Hanjing Site

Hanjing Site

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

The Hanjing Site is located in Meihua Town, Sihong County, about 4 kilometers from the Shunshanjidian Site. Initial surveys by the archaeological team indicate that it covers an area of approximately 40,000 square meters. The team plans to systematically excavate, study, and preserve the site over a period of three years. The discovery and excavation of the Hanjing Site serve as an important supplement to the Neolithic Shunshanjidian Site and provide substantial support for the study of Shunshanjidian culture.

Since 2010, multiple archaeological excavations have been conducted at the Shunshanjidian Site in Sihong, Jiangsu. Through isotope dating, it has been determined that the site spans from 8,500 to 7,500 years ago, making it the earliest and largest moated settlement in the Huai River basin, and filling a gap in the prehistoric civilization of the middle and lower reaches of the Huai River. To gain deeper insight into Shunshanjidian culture, archaeologists began excavating the contemporaneous Hanjing Site, located 4 kilometers away from Shunshanjidian.

At the Hanjing Site, archaeologists discovered the remains of a rice paddy dating back 8,000 years. Covering less than 100 square meters, the paddies were divided into differently shaped plots, each less than 10 square meters. According to experts, the identification of this area as a rice paddy is based on three factors: first, structural features and water management methods such as artificially dug plots, pits, ditches, and outlets, which resemble those found in previous archaeological discoveries; second, the presence of carbonized rice and evidence of cultivated rice, dated to over 8,000 years ago; third, soil analysis of the paddy fields indicating repeated rice cultivation over time.

It is understood that at a recent academic symposium on Shunshanjidian culture held in Sihong, experts from across the country reached a consensus after deliberation, concluding that these rice paddy remains are the earliest known evidence of artificial rice cultivation in the world.

Lin Liugen, director of the Archaeological Research Institute at the Nanjing Museum, told reporters that around 10,000 years ago, the Chinese people began utilizing and domesticating rice. While carbonized rice dating back 10,000 years has been previously discovered, rice paddy remains are extremely rare. Tests show that the proportion of domesticated rice at the Shunshanjidian Site increased from about 14% in the early period to roughly 26% in the later period, indicating a relatively low level of local rice domestication but continuous cultivation over a millennium. This archaeological discovery holds great significance for the study of the origins of rice agriculture in China and the origins of Jiangsu civilization.

In 2019, the Hanjing Site was included in the eighth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Further Reading:

· Eighth Batch of Jiangsu Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Eighth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units