Songze Site

Songze Site

The Songze Site is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Situated in Songze Village, about five kilometers east of Qingpu County, a series of archaeological surveys and excavations have revealed an ancient village dating back roughly five to six thousand years, along with a large number of relics and historical sites. It is the earliest known ancient cultural site in the Shanghai area. The discovery of cultivated grains of indica and japonica rice proves that the ancestors of Qingpu had mastered rice cultivation techniques around six thousand years ago, further confirming that China is among the first countries in the world to cultivate rice.

The ancient Songze cultural site is located in Songze Village, about five kilometers east of Qingpu County. It lies to the east near Sheshan, south of the Dianpu River, west of Youtun Port, and north of National Highway 318. The terrain of Songze Village is relatively flat, with an elevation of only 3.03 meters and a high groundwater level. The village has an intricate network of waterways, including the north-south Songze Pond and the east-west Jiashan Bang. To the south of the village flows the large river Hengmao, while to the north stands a local earthen mound known as Jiashan Dun, measuring approximately 9 meters in both length and width, and about 4 meters in height.

Songze Village was originally an ancient market town. As early as the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, thanks to its convenient water and land transportation, it gradually developed from a natural village into a bustling market town in the Jiangnan region, attracting a growing population. Legend has it that Yuan Song, governor of Wu Commandery during the Jin Dynasty, once lived here and built the Hudu Lei fortress, and was later buried on the earthen hill north of Songze Village. His descendants subsequently migrated to the area, which led to the name “Songzhai” (Song Residence). Due to its location in the fertile and prosperous water town, it eventually became known as “Songze.” Since the 1960s, the Songze Site has been discovered, and the “Songze Culture,” as an archaeological period designation, has been recorded in the annals of Chinese civilization. The mysterious veil shrouding the “earthen hill” of Songze has been lifted one by one by local farmers and archaeologists. The “culture” hidden beneath the thick layers of earth in Songze has been unearthed.

People were amazed to find that as early as six thousand years ago, the ancestors of Shanghai had already constructed their own “villas” using materials such as tree trunks, reeds, and thatch, and placed square垫板 under the house pillars to prevent the ground from sinking. Cooking hearths were dug outdoors to separate living and cooking functions. At that time, their environmental awareness was already quite strong. The Songze Site also features the earliest known “Majiabang Culture” well in China. The well opening is nearly circular and was dug with considerable scientific precision. For drinking water, people no longer had to rely on murky water from rivers and ponds but could instead dig wells nearby to access clean water—essentially enjoying their own “running water.” This not only improved the efficiency of water collection but also supported the sustainable development of human health and survival.

The Songze Culture represents a type of Neolithic ancient culture, typified by the middle layer culture of the ancient Songze cultural site located four kilometers east of Qingpu District. The Songze Culture dates back approximately 4,900 to 5,800 years and is distributed roughly south of the Yangtze River, north of the Qiantang River, and east of Taihu Lake. In 1959, the ancient cultural site of Songze Village was listed as a Qingpu County-level Cultural Relics Protection Unit. From 1961 to 1974, two planned excavations uncovered 100 tombs from the Songze Culture period, yielding a large number of jade and pottery artifacts, as well as many residential and stone tool production site remains. Additionally, rice seeds (both japonica and indica) over 6,000 years old and the bones of domesticated animals such as pigs and dogs were found. In 1982, at the Chinese Archaeological Society Annual Meeting held in Hangzhou, national archaeologists identified the Songze Culture as a representative Neolithic culture in the Taihu Lake region, bridging the earlier Majiabang Culture and the later Liangzhu Culture of Yuhang. Ancient cultural sites within Qingpu, such as the Fuquanshan Site in Zhonggu, the Siquan Village Site in Daying, and the Jinshanfen Site in Zhengdian, have all yielded artifacts from the Songze Culture period. The discovery of the Songze Culture has provided important material for studying the history of human development in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, especially the primitive culture of the Taihu Lake region and the ancient cultural history of Shanghai.

One of the discoveries is a ritual altar artificially piled up during the Majiabang Culture period, over six thousand years ago. Artificially constructed earthen platforms served as altars for ceremonial activities such as ancestor or deity worship, which became extremely popular during the Liangzhu Culture more than four thousand years later. This discovery of a Majiabang-period altar pushes back the history of artificial altar construction by a significant margin.

Another discovery is architectural remains from the Majiabang Culture period—house foundations. One intact circular house foundation is located on the original soil north of the altar, featuring 15 outer postholes. The interior floor is solid, with an area of about 5.5 square meters.

Upper Layer of the Songze Ancient Cultural Site: The soil is yellowish-brown, and the unearthed artifacts include pottery, porcelain, stone tools, and a small number of bronze items from the late Western Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period. Among them is a bluish-green glazed porcelain piece with an open mouth and broad belly, its inner wall covered with spiral patterns, reflecting the relatively advanced level of porcelain manufacturing by the laboring people of that time.

Middle Layer: The soil is grayish-brown, representing a communal burial site of a primitive commune.

Burial Characteristics: Human skeletons are laid out supine and extended, mostly with heads facing southeast, and are buried by pushing soil over them on flat ground. Burial objects are typically found around the skeletons. Among the graves are two joint burials of middle-aged women and children, reflecting a matrilineal clan society where offspring belonged to the mother’s lineage.

Lower Layer: The soil is grayish-blue, containing ancient food storage pits and primitive production tools, indicating low levels of productivity. Cultivated grains of indica and japonica rice were found in the pits, proving that the ancestors of Qingpu had mastered rice cultivation techniques around six thousand years ago and further confirming that China is the earliest country in the world to cultivate rice.

Songze Village: Located in the western suburbs of Shanghai, Songze Village is traversed by National Highway 318 and the Huqingping Expressway. It is 12 kilometers from Shanghai Hongqiao Airport, with the municipal waterways Dianpu River and Youtun Port running through the village, offering convenient water and land transportation as an important water route connecting Shanghai with Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. Historical records indicate that the descendants of General Yuan Sansong of the Jin Dynasty once lived here, hence the original name “Songzhai,” later changed to its current name. Songze Village consists of four former administrative villages: Songdong, Songxi, Yaojiang, and Nancun. During the cooperative movement, they merged to form three advanced cooperatives: Songze, Xinyue, and Hongxing. Later, during the commune period, they were divided into two production brigades: Songze and Nancun… More detailed information about Songze Village++

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units