The Shangshan site at Huangzhai township's Qunan Village, located in Pujiang County and under Zhejiang Province's Jinhua city, is one of the earliest Neolithic Age ruins that has been discovered in China to date.
Recently, another significant archaeological breakthrough occurred at the site: the discovery of the remains of cultivated rice dating back ten thousand years proves that the downstream area of the Changjiang River, where the Shangshan site is located, is one of the earliest places in the world where grain cultivation was a way of life.
From 2001 to 2004, the Cultural Relics Archaeological Research Institute of Zhejiang and the Pujiang County Museum carried out two archaeological excavations that covered an area of more than 700 square meters on the Shangshan site.
The excavations unearthed a series of coal ceramic samples which were mostly red coal pottery that were in small quantity, of loose quality, like low-fire types and in simple shapes and forms.
A small amount of polished stone adzes and stone axes were also discovered, of which the stone mill and grinding stick had many unique features, reflecting the economic mode of life that is closely associated with the earliest culture of grain cultivation.
The Wenbo Academy of Beijing University carried out tests on the samples. They discovered several traces of cultivated rice on the surface of the coal pottery as well as in the earth around the pottery.
The observations of the structures of these cultivated rice husks in the pottery pieces showed that the grains were shorter but wider than wild grains, and were cultivated rice that had been selected by human beings from the early civilization.
(Chinanews.cn January 24, 2005)
