MK sport Panlongcheng Site in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province Photo: Courtesy of the archaeological team" src="https://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2025/2025-01-26/8e4061f7-0898-42bc-867d-e801eb100173.jpeg" />

The Panlongcheng Site in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province Photo: Courtesy of the archaeological team

The stone-built structures newly found at the Panlongcheng Site in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province, mark the first large-scale Xia-Shang period stone-built architectural remains discovered in the Yangtze River Basin. These structures are considered to boast a high social status, Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday.

The Panlongcheng Site, over 3,500 years old, is located in the northwest suburbs of Wuhan.

As the first Shang Dynasty city site found in the Yangtze River Basin, it has been subject to long-term and systematic archaeological work since its discovery in 1954. Archaeologists have unearthed city walls, palace foundations, noble tombs, and a wealth of valuable relics including bronze ware, jade ware, and pottery. 

These findings confirm Panlongcheng as a central settlement during the southward expansion of Central Plains culture in the Xia-Shang period (c.2070BC-1046BC).

Chinese archaeologists pointed out that stone-built structures were previously commonly seen at sites in northern regions, and this discovery at the Panlongcheng Site are of a large overall scale and complex structure, representing high-intensity engineering activities, which reflect the high social status of the organizers behind them.

"These are the first large-scale stone-built architectural remains from Xia-Shang period found in the Yangtze River Basin," Sun Zhuo, the project leader and an associate professor at Wuhan University's School of History, told the Global Times, adding that the current exploration length is about 600 meters, and archaeologists speculate they may have "served public or defensive purposes."

Sun noted the large-scale and orderly construction of the remains, which seem to follow specific patterns. There are eight large stone blocks, each about 60 to 100 square centimeters, evenly spaced 1.2 meters apart in the central area; at the eastern and western ends, smaller stones are neatly arranged to form two parallel east-west lines, about 2 meters wide. 

Zhang Changping, a professor at Wuhan University's School of History, who has participated in the archaeological excavation of the Panlongcheng Site for over a decade, stated that this new discovery will aid in further studying the evolution of the Central Plains dynasties' southward expansion during the Xia-Shang period, as well as decoding the continuous development and diverse integration of Chinese civilization, Xinhua News Agency reported.