties, including cong, bidisc, yue-battle-ax, pillar-shaped vessel, huan- and zhuo-bracelets, coronal vessels, trident-shaped vessels, zhui-awl-shaped vessels, semi-circular adornments, huangpendant, hook, guan-tubes in various shapes, pearls, bird-jade, fish-jade, turtle-jade, and cicada-jade—as well as a large number of engraved jade sherds or grains on lacquerware, and ivories, and shark teeth. In terms of its jades this high-rank Liangzhu cemetery is the richest in quantity and variety and the most exquisite in its jade carving of sites known to date.

3.2 The Fanshan Excavation

45

(Left) Fanshan M12. (Upper right) Fanshan jade cong (M12: 98). (Middle right) Fanshan jade cong (M12: 98) excavation result. (Bottom right) Fanshan jade yue-battle-ax (M12: 100)

After a depth of around one meter had been reached in Fanshan burial pits, following a definite amount of clearing, our finds consisted entirely of artifacts and some major remains. This stumped the excavators, as Liu Bin recalled: “We devised a method whereby we used a rope along the grave edge to drop in two wooden slabs upon which we then placed a horizontal board, a method through which the excavator could squat on this suspended board and clear behind him.” Liangzhu’s nine early period burials were laid out in an orderly manner, being all vertical shaft earth pits, the majority showing traces of an outer-coffin and innercoffin, a coffin bed at the base, and rich grave goods accompanying each burial: several hundred, in most cases. M14, M16, M17, and M20 featured one tod six jade yue-battle-axes and were possibly male burials; jade huang-pendant and round plaques accompanied the possible female burials M22 and M23. M12 was centrally placed and revealed the greatest number and variety of jades, all of which exhibited exceptional quality and craftsmanship: the heart of Fanshan cemetery. Fine patterns in crude or complex patterns were carved on all jades unearthed from Fanshan, apart from the jade bi-disc. Of these the M12 “King of Jade Cong,” “King of Jade Yue-battle-axes,” and columnar vessel, and divinity with animal face-pattern on the jade huang-pendant at M22 are the most striking. The parallel and layout and hairbreadth detail of the carving, the bas-relief and intaglio combination divinity with

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3 The Liangzhu Site Cluster and the “Dawn of Civilization”

animal face-pattern and all in such a confined space reflect the supreme standards of Liangzhu jade carvers. In particular, this provided direct and complementary evidence for interpreting similar complex or crude/combined or divisible patterns on all Liangzhu jades.

Floor plan, Fanshan cemetery

An anecdote survives on the divinity with animal face-pattern: “The first time we saw this pattern, we in fact unintentionally noticed it after the Fanshan excavation. Because the bas-relief feather crown and divinity arms and lower limbs in intaglio around the animal face were both extremely thin and indistinct, as miniature as microcarving, it had prevented us from being able to see through to the actual appearance during field excavation. We had merely regarded it as some base pattern akin to cloud and thunder pattern. At the end of fieldwork, jades and other artifacts unearthed from Fanshan were shipped to the warehouse in Wujiabu for temporary processing. Mou Yongkang loves photography, and he tried capturing the jade pattern and decoration in different kinds of lightings. One day the photographer Qiang Chaomei was inspecting a freshly-washed photograph when she was thrilled to realize that there were hand and arm patterns around the bas-relief image. “Get over here and look at this, quick!” she shouted in her excitement, “Turns out there are two hands around the animal face!” We quickly dropped what we were doing and ran over to the doorway, where we looked at the photo. We could see it clearly in no time at all: indeed, there were two hands there, thumbs sticking up, clear as day, like a large pair of eyes holding the mask. Once we’d finished examining the photo, everybody rushed over to check out the jade, and finally, from a sidelight, we could see clearly the animal emblem carved in the vertical trough of the cong. Our excitement that day was no less than it had

3.2 The Fanshan Excavation

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been when we found the jade. Archaeology is work “with no ancient predecessors.” We are reminded of them each time we see their bones, though imagining how they actually looked when alive remains impossible. Yet this semi-creature like and semidivine image was like some murky photograph that seemed to lend us some vague understanding of the Liangzhu people, five-thousand years ago.” From that time on Mou Yongkang often used this to test the eyesight of students coming to view jades, though to our surprise the result was everybody failed. We had to provide pointers and explain the mystery, otherwise no visitor could uncover what the jade had truly looked like. I remember Yu Weichao visiting Wujiabu one year, and Mou giving some cliffhanger story and inviting him to examine. “Did you see it?” he asked, when Wu had finished viewing. “I saw it,” said Yu. “Look closer,” said Mou. Yu looked it over again, but all he said was “Great.” “Then please do tell me,” said Mou. “It’s an amimal face-pattern in bas-relief,” said Yu, “and there’s a ground pattern, carved in exceptional detail.” That’s when we knew that Yu actually hadn’t seen it. “Please take another close look,” said Mou. He held a lamp and shone some light for Yu, while gesturing: “Here, have a look at this—isn’t it a hand?” That’s when Yu finally saw the divinity image with its feather crown. In shock he said “Great!” for a good while, just like he’d seen the ancients. So we asked Yu to tell us what he understood about the image. He said he thought it was a symbol of procreative worship.’6

The divinity and animal face-pattern on the Fanshan cong

6

Bin (2013).

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3 The Liangzhu Site Cluster and the “Dawn of Civilization”

The Fanshan cemetery was a tall elevated platform produced via artificial embanking, its construction on an obvious scale, the burial pits laid out nearly, grave goods rich and exquisite, with a variety of indications that it served as an exclusive cemetery for the illustrious and noble among Liangzhu Culture tribes. The glut of Liangzhu Culture jades that have been excavated have not only emerged as one major element of the contents and characteristics of Liangzhu Culture, but are highly significant for research into the developmental standard of productive forces at Liangzhu, as well as the culture’s ideology and the level of social development. Occupants of Fanshan cemetery burials held cong, representing divine authority, yuebattle-ax, indicative of military leadership, bi-disc and a variety of jades adorning crowns and caps or suspended from or perforating articles of clothing, manifesting their property and wealth—all these amply displayed their noble position, far above the common lot. The divinity and animal face-pattern was a focused reflection of the authority and sacredness of the divinity in Liangzhu life and culture, both a shadow of the apotropaic function of mediums who served the spirits through jades, and of this “divine emblem” worshiped by the Liangzhu tribes.

Line drawing of the divinity and animal face-pattern

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3.3 Excavating the Altars and Cemeteries at Yaoshan and Huiguanshan Following the Fanshan excavations, collection of Liangzhu Culture jades reached a fever pitch in China and internationally. The value of Liangzhu jades accordingly shot up, and peddlers of cultural artifacts braved village and dell in the search for items, paying high prices and urging villagers to dig. In spring 1987, planting trees at Yaoshan [Yao Mountain] near Xiaxiwan Village, Anxiang Town, five kilometers from Fanshan, villagers were surprised to discover jades. This inspired excavation and plunder by over a hundred villagers, who headed up the mountain. When Ma Zhushan (from Houhe Village in Anxi Town), a technician from the Zhejiang Cultural Relics Management Committee, then on vacation, got wind of this, he reported on the following day to Yan Yunquan, head of the Culture Station for Anxi Town. The pair rushed to Yaoshan and Yangweibashan [Yangweiba Mountain] to put an immediate end to the pillage, reporting, meanwhile, to their superiors in cultural relics management offices. Individuals responsible for the overall management of cultural relics in Hangzhou and Yuhang County rushed along to the site that same day, with employees deputized from the Department for Management of Cultural Relics for Yuhang County as well as the Anxi Town government, who coordinated with public security to confiscate stolen artifacts and protect the site. By this timely procedure we were able to hunt down and seize most of the looted jades, and a total of over 340 were ultimately brought in, including seven jade cong alone. This looted burial pit was found during the Yaoshan excavations, and it was demonstrated that the stolen jades had come from the same tomb. Cultural relics administrators at Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, and Yuhang County, as well as responsible individuals from the public security bureau, arrived on site on May 3. They decided that an archaeological team would be arranged by the Zhejiang Cultural Relics Management Committee in order to carry out salvage archaeology at the site, while they battled against tomb robbery and captured cultural relics. The following day the committee submitted its application for the salvage excavation to the State Cultural Relics Bureau, and organized a team directed by Mou Yongkang and Wang Mingda, with specific tasks arranged and implemented by Office Two at the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. The Hangzhou City Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and Office of the Yuhang County Committee for the Management of Cultural Relics also dispatched excavation participants. This marked the inception of what could become more than a decade of excavation at Yaoshan.

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3 The Liangzhu Site Cluster and the “Dawn of Civilization”

A distant view of the Yaoshan site

This work formally began on May 7 and came to a close on June 4. Participants included Mou Yongkang (director), Rui Guoyao (on-site manager), Shen Yueming, Liu Bin, Fei Guoping, Chen Huanle (all from the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology), Sang Jianxin from the Hangzhou City Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and Qiang Chaomei from the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the latter responsible for filming and photography. The first stage involved clearing the looted area. The team was fortunate that, once a major stretch of looting pits had been cleared, only a single relatively large looting pit had interrupted a single large Liangzhu burial, namely M12. No evidence of serious damage to Liangzhu burials had been discovered at the remaining pits. Examining these pits in profile, team members could examine traces of other large Liangzhu Culture burials. The subsequent archaeological work was also carried out systematically and in accordance with field archaeology guidelines. After removing surface tilled earth on the hillside in areas outlined for trenches, the team members used their shovels to carefully scrape away layers and scrupulously observe differences in soil hue, using their experience from the Fanshan excavation to rapidly discover traces of Liangzhu burials. A total of 11 Liangzhu burials were found at Yaoshan. They split into east–west rows in the north and souths: from west to east, the six burials of the south row were M3, M10, M9, M7, M2, and M8 respectively, and M1, M4, M5, M11, and M6 for the north row. A separate burial between burials M7 and M2 had been ruined by looting pits, and during excavation the surviving north end was cleared. Those jades had, according to the looters, all come from this area, which for convenience of research

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was labeled M12. In 1997, a Liangzhu burial labeled M14 was found between M5 and M11. A total of 754 grave goods (or sets) were unearthed from the burials. These amounted to 2660 items, including 678 jades, and besides that pottery and stone tools. Unearthed pottery sets comprised of ding-cauldron, dou-stemmed bowl, round-feet guan-jar, and gang-vat matched for the north and south rows; a flat crown-shaped jade was also unearthed from the south row, along with a jade cylindrical item, a trident-shaped article, a composite zhui-awl-shaped item, yue-battle ax, small cong, and stone yue-battle-ax. Jade, huang-pendant, round plaque, and spinning wheel also emerged from the north row, but no stone tools were unearthed. Yaoshan burials were no different from Fanshan burials in that the skeletons were essentially missing and only isolated burials retained teeth, removing the possibility of determining the gender or age of the tomb occupant. Judging from the Yaoshan grave goods themselves, yue-battle-ax weapons were only found on the south row, while spinning wheel and weaving tools were only observed in the north rank. It was therefore inferred that the south rank tomb occupants were males, and the north rank occupants females. Analysis of jade morphology traits and article sets among the grave good determined a periodization at a relatively early stage of the middle Liangzhu, which was approximately the same as Fanshan. The largest number of grave goods at Yaoshan was found at M7, whose specifications were also the grandest. This rectangular vertical shaft earth pit burial was over 3 m long, 1.6 m wide, and 1.3 m deep. Though no physical coffins were found across the Yaoshan burials, archaeologists were able to confirm the categorical presence of inner-coffin and even outer-coffin in the course of site clearance. Going by observations on the state of excavated jades at M7 and traces on the grave bottom, the burial featured both an inner-coffin and outer-coffin at the time of entombment. The range of grave goods unearthed from M7 totaled 158 items (or sets), a figure that contained over 98% jades. The items were piled up, layer on layer, on the grave floor. The jades were primarily distributed in the central and southern sections of the burial. A chain of 29 linked jade guan-tubes was found at the southernmost point, far from the hub of burial goods. It might have been coffin jade adornment that had fallen and moved following the rotting and collapse of the wooden coffin. There was also a capped cylindrical item (M7: 26) that had slanted south. On the southern side of the decayed skull was a long jade guan-tube (M7: 25), which tightly linked with the central part of a trident-shaped vessel (M7: 26). They may have been used as a set. The upward-facing side of the trident-shaped vessel features a divinity and animal face-pattern. There were an additional 10 zhui-awl-shaped objects (M7: 22, 23, 24) scattered over and piled on top of the trident-shaped vessel and stone yuebattle-ax. There was a crown-shaped vessel (M7: 63) on the west side of the head, with 26 jade flakes dispersed in the vicinity—these must have been engraved, along with the crown-shaped vessel, on some now-decayed organic body. Nearby was a chain-adornment (M7: 60) formed of a string of 18 jade pearls.

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3 The Liangzhu Site Cluster and the “Dawn of Civilization”

(Left) M7 at Yaoshan. (Right) animal face-pattern plaque (M7: 55) on unearthing

The jade yue-battle-ax (M7: 32) lay on the east side of the individual, with its blade facing west, a crown-shaped adornment to its south (M7: 31) and a yue-battle-ax tip adornment (M7: 33) in the north, the trio forming a complete yue and handle shape. The organic handle of this item had decomposed, and would have been around 80 cm long, judging by the distance between the two extremes. There was a single jade cong (M7: 45) at the tip of the yue-battle-ax that may have been a pendant for the yue. On the east side of the yue-battle-ax was decorated filial (M7: 29) and south-facing tenon matched by another decorated finial in the (M7: 18) top-right, 90 cm apart. This may have represented the extremes of an organic object with handle, pressing down on the jade yue-battle-ax (M7: 32) and stone yue-battle-ax (M7: 83) in a position corresponding to the stomach of the deceased, most likely a pendant over his or her chest.

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(Left) unearthing the trident-shaped jade M7: 26. (Right) unearthing the jade huang-pendant

In the center of the burial 9 zhuo-bracelet-shaped objects were deposited in concentrated fashion on either side and originally must have been worn on both arms. There was an apparent distinction between armlets and wristlets. Verifiable armlets include M7: 30 for the upper right arm. In the east-central section of the burial a single zhuo-bracelet-shaped jade might have rolled down, fallen, and smashed outside the inner-coffin, or else maybe been placed on the inner-coffin lid. To its west is a zhuiawl-shaped object M7:42. Two jade cong are placed centrally as well. M7: 50 is the larger of the two.

