MK sport Central China's Henan Province on Sunday. Photo: Screenshot from the website" src="https://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2025/2025-02-24/f8c986c6-3494-4a2c-b287-984b7a9b9c9c.jpeg" />

Experts discussed the excavation findings of the Qingjinggou site at a seminar in Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan Province on Sunday. Photo: Screenshot from the website

Chinese archaeologists from Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan Province have unveiled the earliest and largest known rammed-earth city site, the Qingjinggou Yangshao Site from the mid-Yangshao culture, CCTV News reported on Monday.

The site spans an area of approximately 350,000 square meters and features four concentric moats. Located to the south of the Songshan Mountain range, with views of the Yellow River to the north and the Hulao Pass to the west, the site contains a significant rammed-earth wall discovered within the third moat, dating back over 5,000 years. 

According to the CCTV report, this finding has provided new and important data for understanding the spatial layout and settlement patterns of mid-Yangshao culture settlements in the Central Plains, as well as for the study of the civilization process in the region and the exploration of the origins of Chinese civilization.

Zhang Hai, an associate professor and researcher at the School of Archaeology and Museology at Peking University, said the fact that this site advances the timeline of rammed-earth city walls in China to the early period of the ancient states, marking a crucial point in understanding the origins of civilization in the Central Plains and the role of the Yangshao culture in Chinese civilization.

The Yangshao culture, dating back 5,000 to 7,000 years, was a Neolithic culture that originated along the middle reaches of the Yellow River. It not only is the first prehistoric archeological culture named in China but also holds great significance in the early development of Chinese civilization.


Global Times