Foundationsofacivilization
The Palace Museum in Beijing, China’s imperial palace from 1420 to 1911, attracts numerous visitors to admire its grand scale, precise layout and magnificent architecture. But on the Loess Plateau there is a long-forgotten site that is home to a large palace-like complex with a similar layout — a central axis and evenly distributed rammed earth terraces. This one was built by ancient people about 5,000 years ago.
The Nanzuo site, in Nanzuo village, Qingyang city, Gansu province, was first found in a national survey of cultural relics in 1958. Then, in the 1980s and 1990s, six archaeological missions were carried out on the site, and the main structure, which was named F1 (No. 1 house ruins), was discovered.
Han Jianye, a professor at Renmin University of China in Beijing, conducted a survey on the site in 2020, which led to a new round of archaeological studies.
Last year an archaeological team led by Han was formed by the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and Renmin University of China, among others.
The latest study shows the site dates to between 4,700 and 5,200 years ago. Its core area, encircled by nine terraces, covers 74 acres and belongs to the late period of the Yangshao Culture, dating back 4,700 to 7,000 years across the northern part of China.
Discovered in 1921 in Yangshao village, Henan province, Yangshao has been known as a site for Neolithic culture along the middle reaches of the Yellow River. That discovery represents the birth of modern archaeology in China.
Zhang Chi, a professor in the School of Archaeology and Museology at Peking University, said the general scale of Nanzuo is unmatched.
“Nanzuo site is twice the size of the extant Erlitou site (widely believed to be the capital of the late period of the Xia Dynasty, which ran from
around the 21st century to the 16th century B.C.). Its area is similar to the size of that at Liangzhu (a Neolithic site in the Yangtze River Delta).
The site is a high-level settlement that may have functioned like a capital in the past, Han said.
“The core area is at the center of the whole site, the palace area is in the center of the core area, and the main structure, F1, is in the center of the palace area with a central axis. The strict layout, which is very close to those in capitals and palaces of the later dynasties, has never been found at other sites contemporaneous with Nanzuo.”
With a southern exposure, the main building, F1, has an area of more than 8,600 square feet and the internal floor space is more than 6,780 square feet. It is divided into an antechamber
and a rear hall, with three doors.
“Architecture in later dynasties often shows such a layout as well,” Han said. “The middle door is believed to be holy and not one that is normally used, and the two on the sides are subordinate.”
East of F1 is a space named F2, believed to be a place of sacrifice, from which archaeologists have unearthed stunning cultural relics, such as exquisite white and black pottery that has never been found on the Loess Plateau, and a lot of carbonized rice.
“Some parts of the white pottery are as thin as eggshells,” said Li Xiaolong, a member of the Nanzuo archaeological team, who is also an assistant professor at the Institute of Culture and Heritage of the Northwestern Polytechnical University in
Xi’an, Shaanxi province. “We don’t know how ancient people made them.”
Another perplexing discovery is the carbonized rice.
“Such a large amount of rice found in the Yellow River basin is unprecedented and unbelievable,” Han said.
The cultural relics are thought to be of a high level, which means they were used in rituals and sacrifices, instead of in daily life.
The Nanzuo site is of unique importance, and reflects a strong social and public power, showing that the east of the Liupan Mountains entered an early state or civilized society stage, Han said.
“This is of great value as evidence in proving that Chinese civilization has a history of more than 5,000 years.”