A worker sketches the profile of M7

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3 The Liangzhu Site Cluster and the “Dawn of Civilization”

A triangular jade plaque decoration was unearthed close to the pottery wares in the north section. It had a rounded end facing south, and was surrounded by four animal teeth. Another major gain of the Yaoshan excavation was the discovery of the Liangzhu period sacrificial altar, with an area approaching 5000 m2 , on the northwest slope of Yaoshan. Yaoshan is located in the northwest corner of the Liangzhu Site cluster. It is a low-lying hill extending from Fenghuangshan [Fenghuang Mountain], a subchain of the Tianmu Mountains. It stands at a height above-sea-level of around 35 m, and a relative elevation of around 20 m. To the south is a freestanding hill called Mantoushan [“Steamed Bun” Mountain], which is roughly as high. The east hill had already been dug away when opened for stone mining. In South of Mantoushan are plains, with the East Tiao winding by from the southwest to the northeast. The sacrificial altar was built along the hill, its north, west, and south sides constructed from the base, the entire structure planned and adjusted from the mountain top to bottom, and defensive-earth and stone blocks to reinforce slope discovered at the south, west, and north slope, while the east links with the natural hill. At its very beginning the tip of Yaoshan must have sloped east–west, with the stone barriers and defensive earth later constructed at the west, south, and northwest sides for the sake of platform construction, while the earth shoveled off while leveling the hilltop was piled up on the west and south sides, forming a triple-level or quadruple-level at increments of roughly two meters from the peak to bottom, forming an even protective slope in a shape like an inverted-bucket, with a perpendicular height of around 0.9 m. The flat apex of the sacrificial platform covered an area of around 400 m2 , with a 回-shaped trough around 7.7 m lengthways from north to south and six meters wide from east to west, between 1.7–2.1 m wide and 0.65–0.85 m deep, excavated slightly to the east of center. The trough was infilled with pure grey clay, in striking contrast with the reds and yellows of the original soil, hence forming a triple-layering of surface colors.7 There are at present two academic opinions on the relationship between the Yaoshan sacrificial altars and burials. The first holds that the two combine, i.e. that the altar was built both for sacrifice and also for burial, and that tomb occupants were sacrificial subjects; the second believes the altar was a specialist ceremonial site whose function faded with the passing of time, until the site ultimately became a burial ground for shamans and chieftains, and moreover that some process of sealing the site with earth and raising its height took place before it served this mortuary purpose.

7

Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (2003), Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology et al. (2016), Guoyao (2006).

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Huiguanshan is a site a Waiyao Village, Pingyao Township, Yuhang District, roughly two kilometers west of Liangzhu Ancient City. Huiguanshan sits in a small natural hill 22 m above sea-level, leaning against Dazhe Mountain to the north, and neighbors with Tiao Brook to the south. A household of local inhabitants were building a home on the northwest corner of this hill in spring of 1990 when they stumbled unawares on jade bi-disc, zhuo-bracelet, and stone yue-battle-ax. They smuggled the jades home, and made ready to sell them for a good price. That winter they found a buyer claiming to be a merchant from outside the area. He was, in fact, a detective for the Hangzhou Public Security Bureau. This detective, however, having seen the jades, found it impossible to validate them, so sought out Wang Mingda for an appraisal. Evaluation confirmed these were indeed Liangzhu Culture jades. In January, 1991, the Hangzhou Cultural Relics Management Committee then cleared of the two exposed and damaged tombs at Huiguanshan. They unearthed jades, stone tools, and pottery wares by the dozen. In February, the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology organized a team to excavate Huiguanshan. It was directed by Wang Mingda, with Liu Bin leading the excavation, whose participants included Hu Jigen, Jiang Weidong, Fei Guoping, Chen Huanle, Zhou Jianzhu, Ma Zhushan, Zhang Kexi, and Chen Xiaoli.8 Work was underway from February through June, and in an excavated area totaling 1500 m2 a sacrificial altar very similar to Yaoshan was found, as well as four Liangzhu Culture burials cleared, and nearly 200 grave goods unearthed. Construction at Huiguanshan exploited the natural hilly topology, and was primarily shaped as a triple-layer terrace on a precise north–south axis. At the top was a rectangular platform foundation in the shape of an inverted-bucket, which served as the mainframe of the sacrificial altar, perfectly matching the appearance of the Yaoshan altar. It ran around 45 m from east to west, roughly 33 m from north to south, and its area covered roughly 1500 m2 . Slightly west of the center was a grey earthen frame: the heart of the altar. It encompassed an area of 7–7.7 m from east to west and 9.5–9.8 m from north to south. The frame had been formed through a method of excavating and backfilling with untreated grey mud from down the hill. The trench was between 2.1–2.5 m wide, 0.1–0.6 m deep, and formed a vivid contrast with the original reds and yellows of the hill soil, resulting in a triple-layered soil coloration from inside the surrounding trench, to the trench itself, to the area beyond the trench. The dimensions of the grey frame were approximately that at the Yaoshan sacrificial altar. The second-level stage platform surrounding the mainframe of the altar sat between 1 and 1.5 m below that altar and was unevenly broad or narrow on each side. Two-stage terrace structures presented themselves at the east and west end, and at each was found a pair of small ditches heading north–south: possible drainage channels. In 1999, the second Huiguanshan excavation confirmed the presence of a third-level platform surface with unified specified height outside of this second-level, 8

Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, & Yuhang City Cultural Relics Management Committee (1997), Bin (2013).

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3 The Liangzhu Site Cluster and the “Dawn of Civilization”

so a plan and design was drawn for the entire hill. The third-level platform was a tighter pinch in the east, with respective widths of 9.5 and 10 m. To the north the third-level was constructed through layered piling, to the west the third-level was formed through scraping away and smoothing over the hill bedrock, and to the south the third-level was rather wide, at a surviving width of around 30 m, formed of eroded bedrock gravel from when the top of the altar had been bored through, resulting in an even and relatively spacious area for activities. Three rows of artificially embanked terraced stone-slab groynes were discovered from the foot of the hill to the hill top, leading to the inference that the north originally featured a terraced path leading to the altar.9 A total of 173 grave goods (or sets), including 104 jades (or sets) were unearthed from four Liangzhu burials at the top of Huiguanshan. This quartet of burials was distributed entirely in the southwest of the altar. Considering the grave goods, M1 and M2 were close contemporaries with Yaoshan, and M3 and M4 dated from a slightly later period.

Overall layout at the Huiguanshan site

M4 was the largest and richest in terms of grave goods of Huiguanshan burials, containing a total of 48 stone and a single jade yue-battle-ax. The tomb measured 4.75 by 2.3–2.6 m, with clear traces of an outer-coffin and inner-coffin, and a pottery assemblage outside and inside the inner-coffin.

9

Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (2001).

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Seven kilometers separate Yaoshan and Huiguanshan, construction on both of which began in the Early Liangzhu, and, in either case, on natural hills. Their ceremonial altars are extremely similar, being both rectangular and shaped like an inverted-bucket, the tops of both altars presenting a 回-shape with triple-layered soil coloration proceeding downwards. High-rank burials were also found beyond the altars, at both sites, demonstrating a clear connection between the sacrificial altar and such burials in Liangzhu Culture. The Huiguanshan excavation forced upon us a new understanding of Liangzhu Culture sacrificial altar structure and form, as well as new considerations of altar function. From 1999–2000, Liu Bin of the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology took charge of work to renovate and exhibit the Huiguanshan site. In over a year spent excavating and restoring the Huiguanshan altar, Liu achieved a new understanding of its function, believing its earliest capabilities must have laid in the observation of meteorological phenomena. Through measurements and comparison Liu noticed that the four corners of the 回-shaped grey earthen outline were in identical alignment at both the Yaoshan and Huiguanshan (namely at 45, 135, 225, and 305°), despite the altars being different sizes.

(Left) Huiguanshan burial M4. (Upper right) jade bi-disc from M4. (Lower right) trident-shaped vessel from M4

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Through two years of on-site examination, Liu Bin realized, “When we reached winter, the sunrise rose precisely along the southeast corner at both altars [i.e. Yaoshan and Huiguanshan], roughly 135°, northeasterly, while the sunset was also exactly aligned with the southwest corners, around 225°. By summer days the sun rose in a perfect line with the northeast corner at both altars, roughly 45°, and the sunset took place along the line of the northeast corner, approximately 305°. During the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes the sun happened to rise dead east of the altar, roughly 90° east of north, and set exactly to the west of the altar, at roughly 270°…”

(Left) Jade yue-battle-ax unearthed from burial M4, Huiguanshan site. (Right) Crown-shaped object unearthed from the same M4

“Besides this, the Yaoshan altar northeast and northwest corners and west side happened to correspond with the crevice between two opposing hill peaks, and the exact south face the peak of Mantoushan dead on. These matching positions were very clearly the consequence of some on-site survey and selection. The surface of several millennia past had been destroyed, so the altar surroundings probably did not resemble the precise standards established at first, and our measurements may have been off to a degree…and yet we could still use these altars to gauge seasonality of the tropical year, which doubtless gave us verification of actual altar function.”10

10

Bin (2007).

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Schematic for seasonal measurements at Yaoshan (from Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. Source Yaoshan [瑶山] Fig. 4)

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3 The Liangzhu Site Cluster and the “Dawn of Civilization”

Schematic for seasonal measurements at Huiguanshan (Source Academic Journal of the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Volume III)

The Fanshan and Yaoshan excavations were judged [together] among the “Ten Great Archaeological Discoveries” of the “Seventh Five-Year Plan” [1986–1990] period. Jades excavated from the two cemeteries exceeded the entirety of the previous total for Liangzhu Culture, and the 回-shaped sacrificial altars of both sites proved the unusual social status of the tomb occupants. The excavations received enormous focus in the academic community. Jades excavated from the two sites primarily fell into three types: the jade yuebattle-ax originating as a tool of production, indicating a special-use tool connected with a divinity or divine authority through veneration or belief; the jade cong, bi-disc and crown-shaped objects, adornments, and tools that linked with some special ceremony; and the jade trident-shaped objects, semicircular adornments, and grouped zhui-awl-shaped objects. Mou Yongkang deepened his concept of a “jade age” through the Yaoshan and Fanshan findings, proposing that these sets of jades were a special feature of that age. Their appearance was a product of the development of the forces of social production and the social division of labor, one major characteristic during the origination of Chinese civilization in the southeast.

3.4 Proposing the “Liangzhu Site Cluster”

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3.4 Proposing the “Liangzhu Site Cluster” In 1936, Shi Xingeng conducted several archaeological surveys and trial excavations at Pingyao Township, near his hometown at Liangzhu Township. His finds included Qipanfen, Maoanli, Xunshan, and Zhongjiacun, among 12 sites. This was the first work of scientific archaeological survey and excavation carried out at the Liangzhu site. Shi refused to give a name based on a single site, and rather regarded the 12 sites as a whole, which he titled the “Liangzhu Site.” At a meeting of the team heads for the Cultural Relics and Archaeology Team of the Yangtze Valley Planning Office in December, 1959, Xia Nai formally proposed the archaeological nomenclature of “Liangzhu Culture.” This was of major import for further work at Liangzhu, and for research on the archaeological culture of the lower Yangtze. From the 1950s through early 1980s, members of the Zhejiang Province Cultural Relics Management Committee conducted excavations at Changfen and Sujiacun. Additionally, villagers working the earth collected a considerable number of Liangzhu jades, such as the sizable jade bi-disc unearthed at Sangshutou in Changming town in 1971, or the jade cong, bi-disc, and stone yue-battle-ax exhumed in a batch at the hilltop of Wujiabu in 1973, or the jade bi-disc and zhui-awl-shaped vessel unearthed from a white lime source at Xunshan in 1978. Wujiabu in Pingyao was the subject or two large-scale excavations initiated by the newly-founded Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology in 1981. These excavations made the first discovery of Majiabang Culture remains within the Liangzhu Site Cluster. A total of 28 burials were cleared, and 650 jades, stone wares, and pottery wares unearthed, with multiple vessels types. Just prior to the conclusion of the excavation, the same institute set up the Wujiabu Work Station, renting two mu of land from the nearby North Lake Construction Materials Factory. This furnished a material guarantee for later archaeological work at the site. From the end of 1981 through early 1982, targeted archaeological surveys were carried out at the Liangzhu Site Cluster and its environs by Wang Mingda and others from the new Zhejiang Institute. The survey ranged from Tangxi in the east, through to a sub-chain of the Tianmu Mountains in the north (at the intersection of Yuhang and Deqing Counties), to Penggong in the west, down to Sandun in Gouzhuang in the south, and revealed more than 20 prehistoric sites within the cluster, as well as several Liangzhu Culture locales at Gouzhuang and Sanhe Town in Deqing. As a result, we acquired the most basic understanding of site distribution within the Liangzhu Site Cluster. In 1984, Wang Mingda, Rui Guoyao et al. performed trial excavations at four sites: Hekoudai, Shuikoutou, Mojiali, and Tangjiatou. The excavations confirmed that all four mounds were “mature earth mounds” belonging to the Liangzhu Culture. Around the time of their trial excavation, Wang, Rui and others carried out topic-specific surveys at Liangzhu, with a focused survey on the area under the jurisdiction of Liangzhu, Changming, and Anxi Towns/Townships. They gained many new threads

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and acquired a new understanding of the hillocks commonly referred to as “mature earth mounds.” When an archaeological team carried out a trial excavation at the east slope of Xunshan in 1985, they found another case of Majiabang Culture deposits beneath those of Liangzhu. Fanshan was excavated in 1986, with 11 Liangzhu Culture burials cleared, and more than 1200 grave good items (or sets) unearthed. At the “Academic Conference on the 50th Anniversary of the Discovery of Liangzhu Site” [纪念良渚遗址发现 50 周年学术讨论会] of 1986, Wang Mingda put forward the concept of a “Liangzhu Site Cluster”: “At present there are upwards of forty to fifty locales that we are aware of, and of them Wujiabu, Fanshan, Huangnikan etc. are sites or cemeteries of indispensable importance. We have, in an area not exceeding thirty or forty thousand square meters, such a focused concentration of ancient sites… including at the Liangzhu Site Cluster around Beihu [North Lake], Changming, Anxi, and Liangzhu, and indeed one of the more important tribal centers.”11 With little adjustment in their administrative realms, the four towns above have nowadays merged into Liangzhu, Pingyao, and Anxi Townships. The Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology delineated the range of the Liangzhu Site Cluster on the basis of the above evidence, granting it an eastern border from Shigufen in Liangzhu through Yangweibashan in Anxiang, a southern border at Xiaoyun [Minor Grand Canal] River (also referred to as the Liangzhu Harbor – Miaoqiao Harbor stretch), western limits at Wujiabu in Pingyao, and a northern limit from Wujiabu through to Yangweibashan, a sub-chain of the Tianmu Mountains, in Anxi. In 1994 a rough calculation was performed: the area covered by the cluster reached 33,800 m2 . The Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology placed concerted archaeological effort on Fanshan upon its discovery. The site was excavated in 1987, finding a single Liangzhu sacrificial altar/cemetery, clearing of 13 Liangzhu Culture burials, and unearthing 755 grave goods. In 1991 a sacrificial altar and burial exhibiting great similarity with Fanshan was found at Huiguanshan in Pingyao, where 4 Liangzhu burials were cleared. Mojiaoshan was excavated from 1992–1993, with the discovery of a large number of column pits, confirmed to be the foundations of a large-scale Liangzhu period building. From 1987–1993 the institute excavated at Mojiaoshan (1987), Lucun (1988, 1990), Miaoqian (1988–1993), Boyishan (1989), Shangkoushan (1991), Meiyuanli (1992), and Maoanli (1992). To accommodate essential infrastructure projects, the period 1988–1989 saw salvage archaeology conducted at Miaoqian in Liangzhu, where 400 m2 was excavated and cultural remains from the Majiabang, Songze, and Liangzhu found. Multiple excavations were carried out at Miaoqian in 1990, 1992–1993, and 1999–2000. At Miaoqian, two Liangzhu Culture remains of buildings—the first of their kind— were cleared, as well as six burials and a single [ancient] river gully. The pair of buildings had been erected along the river. F1 was rectangular with a double-row 11

Mingda (1987).

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pillar structure, an architectural technique in which the frame was installed through first digging a pit for bottom boards prior to inserting columns, the filler earth inside and outside the room and inside the post pits employing a yellow earth padding collected and shipped in from the same source. The excavation provided important material for our understanding of architectural method in Liangzhu Culture. Besides these were six burials spread out in the area between the buildings. This phenomenon of riverside settlement and burial to the side of the residence furnished us with a scene of the lived environment under general Liangzhu inhabitation. In 1988 and 1990, the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology excavated Lucun in Shangxi Village, Anxiang Town, Yuhang. The site is a near-square platform in front of a hill, covering an area of 20,000 m, sitting at a relative elevation of 1–2 m above the surrounding paddy fields. There is a rectangular earth platform which is roughly 60 m long from east to west, 25 m wide from north so south, and two meters high. Excavations primarily established platform age and architectural form, without any burial or artefactual findings. As the excavation proceeded, surveying and trial excavations were conducted around the denser distribution of platform-shaped elevations in Yaojiadun, Gejiacun, Wangjiazhuang, and Jincun. At Yaojiadun, remains of relatively high-rank buildings during Liangzhu period were found on stone-paved and charred-earth surfaces, with Liu Bin proposing an understanding of the settlement form centered on Yaojiadun: “the Yaojiadun sites correspond remotely with the central Liangzhu Site Cluster and with Mojiaoshan. This axis-like distribution with a north–south correspondence, together with the important geographical positions of Yaoshan and Huiguanshan calling on the site to the east and west, leaves us with the sense that the settlement group centered on Yaojiadun was probably far more important than we currently understand and imagine.”12 Excavations at Yaojiadun and Miaoqian made us aware of the presence of middlerank earth platform settlements like Yaojiadun and riverside day-to-day settlements such as Miaoqian beyond the top-rank palatial building remains found at places like Mojiaoshan. Examining the form of settlement remains presented a minimum three-tier division. The Liangzhu Work Station was founded in 1994, to meet the needs of work at the Liangzhu Site Cluster. It differed enormously from the earlier Wujiaba Work Station, which had merely served as a warehouse and worksite. This was a professional working department, with the Liangzhu Site Cluster as its ambit, and it also shouldered responsibility for assisting the relevant government organs in their administration of the sites. In 1996 the Zhejiang Institute carried out a topic survey of the Liangzhu Site Cluster that resulted in a new discovery at Yanjiaqiao. By the end of 1996 more than fifty sites had been discovered within a range of around 34 km2 inside the cluster. The Liangzhu Work Station conducted a systematic survey from April, 1998 through July, 1999. This increased the number of discovered sites to 110. A particularly large number of new sites were discovered beyond the southern border of the originally 12

Bin (1997).

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designated protected area, a discovery which perfected our understanding of the range of the cluster itself. Drilling and trial excavation providing an initial conformation of the range of these sites, and there was a definite degree of comprehension regarding site date and form. From April–May, 2002, Zhao Ye and Ge Jianliang canvassed the central section of Liangzhu and established 16 new sites, which increased the Liangzhu Site Cluster grand total to 135.13 Following the survey, the southern limit of the cluster was extended to Daxiongshan [Daxiong Mountain] and the northern foothills of Daguanshan [Daguang Mountain], which formed a natural geographical unit confined by hill chains in the north and south. Subsequently, a new preservation plan enlarged the initially delimited area of 33.8 km2 to what was now over 40 km2 . In his essay “The Lost Civilization: On the Liangzhu Site Cluster” [失落的文明— 论良渚遗址群] Rui Guoyao discussed the zoning in the cluster. Rui believed the East Tiao Brook split it in two geographically: “Liangzhu Culture sites on the south shore of the East Tiao are distributed roughly east to west along the Minor Grand Canal from Pingyao to Liangzhu. Mojiaoshan is the heart of the west zone and the prime area of the Liangzhu cluster. Site distribution is densest, at nearly 30 Liangzhu sites. Mojiaoshan reaches an area of near 30 km2 and many abandoned remains of large Liangzhu buildings were found there… Liangzhu sites on the east side of the south East Tiao concentrate overwhelmingly around Xunshan in the northwest of Liangzhu and represent the secondary cluster zone. Most sites found around Xunshan are general village remains. The secondary zone of the cluster provided living space for common folk. Liangzhu sites north of the East Tiao were primarily expressed through cemeteries and mostly distributed on slopes before the sub-chains of the Tianmu Mountains or on low-lying hills—thus far Yaoshan, Boyishan, Meiyuanli, Luocun, and Shangkoushan (Gejia) are among the excavated sites. Jades have been found at Zhaoshan, Xiaozhushan, Yangbeibashan, and Jincun. The loci for jade excavations show up primarily along an east–west stretch that essentially links together, point by point, and may temporarily be regarded as a tertiary zone within the Liangzhu Cluster.”14

3.5 Mojiaoshan and “The Earliest Hangzhou” The Mojiaoshan Site lies at the heart of the Liangzhu Site Cluster. It is a rectangular inverted dou-bucket shape with base dimensions running 670 m from east to west, 450 m wide from north to south, covering over 30 ha. It sits at a relative elevation of 12 m. The 30+ ha earthen terrace was known by the original name of Gushangding [Ancient Shang Peak], and named Mojiaoshan during the 1992–1993 digs at the

13

Mingda (1996), Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (2005a). 14 Guoyao (1999)

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side of Mojiaoshan [Mojiao Mountain]. East Tiao Brook passes by near the northwest of the site, and the former No. 104 State Highway crossed Mojiaoshan to the south. Three artificially-embanked hillocks occupy the middle of the site and are addressed, respectively, as Major Mojiaoshan, Minor Mojiaoshan, and Wuguishan. Major Mojiaoshan sits in the northeast, is similarly rectangular, runs 180 m from west to east, 110 m from north to south, and sits at a relative height of 16.5 m. Minor Mojiaoshan, in the northwest, runs 100 m from east to west, 60 m from north to south, and stands 15 m above its surroundings; Wuguishan is in the southeast and runs 140 m from east to west and 70 m from north to south. Having suffered great damage in its later period, its remaining relative height stands at 7 m. Most of Mojiaoshan is now the forested area of Daguanshan Orchard, though more than 10 m between Major Mojiaoshan, Minor Mojiaoshan, and Wuguishan were agricultural fields, with internal reservoirs and drainage ditches. The enormous volume of the site, and the fact that it was covered by trees, meant Mojiaoshan long failed to draw the attention of cultural relics departments. In 1977, an academic conference on the lower Yangtze Neolithic was convened in Nanjing. Following the conference, Su Bingqi visited Hangzhou, flanked by Wu Ruzuo. Mou Yongkang accompanied the two experts to Fanshan, via Xunshan, Zhucundou, and Zhongjiacun. Resting at Daguanshan, alongside the state highway, Su put forward his celebrated opinion that “Ancient Hangzhou was right here.” As Mou Yongkang recalled, they took their break on the very same spot that charred-earth deposits were found later, in 1987. In “Jottings at Liangzhu” [良渚随笔], Yan Wenming recalled the entire proceedings15 : My mind goes back to the day when Mou Yongkang brought us for a tour around Liangzhu, where we first inspected several loci in the Xunshan area, then the reservoir once surveyed and trial-excavated by Shi Xingeng, then a locale where previously jades or possibly Liangzhu jades had been unearthed, before finally we sat on a patch of grass at the Daguanshan orchard for a rest and chat. “What kind of site do you think Liangzhu was?” Su asked me. “Huge, but it’s not clear at first blush.” I knew Su would ask a follow-up question, so I merely spoke my initial impressions. “What I’m saying is that it’s hugely important. But just where would you say it is important? Where do we situate it in history?” “In my opinion it was the center of Liangzhu Culture. The metaphor may not quite be appropriate, but say Liangzhu Culture was a state, the Liangzhu Site should’ve been the capital,” I replied. “You’re right –” and he paused for a moment. “What I was trying to say is that Liangzhu was ancient Hangzhou. See how the land’s elevated above Hangzhou at this place, and the Tianmu Mountains are the site’s natural buffer, and the Tiao a major artery leading outwards. It’s a land of milk and honey, the classic Jiangnan town of fish and rice. Hangzhou must have started here, before it eked its way over to the Qiantang River, and then put down stakes at West Lake. It makes sense to compare 15

Wenming (1996).

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Liangzhu to a capital. Hangzhou was a capital as well, in the Southern Song: Lin’an. That was politically speaking. Economically speaking, Hangzhou’s the capital of silk, the center of Ancient Yue culture. Archaeologists care more about research in economy and culture, so you calling it the center or capital of Liangzhu Culture, or my saying it was Ancient Hangzhou, they both make sense, even if we seem to be wildly imagining. The only thing is, there’s still some work to do. It obviously won’t do to go without solid work. But it’s hard to achieve ideal results when you work without ideas.” In 1987 the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology excavated the southeast of Mojiaoshan to cooperate with a project for widening No. 104 State Highway. What they found were over 200 m2 of pit-shaped charred earth deposits containing a large number of charred earthen slabs, and reaching a maximum thickness of 1.1 m. They also discovered a single small Liangzhu Culture burial with ding-cauldron, dou-stemmed cup, and guan-jar grave goods, pressed on top of the charred earth deposits, thereby corroborating that these deposits could not have post-dated the late Liangzhu. Drilling showed that the charred earth deposits and the artificial embanking below reached an overall thickness of 10 m. The discovery ultimately forced a route adjustment of No.104 State Highway. In 1992, the Changming Printing Factory on the south face of Mojiaoshan, on the elevated platform known as “Gushangding” in the middle of the site, applied to expand its factory buildings. Artificial rammed layers were found following a trial excavation, which elicited more serious attention from the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. After many separate pieces of research and reports to the State Cultural Relics Bureau, who furnished them with permission, a relatively large-scale excavation was conducted in the factory area from September, 1992 through July, 1993. A total of twenty 10 × 10 m trenches were laid out, and in actuality 1100 m2 were excavated, finding eight Liangzhu Culture ash pits, a single accumulated-stone pit, one trench ridge remains, and evidence of sandy-earth rammed construction in multiple trenches.

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Map showing position of excavation areas by the former No.104 State Highway in 1987 and 1992– 1993

Prior to the excavation, the provincial mapping department measured the site and completed a topographical map in 1:500 scale, dividing the site into four quadrants with a base point near the [Liangzhu] site. According to this division, Major Mojiaoshan sat in the first quadrant, Minor Mojiaoshan in the second, Wuguishan in the third quadrant, and the majority of the area excavated in 1987 and from 1991 to 1992 inside the fourth quadrant. Each quadrant was divided into a number of 100 × 100 zones leading inside out, and each of these zones was subdivided into 10 × 10 trenches.

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(Upper) ramming holes in rammed construction, using granular soil. (Lower) remains of the trench ridge

The main body of the granular soil rammed construction remains was structured of lower and upper components. The upper section was densely packed tan or light brown granular rammed earth, though small-scale layering during ramming process could not be distinguished, and the layer had been almost totally depleted after largescale extraction and destruction by local farmers in the 1980s. The lower section was formed of separated granular and muddy layers which reached up to 13 strata at points, and reached an overall thickness of around 50 cm. The thickness of each rammed earth layer varied, growing thicker for in the granular layers as one proceeded downwards, but thinner for the muddy layers, which showed signs of dense ramming holes. Initial prospecting of these remains showed an area of up to three hectares, and return prospecting in 2017 confirmed an area of seven hectares. The excavated area revealed a total of 45 trenches and 48 trench ridges in north– south alignment and with an exposed area running 37 m from east to west and 18 m

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from north to south, covering more than 660 m2 . The trench ditches were usually between 30 and 50 cm wide, with average depths of around 10–20 cm, inconsistent lengths, and separated by distances of 15–110 cm. They must have been part of some processing technique carried out during rammed earth construction at Gushangding. Additionally, salvage archaeology within an area of 100 m2 on the south side of Minor Mojiaoshan discovered rammed earth architectural foundation remains of a similar structure on whose surface were rows of post pits. To retain the maximal integrity of these rammed earth foundations, layers were scraped off partially and gradually, and a modern pit used to carry out analysis at a definite depth, without subsequent excavation. The excavation also provided an initial understanding of the building methods and architectural remains at the heart of Gushangding. Mojiaoshan was established as a large artificial Liangzhu period platform structure, and the site was listed among the “Ten Great Archaeological Discoveries” of the year. With such grand remains of buildings, and the great amounts of exquisite jades unearthed from the Fanshan and Yaoshan noble burials, people were convinced that the area may have constituted the center of Liangzhu Culture.

Rows of pit posts on the south of Minor Mojiaoshan

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References Bin, L. (1997). Excavation and Settlement Survey at the Lucun Site, Yuhang [余杭卢村遗址的发 掘及其聚落考察]. In Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (Eds.), Academic Journal of the Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology [浙江省文物考古研究所学刊]. Changzheng Publishing House. Bin, L. (2007). The Liangzhu Culture Sacrificial Altar and Meteorological Dating [良渚文化的祭 坛与观象测年]. China Cultural Relics News [中国文物报]. Bin, L. (2013). The Medium’s World [神巫的世界]. Hangzhou Press. Guoyao, R. (1999). The Lost Civilization: On the Liangzhu Site Cluster” [失落的文明—论良渚 遗址群] In Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (eds). Research on Liangzhu Culture: Collected Essays from the International Academic Conference to Commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Liangzhu Discovery [良渚文化研究——纪念良 渚文化发现六十周年国际学术讨论会文集]. Science Press, Beijing Guoyao, R. (2006). Visiting Jades at Yaoshan [瑶山访玉]. In Guangdong Province Museum. The Thrills of Archaeologists [考古人的兴奋]. Lingnan Fine Arts Press. Mingda, W. (1987). Summary Description of the ‘Liangzhu’ Sites” [“良渚”遗址群概述]. In Yuhang County Cultural Relics Management Committee et al. (Eds.), Liangzhu Culture [良渚文化] Yuhang Literary and Historical Materials No. 3 [余杭文史资料第 3 辑]. Mingda, W. (1996). Summary overview of field archaeology at the Liangzhu Site Cluster [良渚遗 址群田野考古概述]. In Dawn of Civilization: Liangzhu Culture [文明的曙光——良渚文化]. Zhejiang People’s Publishing House. Shanghai Municipal Cultural Relics Management Committee. (2000). Fuquanshan: Excavation Report of a Neolithic Site [福泉山——新石器时代遗址发掘报告]. Cultural Relics Press. Wenming, Y. (1996). Jottings at Liangzhu [良渚随笔]. Cultural Artefacts [文物] , 3. Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. (1993a). The Neolithic Site at Wujiabu in Yuhang” [余杭吴家埠新石器时代遗址]. In The Academic Journal of the Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology: On the Tenth Anniversary of its Founding (1980–1990) [浙江省文物考古研究所学刊 : 建所十周年纪念 (1980–1990)]. Science Press. Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. (1993b). Excavation of a Liangzhu Culture Burial in North Zhejiang (1978–1986) [浙江北部地区良渚文化墓葬的 发掘 (1978–1986)]. In The Academic Journal of the Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology: On the Tenth Anniversary of its Founding (1980–1990) [浙江 省文物考古研究所学刊: 建所十周年纪念 (1980–1990)]. Science Press. Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. (2001). The Second Excavation of the Liangzhu Culture Huiguanshan Site [良渚文化汇观山遗址第二次发掘简 报]. Cultural Relics [文物], 12. Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. (2003). Yaoshan [瑶山]. Cultural Relics Press. Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. (2005a). The Liangzhu Site Cluster [良渚遗址群]. Cultural Relics Press. Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute. (2005b). Fanshan [反山]. Cultural Relics Press. Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Nanjing Museum, & Shanghai Museum. (2016). 80 Years of Liangzhu [良渚八十年]. Cultural Relics Press. Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, & Yuhang City Cultural Relics Management Committee. (1997). The Excavation of a Liangzhu Culture Ceremonial Altar and Cemetery at Huiguanshan, Yuhang, Zhejiang [浙江余杭汇观山良渚文化祭坛与墓地发掘 简报]. Cultural Relics [文物] , 7.

Chapter 4

“China’s First City”—Liangzhu Ancient City

4.1 Discovering the City Walls Liangzhu Ancient City sits at Pingyao Township, Yuhang District, on the west flank of the Liangzhu Site Cluster. From June, 2006 to January, 2007, the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, in order to understand the area below ground at some relocated farmers’ homes within the key conversation area of the Liangzhu site, conducted an excavation of the west side of elevated land at Putaofan Village in Pingyao, finding the north–south riverbed of Liangzhu period. The riverbed was 40 m wide and one meter deep, and contained the thick inhabitation deposits of Liangzhu Culture. Partial analysis of the east shore confirmed the structure had been entirely artificially embanked up to the thickness of about four meters, with sharp-edged stone slabs laid on the foundation. The find stimulated further thoughts of the archaeological group. Locals recalled, they had even found the similar stones elsewhere on this elevated terrain during an earlier attempt to dig a well. This site sits around 200 m from the west edge of Mojiaoshan site, and ran parallel to the latter. It could be deduced that the site may be the remains of a city wall linked to Mojiaoshan or a large artificial dike of Liangzhu period. Given the discovery at the Putaofan site, the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology submitted and received permission for surveying and prospecting the periphery of Mojiaoshan site in 2007. The excavation of Liangzhu Ancient City was led by Liu Bin, with participants including Zhao Ye, Wang Ningyun, Qi Zili, Lu Xiyan, Zhi Jianrong, Guo Liutong, Ge Jianliang, Zhao Zhang, and Chen Qingsheng. In March, 2007, with Putaofan site as the base point, drilling, surveying, and trial excavation extended southwards and northwards. Thanks to knowledge of the pedological nature and remains gleaned from the earlier excavation, the excavation team established three aspects as the standards for the subsequent probing and searching for relevant remains: (1) the remains were constructed from a relatively pure yellow clay; (2) stone slabs formed the base; (3) the area outside loess and stone remains

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was the trench whose upper layer was a light yellow sandy sediment deposit, and whose base was a dark grey sediment deposit, and the deposits of Liangzhu Culture lay near the verge of the site. Based on these standards, the team was able to use drilling methods to confirm a site extending from Qifengshan [Qifeng Mountain] in the south to Tiao Brook on the north, roughly 60 m wide and 1000 m long. In order to verify these drilling results, the team selected a stretch from Baiyuanfan, on the north of the former No. 104 State Highway, for analysis and excavation. Because this elevated stretch sat near Tiao Brook, the embanked earth had already been replaced in the multiple repairs to the dike, the stone foundation, when found, lay only 40 cm from the surface. Liangzhu Culture site sat immediately below the rice paddies. Excavation here not only generated findings in a short time, but also minimized damage to the wall itself. Considering the depositional discrepancies as indicated in drilling process, the team dug four exploratory trenches for analysis. The analysis further confirmed the continuity in the distribution and embanked construction methods and the presence of river ditches within and beyond the remains. The river borders were superimposed on inhabitation deposits of Liangzhu Culture, and the pottery shared traits identical to sherds revealed at Putaofan. After drilling and excavation over half a year, the south end of the remains was seen to have extended to Fengshan [Feng Mountain], and was pressed below the large dike at East Tiao Brook at its northern extreme. Were we dealing with a city wall, or a dike constructed during Liangzhu period? If this was a city wall that ran around Mojiaoshan, then where were the north wall and the south wall? With the above conjectures in mind, the archaeological team continued drilling in the latter half of 2017, based on their work at Putaofan and Baiyuanfan. By early November, they had confirmed a north, east, and south edge of the site. Liu Bin, the excavation team leader of the Liangzhu Ancient City, recorded his experience in the search for the wall1 : “One group searched east along Fengshan, the other east along the south of Hechitou. But several days passed and not a single clue emerged. So we switched strategies, and joined forces at a focal point, where we searched for the north wall. When we found nothing in the south of Hechitou, we headed to the north to search there. Hard work always pays off, and on June 9, 2007, we found the first stone beneath elevated land at Hechitou Village. We also caught a glimmer of hope regarding the broken west wall. What a great thrill! Following our newly found target, we expanded along both poles, searching hole by hole, to aim at loess and stones underneath, and flooded layer and silting beyond that border. By September 28, our drilling had confirmed the presence of a wall that was 800 m long and extended from the large dike of Zhao Brook through to Zhishan [Zhi Mountain]. That was the north wall. But was it really the north wall? We were facing the very same question once again. After the north wall we had found joined up with Zhishan, it disappeared once more. At this time, we still couldn’t rule out the possibility that this was a large dike

1

Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (2019).

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of the Tiao Brook in ancient times, as the stretch still ran parallel with the Tiao Brook dike to the north. Starting on October 1, 2007, we set up several drilling targets along the east side of Zhishan. One headed northeast along Zhishan, where findings belonged to the dike. The second drilling headed southwards and regarded Zhishan as a turning point in the wall. The third involved drilling south from the elevated land at Qianshan [Qian Mountain] toward a point east of Zhishan, taking Qianshan as the turning point. The first route lay between Zhishan and the modern large dike of Tiao Brook, and we searched along it, back and forth, until we drilled through Ducheng Village in Anxi, without finding a single suspicious indication. The second route began below the elevated land south of Qianshan, and it also failed to turn up the stone foundations we were looking for. Drilling south of Zhishan, meanwhile, we came up with no traces of stones. Maybe we were dealing with the ancient Tiao brook? By the end of October, we had surveyed an area of over a thousand square kilometers, from Zhishan and Qianshan through to No. 104 State Highway. At last, at a stretch of farmland called ‘Waitiaoding’ [Waitiao Peak] to the north of Jinjianong Village, we drilled down to underlying rocks. Now that we had a target we quickly branched out from north and south. The north was connected to the east of Zhishan, the south led to Xiaodoumen Village. Once we’re absolutely certain that this was the east wall, we began announcing the finding to the archaeological team: ‘We’re sure it’s the city wall this time; it’s not the dike.’ The south wall was confirmed on October 27. It rose at west Xiaodongmen Village in the east, headed to Dongyangjia Village in the west, joined east slope of Fengshan, and ran a total course of around 1600 m. By now the Liangzhu Ancient City, threehundred hectares in area, encircled by a wall of 1700 m from east to west, 1900 m from north to south, was laid out before our eyes. In all honesty, we hadn’t suspected it was so enormous. The new finding far exceeded our previous notion of Liangzhu Culture.”

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(Above) Excavation site of the Baiyuanfan stretch of the west city wall. (Below) Prospecting inside the city

To verify their drilling results as quickly as possible, the team proceeded to dig out and conduct anatomical excavation at two north trenches and a single trench on the east and south sides respectively. Both prospecting and excavation results confirmed that the site was unbroken on all four sides, about 40–60 m wide, with foundations covered by stones, primarily loess used in the construction above, and the same embankment technique across all four sides. This site—sealed and surrounded on four sides—must have been the city wall. Exploratory trenches on all four sides showed Liangzhu Culture deposits superimposed at the wall base, containing pottery sherds that were entirely within the late Liangzhu period. This also proved that the city wall was built in a uniform and synchronous manner on all four sides. The deposits from the late Liangzhu period were discovered on the top of the wall, where post holes and other such remains were also found and a lot of pottery sherds were unearthed. An ash pit breaking through the wall during the late Liangzhu period was discovered at the Baiyuanfan stretch on the west wall. All this indicated that the top of city wall was occupied by the people of the late Liangzhu period. On November 29, 2007, the Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau and Hangzhou Municipal People’s Government held a press conference, announcing

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the “earth-shattering” discovery that the Liangzhu Ancient City was “China’s first city.” Based on earlier understandings of the noble cemetery materials at Fanshan, Yaoshan, and Huiguanshan, the academic community unanimously believed that the glory days of Liangzhu must have focused around the early period. The large volume of late Liangzhu deposits superimposed at the base of the Liangzhu city wall and the unearthing of many pottery samples altered our readings of late Liangzhu cultural appearance and pottery, and furnished us with new resources on the connections between Liangzhu and Qianshanyang Culture and Guangfulin Culture. In the course of drilling and excavations, the team had learned how Liangzhu Ancient City must have occupied a relatively expansive riverine region. These riverine areas and marshlands were universally filled in by natural sediment during and after the late Liangzhu. This mauve sandy layer, roughly one meter thick, pressed down directly on the late Liangzhu deposits, reflecting some flooding event during the final days of Liangzhu. The Liangzhu Ancient City was the first discovery of its kind in the lower Yangtze and is to date the only Liangzhu urban site yet found, as well as the largest city remains in terms of area for its time period. The city encompasses an area of over 30 ha, with the large-scale artificial platform remains higher than 10 m at Mojiaoshan and major remains such as the Fanshan noble cemetery. The discovery of Liangzhu Ancient City brought new materials to more advanced research of internal connections within the Liangzhu Site Cluster and the layout of the cluster itself. The discovery of Liangzhu Ancient City was further proof that the area was the center of Liangzhu Culture, a large-scale urban site of an urban nature that testified to five millennia of Chinese history.2 Following the discovery of Liangzhu Ancient City, the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology drew up a detailed plan for archaeological work, carefully examined existing materials and research questions of Liangzhu site, determined short-term tasks and designed long-term target for archaeological work according to the “one-year objective, one-decade planning, and one-century strategy” guideline. Among them, the research on the layout of Liangzhu Ancient City and its internal and external structure has been the main concern in recent years. From 2008 to 2012, the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and Liangzhu Site Management Committee entrusted the relevant organizations to conduct large-scale drone aerial photography at Liangzhu Ancient City, the outcome of which was a high-resolution digital orthographic map and accompanying vector map in 1:2000 scale. An area of 20 km2 around the ancient city was targeted for focused measurement and drawing, resulting in a detailed topographic map in 1:500 scale. This established foundational data in building a geographic informational system for Liangzhu. Prospecting was carried out also in minute details over an area of around eight square kilometers in Liangzhu Ancient City, by the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Shaanxi Longteng Prospecting Company 2

Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (2008, 2019).

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from 2008 to 2009. This provided initial clarification on the site layout of Liangzhu Ancient City, as well as the riverine environment and city wall distribution. Prospecting clarified the fact that Liangzhu Ancient City is shaped like a roundedcorner rectangle on a north–south axis, running 1910 m north to south, 1770 m wide from south to west, with a rough area of 300 km2 . The city wall has a circumference of around 6000 m, with the width of 20–150 m, and a height of roughly four meters in well-preserved stretches and around two meters in other parts. The north passage of the west wall leaned by East Tiao Brook and had, accordingly, been dug through during the construction of the earlier dike, retaining a height of around 0.3 m. Drilling revealed eight water gates and a single land gate. The former were distributed at all four walls, two to each, and linked with waterways inside and outside of the city, forming an internal and external river network and water transportation system. The isolated land gate was discovered in the center of the south city wall. Water routes must have been the primary means of transportation. Excluding the southern wall, there were both internal and external moats. Moats followed the edges of the wall on either side, and may have exploited the original natural riverbed, though the southwest and northwest inner moat were, it is clear, artificially excavated. The outer moat was flooded and filled with deposit during the terminal Liangzhu, though many passages of the inner moat have survived until today. Most of the internal moat on the north city wall remained in good nick and was still used by the local villagers, who referred to the area as “Hechitou” [The river head]. Elsewhere along the inner moat, partial remains of the reservoir are a common sight. The heart of the city consisted of the palatial remains at Mojiaoshan, which occupied one-tenth of the entire urban space. Besides this were the artificially-embanked high platforms at Huangfenshan and elsewhere, which must have been major building remains within the city. The Fanshan, Jiangjiashan, and Sangshutou cemeteries on the west side of Mojiaoshan must have been the urban burial ground. The ancient city wall made full use of natural stratigraphy and rammed earth construction. When the site was determined, the two natural hills at Fengshan and Zhishan served as the southwest and northeast corners respectively. The western section of the north wall also exploited part of the former Huangnishan [Yellow Mud Mountain], and utilized loess as the material for its wall construction. The city wall consisted of main body, as well as inner and outer lookout towers (mamian) and ramps. A total of 52 lookout towers were found, including 24 internally and 28 externally. Stone slabs invariably paved the ramps and most lookout towers as well. They were only absent from the rammed earth wall near Zhishan and at Huangnishan along the west of the north wall. All four sides were constructed through rammed earth methods utilizing a yellow clay extracted from the hills. The outer and inner ramps had all been superimposed by late Liangzhu deposits.

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4.2 Archaeological Work Inside Liangzhu Ancient City The discovery of Liangzhu Ancient City contributed to the new understanding of the intrinsic connections within the Liangzhu Site Cluster, as well as the layout of individual sites. Finding such extremely indicative remains as the city wall granted us an improved understanding of the nature and function of Mojiaoshan and the various inner-city remains. Since 2009, prospecting, analysis, and excavation have been carried out as focal work at the core of the ancient city. The basic schematic of an area of 6.3 km2 inside and outside the city was fundamentally clarified by 2017. A site of enormous scale, Mojiaoshan runs for around 670 m from east to west and approximately 450 m from north to south, and covers a total area of roughly 30 ha. The Mojiaoshan palatial zone is formed of the large earthen platform at Gushangding, and the three smaller elevated platforms of Major Mojiaoshan, Minor Mojiaoshan, and Wuguishan above it. Aside from the tip of Wuguishan, which was destroyed and where no residential remains have been found, the remains of buildings have been discovered on top of Major Mojiaoshan, Minor Mojiaoshan, and Gushangding. Archaeological excavations have shown that Mojiaoshan was artificially embanked to a thickness of over 10 m, with a large area granular-mud rammed earth and architectural remains in the center. A carefully constructed site on such grand scale is extremely rare within the range of Liangzhu Culture and even for other times in the Neolithic. This must have been the center of a certain period or space. In the west of the Mojiaoshan palatial zone is a long north–south platform artificially constructed along a naturally occurring hillock and dotted with the cemeteries of the powerful and noble: Fanshan, Jiangjiashan, and Sangshutou sit on this stage. In the south of Mojiaoshan is Huangfenshan, at whose heights we find Bamushan [Eight Mu Mountain], a rectangular and artificially embanked structure. Bamushan and Major Mojiaoshan face each other from north to south and their layout occupies a single axis. Their dimensions and height are roughly equivalent, and they are deduced to have served as palatial foundations. Jade bi-discs and other items were unearthed from the southwest corner of Huangfenshan, which is inferred to have been a noble cemetery. The rectangular platform in the west of Mojiaoshan’s palatial zone, together with Huangfenshan, might have been the location of the royal mausolea and noble cemetery of Liangzhu Ancient City. Aside from the moat bestriding the city wall, the internal waterways take on a rough “工” shape, and 51 such ancient waterways have been confirmed through prospecting. (1)

The Mojiaoshan Palatial Zone

Following 1993, a long time passed without formal archaeological excavations at Mojiaoshan. Work was then carried out uninterruptedly from 2010–2016. Our excavation process honored the working order described above: first we prospected and confirmed the platform borders and range, then dissected the border, while simultaneously setting out horizontal rectangular prospecting trenches on the platform itself,

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searching for possibly extant remains of buildings and burials, conducing a full-scale exposure should they indeed be found. Generally, we did not opt for a total method of excavation, and exposed the site only the Liangzhu Culture stratum, which meant revealing more recent remains at the exposed earth platform. This excavation method managed to achieve an ample understanding of the site while preserving its essential layout.

The embanking process at Mojiaoshan, as revealed by drilling

From 2010 to 2013 we conducted three systematic drilling operations at Mojiaoshan and neighboring Jiangjiashan, Sangshutou, and Huangfenshan, combining machine drilling and paring methods. Our ordinary drilling method was paring, but facing the very thick deposits at the east palatial zone and enormous difficulties in our drilling, we made use of geological machine drills, and reached our understanding of earth platform embankment through a machine-drilling method. Machine drilling and partial analysis and excavation were able to confirm that west Mojiaoshan had employed an original natural hill feature, with artificial embanking at a depth of 2–6 m, 10–12 m in east Mojiaoshan. Embanking was thickest at Major Mojiaoshan, at 16.5 m, a relative height of 15 m, with 2,228,000 m3 of earth use for the entire project, approaching the volume of stone (around 2.5 million m3 ) used for the Great Pyramid of Khufu. Our drilling survey revealed that during the process of embanking Mojiaoshan, first embanked was earth with a dark-grey luster for the foundations, secondly an unadulterated yellow earth, piled up to form the Gushangding earth platform and trio of palatial foundations at Major Mojiaoshan, Minor Mojiaoshan, and Wuguishan.

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Photos of drilling at Mojiaoshan

Probing work confirmed the borders of Gushangding and the three palatial foundations. Through prospecting, the partial analysis and excavation at these borders clarified them and their structures, and confirmed the presence of a ridge-shaped east ramp of Gushangding and a riverbed between the west slope of Mojiaoshan and Jiangjiashan. Finally, we employed long exploratory trenches with accompanying full-scale trench excavation and partial border analysis methods at Major Mojiaoshan, Minor Mojiaoshan, and the Gushangding stage, conducting a relatively large-scale excavation which established the surrounding trench, building foundations, a square of granular-earth, a wall face of granular-earth face and stone walls at Mojiaoshan. All in all, we found 35 architectural foundations within the palatial zone at Mojiaoshan, together with a single surrounding trench and a number of stone remains. The stage base unearthed at Mojiaoshan in the northeast of Gushangding elevated platform ran approximately 175 m from east to west, and roughly 88 m broad, and covered a total surface area of 15,000 m2 . The platform tip was slightly raised toward the west and reached a maximum height of 18 m above sea-level, with artificial embanking of 16.5 m at its thickest. Minor Mojiaoshan in the northwest of Gushangding ran 90 m from east to west, around 40 m from north to south, covered 3500 m2 , and was also slightly elevated toward the west, achieving its greatest height of 17 m and thickest embanking at around 15 m. Wuguishan in the southwest of Gushangding ran for around 130 m from east to east, was 67 m broad from north to south, and covered a total of 8500 m2 , reaching an extreme of 16.5 m above sealevel, though having been severely damaged in its late period its surviving artificial embankment was roughly seven meters thick.

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Major Mojiaoshan has the largest area of the three palatal foundation remains on Gushangding and was also, in relative terms, the highest point of Liangzhu Ancient City. One is afforded the most expansive of views when standing on the Major Mojiaoshan platform, from which inner and outer city, and the area through to between Dazheshan [Dazhe Mountain] and Daxiongshan [Daxiong Mountain] are extremely clear. One feels like a master of his dominion. Through drill, dissecting tool and trowel we confirmed the use of mud, drawn from the marshes, in embanking part of the Gushangding foundation, together with the simultaneous pre-embanking the Major Mojiaoshan platform at a height of 2– 3 m above the surroundings. This was proof that construction of the earth platform at Major Mojiaoshan and earth stage at Gushangding had been preplanned.

Major Mojiaoshan in snow

Excavation confirmed a total of 35 remains of buildings at Mojiaoshan, seven at the peak of Major Mojiaoshan, possible royal residences with respective areas of 300– 900 m2 . Four such remains at Minor Mojiaoshan covered areas of 100–400 m. There were 24 architectural remains at Gushangding, arrayed in rows, covering between 200 and 1000 m2 . A granular-earth square of seven hectares occupied the space between the south of Major Mojiaoshan, Minor Mojiaoshan, and Wuguishan, and the three palatial foundations themselves. These were exposed to a definite degree during excavation

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from 1992–1993. The trench ridge and post pit remains found at this time had all belonged to the square.

Reconstruction of the buildings at the peaks of Major Mojiaoshan and Minor Mojiaoshan

The granular-earth square was formed through interlocking layers of sand and clay. The sand was primarily river silt, intermixed with clay and pebbles. The clay was extracted from yellow hill clay. It has a sturdy structure and was constructed with precision, the only clear rammed earth remains in the ancient city. The sandyearth square was formed of intersecting rammed mud and granular-earth. With a flat-ramming technique, the square has distinct layers, and obvious tamping holes scraped off during excavation. There are as much as 15 rammed earth layers, each of which is 5–25 cm thick, with the total thickness of 30–60 cm in a rammed earth structure, up to 1.30 m in south Major Mojiaoshan. The square was the site for major ceremonies in the palace zone. North Major Mojiaoshan and the southern east–west stone wall foundations might have formed the base of a wall that surrounded Major Mojiaoshan. Further to this several rows of stone remains connecting to a surrounding wall have been found to the east of this enclosure at Major Mojiaoshan, a rather complex structure of which three such north–south and east–west strips have been exposed thus far. The stone remains in this area run 93 m from east to west, are 60 m wide from north to south, and cover an area of 5580 m2 . The remains that have been found intersect and form multiple frame structures. One in a relatively complete state of preservation has a width of 30–75 cm, a thickness of 10–40 cm, and stone slabs with diameters of around 15 cm. Trough traces can be seen on part of the stone remains, demonstrating

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that a trench trough was excavated prior to stone paving. We infer these remains were a part of the contemporary stone foundation at the palatial hall wall. The ditch running between Mojiaoshan and Jiangjiashan widens at the northwest and southwest corners of Gushangding. It forms paired river bays that ultimately converge at the inner moat. The most important finding on the southwest rampart at Gushangding consisted of the embanked cob, together with remains of a wooden structure and bamboo weaving with which it shared an intimate connection. When the southwest slope was excavated in 2013, three bamboo pieces laid out in parallel were discovered at the silted riverbed layers at the base of a grass-mixed mud embanked layer. Total length was 6.9 m, width 1.2–1.5 m, and the pieces all formed of weaved bamboo notches of varying dimensions and somewhat differing in their weaving style. The best preserved is a central bamboo piece which is roughly 227 cm long, 150 cm wide, and formed through insertion and weaving of 40 bamboo notches on an east–west woof and five on a north–south weft. The east–west notches were rather coarser, with widths of around 3 cm, while the nine north–south notches were comprised of two centimeter notches lying side-by-side.

Remains of wooden stakes and bamboo pieces unearthed at the southwest slope of Gushangding (1)

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Remains of wooden stakes and bamboo pieces unearthed at the southwest slope of Gushangding (2)

Remains of a wooden stake structure were discovered between the two rows of bamboo pieces and among the pieces themselves. In total, 36 stakes have been excavated to present. Stakes were sharpened at the base and slotted into the riverbed deposits. Mortise-tenon structures were also detected at the tip. These had been manufactured with great care and spaced at appropriate distances—we suspect they formed a temporary construction passageway laid out on the mud by the river shore. Further excavation at the southwest rampart in 2015 revealed the extensions to the wooden stake remains in the east and north, which led to the inference that the wooden structure remains may have reinforced the grass-mixed mud embankment process.

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The layout of Jiangjiashan cemetery

4.3 The Jiangjiashan Cemetery Jiangjiashan lies to the south of the Fanshan cemetery and was established as an independent site after probing work in 2012. Jiangjiashan is roughly rectangular, approximately 270 m long from east to west, roughly 220 m wide from north to south, covering around 5 ha. It reaches a maximum height above sea-level of 14 m. The entire earthen platform at Jiangjiashan was built against a natural hill, with artificial embanking at a thickness of 2–5 m. A pair of excavations carried out in 2013 and 2015 respectively confirmed the site was divided into east and west sections, whose function differed. On the higher east side were discovered remains of buildings, ash trenches, ash pits, and many charredearth deposit remains, demonstrating the presence of a large residential area. The west section occupied a gentle slope, and here a single early Liangzhu cemetery was revealed, together with 14 burials, unearthing 424 grave goods (or sets), including jades, stone tools, pottery wares, and bone wares. The jades made up the great majority, at a total of 363 items (or sets).

4.3 The Jiangjiashan Cemetery

Part of the burial objects unearthed from M1, Jiangjiashan

Jade wares unearthed from M8, Jiangjiashan

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M1 was the highest rank male burial at Jiangjiashan. This was a rectangular earth shaft horizontal pit burial equipped with both inner-coffin and outer-coffin, with grave goods more or less entirely situated within the inner-coffin. Suboptimal skeletal preservation only allowed a skull and partial ribcage to be discerned; the head faces south, though body direction or age was uncertain. There are a total of 65 grave goods (or sets) amounting to 175 units, among them 54 jades (or sets) in 164 individual units, including a single jade cong, nine jade bi-disc, nine stone yuebattle-ax, a single seven-item set of zhui-awl-shaped vessels, a single crown-shaped vessel, two columnar vessels, cap decorations, and a large number of guan-tubes and pearls. A male sex for the tomb occupant has been inferred, judging by the unearthed groups of zhui-awl-shaped items, jade cong, and jade yue-battle-ax. M8 was the highest rank Jiangjiashan female burial. It was a rectangular earth pit vertical shaft burial. Skeletal preservation was rather poor: only the skull, ribs, and tibiofibula on either side could be discerned. The head faced south, but body orientation and age were unclear. A total of 67 grave goods (or sets) were unearthed in 94 individual units that included 59 jades (or sets) in 86 units, among them a single jade bi-disc, two jade huang-pendants, a single jade zhuo-bracelet, one jade crown-shaped ornament, and one jade spinning wheel. It was based on the jade huangpendant, spinning wheel, and filtering device that female occupancy was deduced. M1, the highest-rank male burial at Jiangjiashan, occupies a rank between M17 and M15 at Fanshan, roughly equating to the third stage at Fanshan Cemetery. The cemetery also contained high-rank noble burials such as the male tombs M1 and M6 and female M8 and M4, and commoner or even child burials with limited grave goods. This trait differs dramatically from Fanshan while more closely approaching Wenjiashan, and means Jiangjiashan may well have been a lineage cemetery. Jade shape and style approaches that of Fanshan, so one can roughly determine similar cemetery age in either case. The excavation of Jiangjiashan brought to our awareness the clear segmentation of the palatial area, royal cemetery and noble cemetery into east and west zones. It also corroborated the idea that the Mojiaoshan palace zone and the royal and noble burials comprised of Fanshan, Jiangjiashan and Sangshutou, and Huangfenshan platform, constituted the core area of Liangzhu Ancient City.

4.4 The Ancient River at Zhongjiagang The ancient river at Zhongjiagang sat to the east of the Mojiaoshan palatial district along an approximate northwest–southeast course, beginning at Liangzhugang in the south and connecting with the east–west ancient riverbed in the north of the city and inner north city wall moat, operating as the primary artery covering the north and south of the ancient city. Archaeological prospecting has established the river was around 1000 m long, 18–80 m wide, and roughly three meters deep.

4.4 The Ancient River at Zhongjiagang

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Several artificial Liangzhu platforms extended along either shore of the ancient river. Those living above the platform tipped their trash down either side, explaining the wealth of pottery shreds in refuse deposits on either shore, which, when siltation was added in, ultimately resulted in a narrower and shallower river. During the late period the middle passage of this ancient river route (the area east of the Mojiaoshan palatial zone) was filled in, creating a platform stretching from the Mojiaoshan palatial zone through to the east city wall. Although its function in connecting north and south at Liangzhu gradually faded, the river remains in depressed marshland, and a sluice canal continues to connect north and south nowadays.

Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of Liangzhu Ancient City

From the latter half of 2015 through 2016, cooperating with the application for Liangzhu’s World Heritage Status, we carried out labeling and partial restoration work on ancient Liangzhu features, gaining an understanding of the riverbed deposits, nature of the tableland on either shore, and excavating the ancient riverbed at Zhongjiagang. The excavation achieved an initial-stage understanding of the dating of Zhongjiagang ancient riverbed, its siltation process and the function of the tableland on either shore.

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Since the ancient riverbed was rather long, for convenience of excavation recording and description, we followed topographical differences and labeled the area corresponding with the northwest corner of Mojiaoshan as the Zhongjiagang North Zone, the position matching the northeast corner through area north of No. 104 State Highway as the Zhongjiagang Central Zone, and the area south of No.104 State Highway as the Zhongjiagang South Zone. Since the ancient riverbed at Zhongjiagang hewed close to the tableland on either shore, riverbed sedimentation contained many potteries, stone tools, and lacquered wooden items. Sieving also revealed a large volume of animal remains and a modicum of human osteological specimens. Either shore on the south side of Zhongjiagang consisted of tableland—the Lijiashan platform on the west shore and the Zhongjiacun platform on the east shore. Wooden bank protection remains were discovered in relatively fine condition on the Lijiashan perimeter. The wooden bank protection sat extremely close by the east border of the earth platform, with an area exposed of 32 m length, formed of woven bamboo and wooden stakes, a horizontal wooden bar above the central stake, and wooden stakes exclusively (no woven bamboo) to the south of the horizontal bar. The architectural method consisted of woven bamboo sticking closely to the earth platform and then fastened to the wooden stake. A total of 63 stakes were revealed during excavation, the overwhelming majority of them rounded, and only two square stakes. Stake perimeters varied between 7 and 16 cm and they were spaced 30–40 cm apart. Bamboo woven items were mainly formed of interwoven vertical threads 1– 2.5 cm thick with between one and five horizontal threads of widths between 50 and 80 cm, reaching 90 cm, in isolated cases.

4.4 The Ancient River at Zhongjiagang

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Bank protection remains at the Lijiashan platform, west shore of Zhongjiagang, south stretch

Vast charred-earth deposits were found at the Zhongjiacun platform on the east side of the southern passage of Zhongjiagang. Platform perimeter deposits revealed a relatively large number of flint sherds, jade material, drilled jade cores, and drilled stone cores, an indication that this stretch must have been a handcrafts workshop for jade and stone processing.

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The central section of Zhongjiagang sat near the palatial zone at Mojiaoshan. The riverbed held but a small number of artifacts, and prospecting and excavation informed us that most of the area had been filled during the late Liangzhu, the base with grass-mixed mud, the tip with a pure yellow earth and granular-earth intermixture. Artifacts were few by comparison with the south and north areas, nor were any workshop-related artifacts seen, which explain the special nature of the Mojiaoshan palatial zone. The excavation and analysis of the central zone at Zhongjiagang fundamentally clarified the four-stage embankment process on the east slope at Mojiaoshan, ancient riverbed structuration corresponding with that for the platforms. Many pottery wares and stone tools from the later stage of early Liangzhu were unearthed from abandoned deposits belonging to the earliest period, a layer directly superimposed on the east slope Mojiaoshan embankment, for which a date of 3000–2900 BC was fixed through Carbon-14 measurement. This was roughly coeval with the Fanshan irrigation network, and confirmed that embankment took place at the Mojiaoshan palace district and also represented the earliest occupation at Mojiaoshan.

(Upper left) semi-finished wooden object unearthed from Zhongjiashan riverbed. (Upper right) jade cores unearthed from Zhongjiashan riverbed. (Lower left) stone cores unearthed from Zhongjiashan riverbed. (Lower right) flint sherds unearthed from Zhongjiashan riverbed

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The north passage of Zhongjiagang borders the tableland tightly on the east and west, and excavations of the west riverbed have revealed its repeated use, expansion, and gradual narrowing, before it was finally filled in during the late Liangzhu. Artifacts connected with handcraft manufacture such as proto-forms of stone yuebattle-ax as well as carved bone materials were also discovered in the north stretch deposits. A rather considerable number of jade cores, stone cores and half-finished wooden pan-trays and similar items were unearthed during excavations at Zhongjiagang in 2006. When these were combined with damaged lacquer-wood refuse of jade and stone working unearthed previously at Bianjiashan and Wenjiashan, we inferred they must have been a residential area for handcraft producers within Liangzhu Ancient City, existing beyond the nobility and leadership.

4.5 Searching for the Outer City Wall Starting in 2010, with the main objective the outer city wall of Liangzhu Ancient City, through over a year of archaeological survey and drilling, and analysis of earlier relevant materials, the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology essentially confirmed the Biandanshan-Heshangdi site in the north of Liangzhu Ancient City, the Lishan-Zhengcun-Gaocun site in the east, and Bianjiashan on the south face. Together, these formed the structure of the outer city wall. Biandanshan and Bianjiashan were placed 2700 m apart north to south, and around 3000 m separated Lishan-Zhengcun and Zhangjiadun from east to west. The total surface area of the outer wall was roughly eight square kilometers. Before the discovery of the ancient city, the area within the Liangzhu Site Cluster had taken individual sites as its basic observational unit. Uncovering Liangzhu Ancient City brought the realization that many of the original site foci were in fact the same remains (such as a city wall) but in different positions. While searching for the outer wall, we referred to the basic shape of the city wall, with special attention to shared Liangzhu period sites exhibiting an external strip shape, and a number of sites that might form linear or framed structures. Serious late period damage at these sites, however, forestalled presenting the basic city wall form in full. Therefore, a Geographic Information System (GIS) and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) were employed on the present-day topography, with striking results. DEM models color different regional elevations based on their height above sealevel. Under such a model, even a dilapidated wall will reveal a number of scattered passages. If these sit at an identical elevation, they will still appear in roughly the same hue through DEM, facilitating their connection.

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The rectangular outline at Mojiaoshan and the elevated platforms of Major Mojiaoshan, Minor Mojiaoshan, and Wuguishan above it were strikingly apparent under DEM. To the north a symmetry held between the east–west pair of the high ridges at Biandanshan-Heshangdi, Biandanshan linking with the north–south elevated land of Huangnikou to the west, and Qianshan sitting east of Heshangdi, forming an outer buffer in the north ancient city. Platform remains such as Zhoucun spread out between Zhishan and Qianshan, where a complex defensive-residential system was built, much like around Fengshan in the southwest. The east city wall Lishan-Zhengcun-Gaocun elevations, which correspond with Qianshan, structured the east wall of the outer city. Bianjiashan forms the south border of the outer wall, twisting to the north in its western stretch, and connecting with the city wall to the east of the water gate in the south city wall. A comparatively small square framed shape could also be found at the exterior of Fengshan in the southwest of the ancient city. To the south the shape sat on a line extending from the south city wall, linking to that wall in the south via Dongyangjiacun, reverting north at Xiyangjiacun, and forming the western city wall border at Dushan and Wenjiashan, before turning east at Zhongjiashan and joining up with the west city wall. The outer perimeter of the west city wall, the west side of Huaxing Road, has been superimposed by modern road and buildings, but featured a smattering of sites such as Zhangjiadun and Yangshan. Because the area lay sat to East Tiao Brook, and in historic periods the earth was extracted from many of the surrounding mounds for building and repairing dikes and weirs, the filler earth in the Baiyuanfan stretch in the part of the west wall had more or less been flattened out. The original outer wall structure at this locale had probably already been destroyed. Separate drilling work has demonstrated the presence of a large Liangzhu period riverine area, so we cannot exclude the possibility that the waters directly served as a buffer.

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DEM model of Liangzhu Ancient City. Colors verging on yellow indicate increasing height; colors approaching green indicate decreasing height. Top Left: Biandanshan; Top Right: Heshangdi; Right Side (Top to Bottom): Zhishan, Qianshan, Meirendi, Lishan, Zhengcun, Gaocun; Bottom Center: Bianjiashan; Bottom Left (Bottom to Top): East Yangjiacun (right), West Yangjiacun (left), Fengshan (right), Dushan and Qijiashan (left), Zhongjiashan; Center: Mojiaoshan

Wenjiashan, Zhongjiashan, and Zhangjiadun in the southwest of the ancient city, and Bianjiashan in the south, were established via the prospecting method back in 1999. Beginning in 2009, while prospecting in the range beyond the city, analysisexcavation was performed at Biandanshan in the north and Meirendi and Lishan in the east.3 Wenjiashan lies in the southwest of Liangzhu Ancient City. It rests on a natural hill 7.1 m high, with cultural deposits thickening outward in every direction over an area of roughly 5000 m2 . The west of the site was destroyed during construction of Huaxing Road in Pingyao Township in 1996. In November, 2011, with the township applying to build office space in the southwest of Wenjiashan, the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology conducted salvage excavations over an area of 600 m2 . 3

Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (2015).

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The cultural deposits in the excavated area Wenjiashan roughly navigate three phases: in the first an earthen platform was constructed along the body of the mountain, though since a limited area was exposed, the specific form and nature of this area were unclear; later a Liangzhu Culture cemetery formed in the southwest portion, with several batches of burials interred over a period of time; then, with the cemetery’s abandonment, the entire remains were covered with a relatively thin layer of late Liangzhu deposits. In total, 18 burials were cleared during the excavation. These were laid out in two approximate rows, all rectangular vertical pit earth shaft burials with lengths of between 203 m and widths of between 0.6 and 1.2 m. Coffin traces remained extant at part of the burials, and one could still see the wooden patterning of an arc-shaped coffin at the deepest pit, M8. Skeletal remains were poorly preserved throughout the site only scattered bone residue and teeth could be observed. Based on the quantity and quality of grave goods, the burials could be divided into three grades: large, medium-sized and small. M1 was the sole large burial. Situated on the west side of the cemetery, it was 2.85 m long, 1.33 m broad, and survived at a depth of 0.18 m. There were coffin markings. Grave goods were placed within the inner-coffin, and the north part of the burial consisted primarily of stone yue-battle-ax and pottery wares, the south mostly of jades, with two jade bi-discs discovered at the feet of the tomb occupant. Grave goods amounted to 106 items, among them 34 stone yue-battle-ax, and the remainder were all jade and pottery: the two jade bi-discs, a crown-shaped ornament, one zhuo-bracelet, six zhui-awl-shaped vessels and zhuipendants apiece, 69 beads (or guan-tubes), pottery ding-cauldron, dou-stemmed cup, and zun-wine vessel. The medium-sized burials were M16 and M13, each containing more than 20 grave goods, with accompanying jade yuan (small-holed disc), combback, zhuo-bracelet, and compartmentalized zhui-awl-shaped vessel. The remaining small burials had between 2 and 18 grave goods, with pottery including ding, dou, guan-jar, cup, pen-basin, spinning wheel; stone tools primarily yue-battle-ax, and only a small number of arrowheads. All the jades were either zhui-awl-shaped vessels, beads, guan-tubes, zhui-pendant or perforated beads. The entire graveyard remained in occupation for several centuries the middle Liangzhu through early late Liangzhu periods. Burials of varying rank were placed in the same cemetery, which indicates the presence of a lineage graveyard. Aside from nearly 300 artifacts unearthed from burials, surface and remains units revealed a hundred items, most of them stone tools. The latter included drilling cores, ben-adze, arrowhead, lian-sickle, fishing nets, fu-ax, yue-battle-ax, zao-chisel and whetting stone. There were more than 20 cores of different size and thickness, unifacial, and bifacial. These discarded materials from the stone tool working process show that Wenjiashan was a handcraft workshop zone.

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Partial view of M1, Wenjiashan site

Dushan lies around 100 m to the south of Wenjiashan, and was likewise destroyed with the paving of Huaxing Road. The surviving site was rectangular, with dimensions of roughly 30 m from east to west and 20 m from north to south, elevated more than a meter above the paddy fields. An excavation carried out in 2001 confirmed the presence of a Liangzhu Culture earthen platform and cleared several ash pits.

(Left) stone drilling cores unearthed from Wenjiashan. (Right) remnant of jade cong unearthed from Wenjiashan

In the southwest of Wenjiashan was Zhongjiashan, separated from the former by less than 20 m. The rectangular site sloped westwards and ran for around 50 m from east to west, with a width of around 30 m from north to south. It stands around 1–2 m higher than the surrounding paddy fields. Construction of Huaxing Road rendered the site in two, with the eastern half being subsequently flattened. Examining through facies analysis of a surviving mound, the cultural level lay around 0.5 m below the surface. Drilling confirmed a cultural level that was roughly two meters thick. To cooperate with a residential development project to the west of Huaxing Road, from September to November, 2000, the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology conducted a salvage excavation at a damaged mound covering around 300 m2 in the western section of Zhongjiashan, excavating an area

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of 250 m2 . The excavation work confirmed the presence of a Liangzhu Culture earth mound of roughly 2 m height, while also clearing four burials and unearthing 37 grave goods. Looking at burial scale and grave goods, their rank was equivalent to the small burials at Wenjiashan. The Zhangjiadun site sits 250 m to the southwest of Wenjiashan. This approximately rectangular site runs around 200 m from east to west and roughly 120 m from north to south, raised 1–2 m above the surrounding paddies. The great majority of the site is covered by modern residences, and the surroundings have already been embraced by high-rise apartments. Trial excavation carried out in the western section in 2005 confirmed that the subsoil contained a Liangzhu Culture earthen platform. Wenjiashan, Dushan, Zhongjiashan, and Zhangjiadun all sit in the southwest of Liangzhu Ancient City, and were residential areas and cemeteries built against natural hill bodies, forming a part of the outer city area of the late period Liangzhu Ancient City. The Bianjiashan site adopted an east–west elongated-strip shape of roughly 1000 m length, 30 and 50 m width, and a height of 1–2 m over the surrounding fields. A trial excavation was conducted in 2002, and a trio of excavations between 2003 and 2005. The excavated zone lay in the west of the site, where a total of 2600 m2 was excavated. 66 Liangzhu Culture burials, a single building remains, five ash pits, three ash trenches, and remains of a wooden harbor were the cleared features, together with over 1400 items representing a variety of cultural artifacts in pottery, stone, jade, bone and teeth, lacquered-wood and woven bamboo. The north of the excavated area operated as a cemetery from the early through middle and late periods; the central section featured two large ash trenches consistently used during the middle and late period; the south contained the late Liangzhu port and wooden harbor. The site grew from north to south and its use lasted for several centuries.

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Burials at Bianjiashan

The cemetery was enlarged on several occasions, and underwent roughly four phases. Grave features were relatively plain, with only small differences in grave goods, which averaged seven per tomb. Tomb length varied between 1.8 and 2.75 m, tomb width from 0.5–0.95 m, and surviving tomb depths from 0.1–0.74 m. Wooden fibers remained in a large number of tombs, and two descending and linked arced wooden boards could still be discerned for some. Skeletal material was well preserved in isolated instances where the rough body shape could still be examined. Child burials were in evidence to a definite degree, and their grave goods were numerically equivalent to adult burials. Roughly half of the buried skulls faced south, roughly half north, and exceptional cases faced east—a rather large discrepancy compared with the majority of south-oriented Liangzhu Culture burials. Grave goods amounted to more than 460 items, nearly half of that figure being pottery, with a relatively large number of jades, and rather few stone wares. The fundamental pottery ware grouping consisted of ding-cauldron, dou-stemmed cup, guan-jar and pen-tray, with additional cup, hu-flask and spinning wheel. Jades included comb backs, zhuo-bracelet, huangpendant, zhui-pendant, zhui-awl-shaped ornament, guan-tube and bead. The main stone tool was the yue-battle-ax, with occasional sightings of arrowhead, knife and lian-sickle. Marks belonging to lacquer gu-goblets were found at a number of burials.

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Remains of the wooden harbor and port at Bianjiashan site

The two large ash trenches were directly vertically superimposed. Over ten meters wide, they connected with the riverine area in the south. A bamboo fence and wooden stakes were placed by the shore, and multiple stone port hulls could be seen at the north slope, some of them having been shored with wooden stakes. Many spiral shells, razor clam shells, and clam shells, discarded following consumption, had accumulated on the east end of the ash trench. These refuse deposits must have derived from the settlement remains in the east section, which have themselves been confirmed by drilling. Many lacquer wares were also unearthed from the ash pits, and were nearly unparalleled in prehistory in number, variety, and excellence of preservation. In total, more than 140 wooden stakes were found on the south shore, exhibiting an overall set-square distribution. Wooden stakes along the shoreline staked port foundations were arrayed in three east–west rows. Protruding stakes represented a trestle bridge, a relatively large body with distribution of stakes in dense intervals over a total length of around 10 m. These two combined to form a port allowing for water transportation. The area was surrounded by discarded wooden oars, confirming the presence of port remains.

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(Left) pottery room model, Bianjiashan. (Right) lacquer gu-goblet, Bianjiashan

Bianjiashan was initially a rectangular shape village. It was later amalgamated into the network of the Liangzhu outer city, becoming a principal component of the south wall. A considerable number of artifacts have been discovered at the ditch and silted deposits on the southern shore, including pottery sherds counted in the tens of thousands, together with many stone tools, wooden objects, bone, lacquer, and woven bamboo products. In addition, a large number of pig, deer, and ox animal bones were collected, as well as pieces of the a wooden-stake clay wall corner and part of the roof from a pottery model building, objects which provided important resources for research on Liangzhu architectural form. Some black slip pottery carved with exquisite thin lines and a variety of symbols was found, and the pan-tray and gu-goblet were masterpieces of lacquerware. The Biandanshan Site is situated roughly 280 m to the south of the north wall, 500 m or so from Tiao Brook to the north, and forms the north wall of the outer wall, together with Heshangdi, roughly 440 m to the west. The elongated strip-shaped site is around 337 m long and 67–101 m wide, and stands at around four meters above sea-level, or one meter above its surroundings. This elongated rectangular platform was originally an artificial embankment and is now a long platform mound, which is roughly 280 m long, 30 m wide, and one meter high. Heshangdi site in the east also assumes a rectangular shape, being around 360 m long, and 97 m wide, with the existing earth platform 330 m long, 15–40 m wide, and around one meter high.

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Wooden oar unearthed from Bianjiashan

Excavation was carried out at the west side of Bianjiashan from November, 2012 through March, 2013. A total of 36 m2 was excavated, with the discovery of three charred earth deposit, a single foundation trough, one ash pit and one ash trench, all from the Liangzhu period. The Meirendi Site was 270 m long from east to west and between 30 and 60 m wide from north to south, sitting at an elevation of 4–5 m above sea-level and between 1 and 2 m above the surrounding paddies. It was the subject of analysis excavation over an area of 840 m2 from March of 2010 through April of 2011 that uncovered the foundation remains of six Liangzhu Culture buildings, three wooden slat remains, four ash pits, and six trenches (or trench troughs). The Meirendi excavation demonstrated that, of the two roughly parallel rectangular shapes in the north and south, the former had been expanded and raised on multiple occasions, and was higher than the present ground surface, while the latter had formed somewhat later and been operational for a shorter period, and was nearly flush with the surface. An ancient river bed of around 30 m’ width separated the two mounds. The wooden slat remains, installed alongside the riverbed, were found on the site perimeter. To prevent collapse a fully-made sleeper block was placed on the base, then a skid, upon which the wooden slats were set up vertically. All these items were made of square lumber. The slats had been fully processed and partially retained the marks of stone ben-adze working. A pair of “ox nose” holes was discovered on the slats and square sleeper. This may have been related to shipping.

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The Lishan Site sits south of Qianshan, and its north links with the southern stage at Meirendi. It is a north–south long-strip shape platform that runs for 220 m from north to south and 40–50 m from east to west. It sits at an elevation of 4–5 m above sea-level, which is 1–2 m above the surrounding paddy fields. An area of 250 m2 across the east and west slopes was excavated in 2010, with the clearance of two Liangzhu Culture ash pits, but without the discovery of architectural remains.

Remains of wooden slat shore reinforcement at Meirendi site

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A distant view of the Lishan site

Cobblestone paving featured in embanking directly over marshland at Meirendi, Lishan, Biandanshan, and Bianjiashan. These were all rectangular sites whose center was the palatial area at Mojiaoshan, structuring the outer city of the Liangzhu Ancient City. Analysis informed us that the Liangzhu had city wall had become an inhabited area during the late Liangzhu, and that a mass of Liangzhu living deposits had accumulated in the outer and inner moat by the city wall. Inhabitation deposits had also accrued in thick layers at the periphery of the Mojiaoshan palace area. Middle and late period burial remains were also discovered at Wenjiashan and Zhongjiashan in the southwest of the ancient city, and at Bianjiashan in the south. Strata from the latter stage of the late Liangzhu were found topmost at these sites. Meirendi, Biandanshan, and Lishan were all late Liangzhu architectural features that were raised in height on several occasions and remained in use through the latter stage of the late Liangzhu. On either side of their peripheries were garbage deposits that were contemporary with the deposits either side of the Ancient City Wall. Evidently the Liangzhu Ancient City schematic advanced further during the late Liangzhu period, ultimately forming a core around the Mojiaoshan palace zone and flowering outwards through an inner city and city wall, and an outer city with city wall. Elevation decreased as one moved from the internal to external through the Mojiaoshan palace zone, city wall and outer city wall, demonstrating a variety of rank distinction, the proto-stages of the triple-layered palace, imperial city and outer city structure of ancient China.

References

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References Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. (2008). Excavation of the Liangzhu Ancient City Site in Yuhang, Hangzhou, 2006–2007 [杭州余杭良渚古城遗址 2006–2007 年的发掘]. Archaeology [考古], 7. Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. (2015). Ascertaining the Outer Wall at Liangzhu Ancient City in Hangzhou, and the Excavation of Meirendi and Biandanshan [杭州市良渚古城外郭的探查与美人地和扁担山的发掘]. Archaeology [考古], 1. Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. (2019). Comprehensive Research Report, Liangzhu Ancient City [良渚古城综合研究报告]. Cultural Relics Press.

Chapter 5

The Irrigation System on the Liangzhu Ancient City Periphery

A gigantic eleven-dam irrigation system spreads out over the north and northwest of Liangzhu Ancient City. The system can be split into three parts: a long piedmont dike, depressed dams, and elevated dams if the dam location and shape are taken into consideration. They were integral components of the planning and design around the exterior of the city walls during the initial construction of Liangzhu Ancient City. There’s the direct distance of 11 km between the east stretch of the Tangshan [Tang Mountain] long dike in the north of Liangzhu Ancient City and Mifengnong in the west, 5.5 km between Shiwu in the northernmost part and Wutongnong in the southernmost part, and 10 km between the palace zone at Mojiaoshan [Mojiao Mountain] and Mifengnong in the westernmost part. The long piedmont dike was originally known as Tangshan or Tuyuan (“earth wall”) Site. Situated two kilometers from the north of the city wall, it leans on Dazheshan [Dazhe Mountain] to the north, 100–200 m from the foothills, running for a total of five kilometers along its full northeast–southwest course. It represents the single largest body in the entire irrigation network. A tripartite division is possible from west to east—the west being a shortened T-shaped single-dam structure; the center a north–south double-dam structure where two dams stand 20–30 m apart and turn at an identical angle to form a canal structure, the north dam topping out at 15– 20 m above sea level, the south dam slightly lower with a peak of 12–15 m, and the eastern section of this double-dam structure linking with the watershed connecting with Dazheshan and stretching southwards, and to the east of that watershed is a single-dam structure running roughly straight and joining up with the dense spread of earthen mounds at Luocun, Gejiacun, and Yaojiadun. The elevated dam system sits at the entrance to the gully in hilly area in the northwest of the Liangzhu Ancient City, accommodating the six dams at Ganggongling, Laohuling, Zhoujiafan, Qiuwu, Shiwu, and Mifengnong. These may be divided into two groups, one in the east and the other in the west, each of which seals off a mountain gully and forms a reservoir. The dam body reaches a height of 30–35 m, and owing to the narrow valley, the dam body is 50–200 m long and about 100 m thick.

© Zhejiang University Press 2022 Y. Zhu, Eighty Years of Archaeology at Liangzhu, Liangzhu Civilization, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3104-8_5

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The depressed dam system sits in the plain roughly 5.5 km from the south of the elevated dam system, and is formed through a combination of four independent hillocks at Wutongnong, Guanshan, Liyushan, and Shizishan, with the dam body as high as around 10 m. Dam length varies between 35 and 360 m, depending on the distance among these hillocks. The reservoir between the elevated dam and the depressed dam exhibits a roughly triangular outline and covers an expanse of roughly 8.5 km2 . The reservoir sits in extremely low topography and continues to occupy the flood-diversion zone. The eastern end of the reservoir links with the Tangshan long dike and forms a unified irrigation system.

5.1 From “Earth Wall” to “Tang Hill” The research on the periphery irrigation system of Liangzhu Ancient City began with Tangshan site. The Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology built a work station at Wujiabu site whose excavation was conducted in 1981. Wujiabu sits on the west side of Pingyao Township, on the west slope of a lonely hill sticking out from the southern foothills of Dazheshan [Dazhe Mountain]. Heading north from Wujiabu, you’ll find a village trail from which you cross the isolated hillock and descend a slope across a low-lying area of ponds before advancing another 500– 600 m and reaching Beiwu Reservoir. When Wang Mingda passed here in 1987, and noted the protracted ridge running east to west on the south side of this stretch of ponds. If the exposed profiles were observed, he could have concluded that they were the result of human construction. Since it was impossible to determine its period of construction and its actual nature at that time, the place was thereby given the descriptive moniker of “Earth Wall” [Tuyuan]. Though its identity couldn’t be determined, Tangshan was nonetheless placed within the protected area of Liangzhu Ancient City. In 1995, Liangzhu sherds were discovered at the “Earth Wall” profile when a stretch of road was constructed at Luocun in Tangshan. This meant that the Tangshan site must have been a major project closely related to the Liangzhu site. From December, 1996 to January, 1997, the trial excavations by Wang Mingda-led team were carried out at Jincun, and Maoernong of Xizhongcun. The trial excavation started with Maoernong by Ding Pin. Working on the south slope of the “Earth Wall” in an eastern edge of the profile, Ding found that the area had been formed of artificial layering, but otherwise came up empty. Later on, Zhao Ye’s trial excavation extended along the north slope of the “Earth Wall” on the west side of the road, and resulted in the discovery of a stone pavement at the base. Simultaneously, Fang Xiangming’s trial excavation at Jincun bore major fruits. The east–west earth wall at the Jincun stretch had also been referred to as “Tangshanqian” [the piedmont of Tangshan] or “Yanghouqi” in the southern area. On December 17, a single north–south exploration 2 × 5 m trench was laid out by the paddies in the south of the mound. As Fang Xiangming recollects: “Having completed work on T1 by December 20, we decided to first clear the south profile of the earth mound, and

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to connect and contrast its stratigraphic layers. The shrubbery was thick and I took up my mountain shovel myself, discovering an unusual rock around 70 cm above the paddy field. Unfortunately, I had dug slightly inside during the paddy clearing, but discovered to my unexpected delight that there was jade all over! I took the photos of the scene as quickly as I could. It was dark by the time we packed up. Fei Guoping and I returned to the Wujiabu work site together, and I reported the news to Wang Mingda as soon as I walked in the door. He was delighted as well. That night we drank a lot.” The subsequent excavation unearthed several pieces of jade scraps, unprocessed jade, and stone tools. From April to July, 1997, Wang Mingda, Zhao Ye, and other team members conducted an enlarged excavation from north to south in the exploratory trench in Jincun, discovering two tombs of Liangzhu Culture, one of which contained a yuebattle-ax, a bi-disc and other jade wares. A survey was conducted on the surroundings along the borders of the “Earth Hill” during this trial excavation, and the site was formally renamed “Tangshan” by referring to the local villagers’ way of naming this place. It was this trial excavation that resolved the dating issue of this part of the wall, and reaped an unexpected discovery of major clues related to jade processing in Liangzhu Culture. With issues of dating solved, the function of the earth wall naturally became the part of consideration. Wang Mingda once tagged artifact labels as “Liangzhu Site Cluster ‘City’ (Tangshan Jinshan Stretch),” and Jiang Weidong wrote an essay in the belief that Tangshan may have been a city wall along the periphery.

(Left) Jade materials unearthed from Jincun, Tangshan. (Right) Grinding stones unearthed from Jincun, Tangshan

From April–July, 2002, the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology re-excavated the Jincun section, acquiring over 460 jade wares and stones in trenches on either side of the exploratory ditch, together with three stonepaved remains for making jade wares, establishing the fact that the construction of this section was a process of continuous embankment and increasing height, involving the building of a defensive ramp at the south portion of the diagonal slope.

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This excavation allowed the team to make a quite exact judgment of the nature and function of the Tangshan site. A Liangzhu Culture Jade Workshop Found at the Tangshan Site [塘山遗址发现良渚文化制玉作坊]1 was published by Wang Mingda, Fang Xiangming, Xu Xinmin, and Fang Zhonghua in China Cultural Relics News [ 中国文物报] on September 20, 2002. The authors held that Tangshan was a dike for flood prevention, constructed by Liangzhu people, and that the jade workshop was a locale selected on account of its relatively lofty position and relative security at Tangshan. The view won recognition from a large number of scholars. Considering the burial ground, ash pits, rammed earth, and piled stones discovered at a number of points along the stretch, Zhao Ye believed “there were multiple functions of cultural contents at Tangshan.” But, if Tangshan had been such a flood-control dike, then one doubt remained unresolved. This was the Wujiayan canal, which ran south after Tangshan joined the hill at Maoyuanling to the west. Since no hills or dams had been discovered in multiple surveys to the south, while the current also flowed from the dam toward East Tiao Brook, the dam was apparently useless for cutting off water flow and preventing flooding. Following the discovery of Liangzhu Ancient City in 2007, a new round of surveys, which aimed to understand the structure of this periphery, were conducted at Tangshan from 2008 to the first half of 2009, under the direction of Wang Ningyuan. The first trial excavation was conducted by Lu Xiyan and Zhang Xiaoping at the canal between the paired dams at Xiucainong (Hezhong Village). They laid out a north– south exploratory trench that joined with the slope of the northern dam in the north, and tried to understand canal structure and function, though no artificial remains were found within the trench. Many cobblestones were found to be mixed with the ground layer at the canal base, but this discovery alone could reveal their source as a human or natural creation. Partial surveys continued at Tangshan during this period, but no systematic work was initiated.

5.2 Discovering the Elevated Dam System In September, 2009, the community reported a tomb robbery at Ganggongling in the northwest of the Liangzhu Site Cluster, where reams of gypsum mud had been exposed on site. Ganggongling lay in the jurisdiction of Penggong Village in Pingyao Township, among hills roughly eight kilometers northwest of Liangzhu Ancient City. The Xuancheng–Hangzhou Railroad and No. 104 State Highway took a near 90-degree turn at this juncture, following the hill valley northwest toward Deqing. The narrowest part at the southern end of this gully was a small hill running from east to west, conveniently located between the corners of the railroad and highway, overgrown with plants, basically inseparable from the natural hills on either side.

1

Mingda et al. (2002).

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After receiving report, Liu Bin from the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Lin Jinmu from the Yuhang District Cultural Promotion New Bureau, and Fei Guoping from the Liangzhu Site Management Office joined the Public Security Bureau in the on-site reconnaissance, which revealed the “hillock” running on a northwest–southeast axis in this area. The top had been mostly flattened, and only a single broken pile at the height of over seven meters remained in the southeast. One could see in profile that a yellow earth shell around 2–3 m thick covered the surface. It was entirely constituted of a dark mud, and looked like a mung bean steamed bun. Evidently the “hillock” was in fact some artificially constructed remains, differing from the stone structure of the flanking natural hills. The western section had been destroyed by the Xuancheng–Hangzhou Railroad, and the eastern part was covered by a former fork in No.104 State Highway, though damage was reduced as the east fork converged with the bedrock. From east to west the surviving length was 90 m, and from north to south the width was 80 m. The site represented an enormous volume. Judging by the remains, it was no burial ground, but looked more like a dam.

Exposed profile of the Ganggongling Dam damaged by the extraction of earth

Cultural relics authorities immediately surveyed and prospected the surrounding valley, and discovered five similar remains at Laohuling, Zhoujiafan, Qiuwu, Shiwu, and Mifengnong based on the orientation and location of Ganggongling. The sites were all located at the entrance to the gully between the two hills. Our attention was drawn to one phenomenon regarding the age of the dam: the incidental discovery of a highly fractured sherd of Liangzhu sand-tempered pottery in the Ganggongling profile. From the perspective of archaeological stratigraphy,

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this indicated a terminus post quem for the dam of the Liangzhu period. The top was already broken into by a tomb of the Eastern Han Dynasty, which showed the period extended from Liangzhu Culture to the Eastern Han Dynasty. In January, 2010, Liu Bin, Wang Ningyuan and others re-surveyed Ganggongling, learning that the original profile had been washed away by rains and revealed large stretches of well-preserved grass stalks, with samples immediately taken and sent to Beijing for carbon-14 testing. The newly-revealed stalks had a tan hue. On close inspection it was found that each clump spread along a certain direction and that clumps did not overlap, proving these were not woven grass sacks, but instead scattered grasses that had been tied up and stuffed with mud. The grasses were appraised as the “tiao” [reeds] we frequently spot in marsh settings.

Current state of dams in east group of the elevated dam system

Carbon-14 measurements showed that calibrated dendrochronological dates based on the samples hovered at around 4900 BP, in the early Liangzhu. All we had was the dating for a single dam, but the morphological and distribution characteristics indicated that the remaining five sites belonged, in all likelihood, to the same period. With this in mind, the team immediately intensified its efforts and once again began further surveys intending to prove the overall layout, as well as studying the site function. Through this additional analysis, we discovered that the six dams under the elevated dam system could be divided into the east group and the west group,

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with Ganggongling, Laohuling, and Zhoujiafan forming the former, standing at an elevation of around 30 m, and Qiuwu, Shiwu, and Mifengnong making up the latter.

Current state of the west group of the elevated dam system

The Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology excavated Mifengnong in the year 2000, believing at the time that they faced a “large tomb of the Warring States Period.” Sherds of a hard Shang-Zhou pottery were discovered at the tip of the site, with sporadic Liangzhu pottery sherds in the piled earth within the dam structure, and with raw earth at the base. An intact wooden cha-spade was also unearthed from the structure, though its function was impossible to verify, since an item of this shape had never been unearthed for Liangzhu Culture. Archaeological work in recent years has deepened our understanding of dam embankment construction; the wooden spade is deduced to have served as a tool for making grassmixed mud [used for construction]. Unfortunately, the item was not dated at the time, and had it been possible to acquire a carbon-14 figure, we could have pushed our discovery of the irrigation system back some decades. Multidisciplinary work on the nature and application of the dam began following its discovery. Liu Jianguo and Wang Hui from the Institute of Archaeology at CASS, among others, participated in a regional survey and GIS analysis. Liu, who employed both GIS and remote sensing in his analysis, believed the structure was a mountain dike reservoir that had formed in the gully and was unable to divert flooding toward the Deqing area on the north side. By additional analysis of the catchment area

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and rainfall, it was deduced that the elevated dam could withhold up to 89 cm of short-term precipitation.

5.3 Corona, the “Eye of Providence”: Discovery of the Depressed Dam System Tangshan and the elevated dam system were discovered through traditional archaeological methods of survey and prospecting even if they were found for different causes. The depressed dam system was different in that remote sensing technology and satellite imagery were used in its discovery. In the early 2011, with the aid of U.S. satellite images from the 1960s provided by Li Min, an Assistant Professor of Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles, combined with on-site survey and prospecting, we were able to locate the depressed dam. The satellite images were captured at an angle where the lighting selection met our requirements. The local villagers, still without natural gas cooking in the 1960s and 1970s, needed to climb the hill to cut down firewood. Hill vegetation was therefore minimal, and hill topography striking. Large-scale basic infrastructure was likewise yet to be initiated at that time, so the original geographical features were well preserved. This satellite image shows a rectangle-shaped area starting at Baizhang in Yuhang to the west, reaching Xucun in Haining to the east, the north side of Chaoshan [Chao Mountain] in the north, and Jianqiao Airport in the south. The image captured an area of 1000 km2 . The photograph was taken on February 11, 1969, when the vegetation was rather sparse. The high-resolution image is accurate to around 0.6 m. Judging from date and resolution of the photo, we think it was likely taken by the second-generation KH-7 satellite in the KeyHole series. As Wang Ningyuan, who led the excavation of the irrigation system, recalled2 : “When we examined the satellite image, our first thought was to find an undamaged dam. The dam we had already confirmed had one obvious morphological trait: the system was in general distributed on the narrowest part of the defile between the two hills, appearing as a slim elongated shape on the satellite image, like dumbbell handles or the horizontal dash of an “H.” Inspecting and re-inspecting the images, we realized the two near-round hills were linked by a long ridge that, judging by its shape, may very well have been artificially embanked. No. 104 State Highway was on its east side, and the further east were Nanshan [Nan Mountain] and Kaolaoshan [Kaolao Mountain]. It even made a special point of linking up with Maoyuanling and Tangshan after passing Kaolaoshan. What this meant was that if this was a Liangzhu dam, then the pieces formed a whole together with Tangshan. We immediately dispatched Qi Zili to prospect the area. His work confirmed that the long ridge was indeed a manmade dam. On its east and west sides were two short manmade dams. The east stretch had already been cut off by No.104 State Highway, and the west side 2

Ningyuan (2018).

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was extremely short, almost impossible to discover with the careful examination of the satellite imagery. We later named these three dams Shizishan (east), Liyushan (center), and Guanshan (west). In our further examination of the satellite image, we discovered traces of the dam system continuing to stretch out to the west, as well as a large stretch of low-lying hills extending northwards through the area around the elevated dam. Three or four possible new points emerged between Houchaowan and Huanghetou on the west side of the three dams. This was ultimately confirmed by grass-mixed mud drilled from Wutongnong. Thus the dam group was exposed in its entirety on the south side. Given their height of around ten meters, we referred to these as the depressed dam system. These dams crossed over the natural hills at Kaolaoshan and Maoyuanling and ultimately linked with Tangshan to form the major barrier on the south line, corresponding to the elevated dam in the gully to the north. The discovery revealed that Tangshan was no independent irrigation installation, but one part of a complete irrigation network. Due to this insight, the framework of the irrigation system on the periphery of the Liangzhu Ancient City had, for all essential purposes, come to light.”

Present state of the depressed dam system

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5.4 Dam Excavation Scholars have spent considerable time focused on the dating of this dam system. Of the 11 dams, Tangshan was excavated on numerous occasions in the early stage. Liangzhu Culture burials and a jade workshop were discovered in its upper layers and were ascribed to Liangzhu Culture without any qualms. The remaining dam bodies were unexcavated and provided no stratigraphic evidence. In addition, they were embanked with raw earth and hardly yielded any artifacts. Carbon-14 dating methods were employed as a result. In the summer of 2013, we delivered 15 samples from seven dams (Wutongnong yet to be uncovered, Tangshan and Guanshan providing no samples, Ganggongling already measured) to Peking University for chronological measurement. Organic contents in the Shiwu samples were too low for measurement period to be gauged, but results were forthcoming from 11 samples in six dams, and these were then dendrochronologically calibrated to 5000–4700 BP, the early and middle Liangzhu. Of these samples, two from Ganggongling were then sent to the Japan Chronometry Institute for additional measurement. There was merely a gap of several decades between the new result and the Peking University figures, confirming the figures as beyond doubt. In July, 2017, we once more delivered all the dam samples of Tangshan, Wutongnong, Guanshan, Shiwu, and Mifengnong, to Peking University for measurement, acquiring 14 carbon-14 figures all in the 5000–4900 BP range, a high degree of uniformity. We could state with great assurance that the irrigation system was built on a unified plan at around 5000 BP. At the end of 2014, as an organization undertaking the topic on cities under the Ministry of Science and Technology’s “Project for Investigating the Origins of Chinese Civilization” [中华文明探源工程], at the behest of the research group, we summarized our early surveys and findings at Tangshan, and completed an essay, An Archaeological Survey of the Irrigation System on the Periphery of Liangzhu Ancient City, Hangzhou, published in Archaeology [考古] January 2015, receiving widespread attention from the archaeological community. Part of the irrigation system, Tangshan was placed in the protected area of Liangzhu Site in 1995. The elevated dam and depressed dam were both situated entirely outside of this protected zone and hence faced a serious threat to their survival, lacking any legal basis for their protection. The only dates acquired, outside Tangshan, were the absolute measurements from carbon-14 dating. These figures were imperfect in their own definite manner, the machine itself or sample contamination representing a variety of factors that could have resulted in occasional enormous discrepancy. This meant the archaeological community maintained a conservative attitude toward dates acquired from such measurement alone. It was best that our actual work came with stratigraphic support beyond these dates. We had to acquire scientific evidence through excavation. Only then could the site be placed in the protected network. Following an unexpected destructive event, the formal dam excavation was accelerated in 2014.

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In 2015, the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology submitted its excavation request to the State Cultural Relics Bureau—a plan to select one site for excavation from both the elevated dams and depressed dams. As No.104 State Highway was further widened, the first excavation was carried out by Zhao Ye in 2015. Zhao excavated an area of 290 m2 in the depressed dam zone, though his only discoveries were a small stretch of Liangzhu pottery sherds inside the dam, only sufficient to prove the dam could not have preceded Liangzhu. Toward the end of 2015, separate excavations were carried out at the north side of Liyushan in the depressed dam system, and at Laohushan in the elevated dam system. These were directed by Wang Ningyuan, and implemented by Huang Jianqiu from Nanjing University and Lang Jianfeng from Shandong University.

(Left) division of cob zones at Laohushan profile. (Right) cob unit cleared at southwest slope, Gushangding

At the excavations on the north side of the Laohushan dam, directed by Lang Jianfeng, earlier digging by local farmers had resulted in a ledge face revealing marks of grass-mixed mud and glaring traces of artificial embankment. There was additional evidence for grass-mixed mud, and numbers in each zone happened to approximately match the shipping capacity of Liangzhu bamboo rafts, which may have indicated that the mud had been shipped in for its use in construction, and laid out as soon as it reached its destination, without being stockpiled. The Shandong University archaeology team conducted excavations at intersection points on the north edge ledge and west face and hill body, while also scraping the entire profile clean. This ended with the fortunate discovery of an ash trench of Liangzhu period, superimposed by the dam at the west edge of the trench. Several pottery sherds were unearthed from the trench, and through minute distinction were held to belong to a classic T-shaped ding-cauldron foot of the late Liangzhu period, to a flattened vessel foot, to a sherd of a he-pitcher foot, and to shrapnel from a stone knife. The three pottery sherds provided confirmation that the dam could be dated back no later than the late Liangzhu period. With two layers of evidence, it was proved beyond doubt that the dam belonged to the Liangzhu period. As major artifacts for the relative dating of the dam, Lang Jianfeng solemnly wrapped the trio of sherds in tin foil, and had them delivered to Wang Ningyuan’s office for confirmation.

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The cob (grass-mixed mud) process reconstructed

In 2016, the archaeological survey and excavation at the irrigation network on the perimeter of Liangzhu Ancient City was awarded first-prize in the category of “Field Archaeology Awards” for 2011–2015, and selected as one of the ten major national archaeological discoveries of 2015. As Yan Wenming commented at the nomination committee for the latter distinction: “The Liangzhu Ancient Site has been listed among the top ten annual discoveries on several occasions, and we wouldn’t make this evaluation if this was some site of average importance. But the Liangzhu dam is simply too important. There has long been the Chinese legend of Dayu taming the flood, and now Liangzhu predates that by a millennium. Who are we to nominate if not Liangzhu?”.

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Pottery unearthed from trench G3 at Laohuling

On May 21 of the same year, at the inaugural Conference of Chinese Archaeology organized in Zhengzhou, the Liangzhu irrigation system project team presented a speech for the Field Archaeology Prize category. This had a huge impact as the formal announcement of the dam discovery upon Chinese and international scholars alike. Many Chinese and international archaeologists and hydromechanics visited Liangzhu for special inspections and investigations of the irrigation network. The elevated dam and depressed dam systems were formally listed as Protected Cultural Relics of Zhejiang Province in January, 2017, with the irrigation network merged with Liangzhu’s application for World Heritage status. In May, the project for the Xifu Line on the Hangzhou ring expressway rerouted to avoid this network. A floodgate was discovered at Ganggongling in July, and leading hydro-mechanical experts from across the country convened a meeting that confirmed the system “harbored capabilities for containing and storing water, with the natural defile between the hills achieving a floodgate effect, the organization of the dams forming a complete irrigation network between reservoirs at the upper and lower poles of the river.”3 The discovery and research of the irrigation network proved the presence of a gigantic structure outside the triple-layer format of palace, inner city and outer city at Liangzhu. The network had a total area of 100 km2 , and represented yet another major discovery of Liangzhu archaeology, following Liangzhu Ancient City in 2007. Irrigation networks are hugely significant for researching the history of civilization in China and worldwide. The appearance of early civilizations worldwide has been, in every case, intimately connected with river management. Liangzhu Ancient City was the earliest Chinese area to advance to statehood, serving as the evidence of Chinese civilization at five millennia years before the present. Meanwhile, the close spatial and temporal connections between the irrigation network around the Liangzhu Ancient City and the ancient city itself cannot be broken, and are of enormous relevance for 3

Ningyuan (2018).

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studying the emergence and development of the ancient state at Liangzhu, and even the origins of Chinese civilization.4

References Mingda, W., Xiangming, F., Xinmin, X., & Zhonghua, F. (2002, September 20). A Liangzhu culture Jade workshop found at the Tangshan Site [塘山遗址发现良渚文化制玉作坊], 1st Edn. China Cultural Relics News [中国文物报]. Ningyuan, W. (2018). In search of lost civilization: Record of the discovery of the Liangzhu Dam [ 寻找消失的文明——良渚水坝发现记]. In Hangzhou Relics and Museology [杭州文博] (Vol. 21). Special Edition on the Application of Liangzhu Ancient City Site for World Heritage Status. Zhejiang Classics Publishing House. Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. (2019). Comprehensive research report, Liangzhu Ancient City [良渚古城综合研究报告]. Cultural Relics Press.

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Zhejiang Provincial Research Institute of Cultural Reics and Archaeology (2019).