Camel Mound Site

Camel Mound Site

The Camel Mound Site is located in Tangnan Village, Xiajiang Village, Xinjie Town, Yixing City.

The site covers a total area of approximately 250,000 square meters, but only 1,309 square meters have been excavated. The main relics date back about 7,000 to 5,000 years. The site is divided into a southern and a northern area: the southern part is on a natural hill known as Camel Mound, while the northern part lies to the north of Tangnan Village. Between 2001 and 2002, the Nanjing Museum and the Yixing Cultural Relics Management Committee jointly conducted large-scale archaeological excavations at the site. They discovered a new cultural type characterized by flat-bottomed, eaves-rimmed cauldrons, as well as a large number of urn burials from the Majiabang culture period, and screened out a considerable amount of carbonized rice.

Camel Mound is considered the birthplace of Neolithic culture in the Taihu Lake basin. In the site, a semi-circular river channel can still be seen, believed to be an ancient waterway from the Neolithic era. It likely served as a moat for the central tribe at the time, used for drainage, as a water source, as a boundary marker, and for defense against external invasions. Remains of ancient river channels from the Majiabang culture period were also found here — deep and wide, with fallen large trees in the silt layers. Taihu Lake formed around 8,000 years ago, while the Camel Mound culture dates back to more than 7,300 years ago.

Archaeologists such as Lin Liugen have spoken highly of the Camel Mound Site, considering it an important historical and geographical landmark on the western shore of Taihu Lake. Its discovery has advanced research on the origins of civilization on the lake’s western side. It also established a new cultural type within the Neolithic cultures of the Taihu Lake basin — the Camel Mound culture type — enriched the Majiabang culture, and redefined the subcultural regions of the Majiabang culture.

In 2006, the Camel Mound Site was listed by the State Council as part of the sixth group of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level, recognized as an ancient site from the Neolithic period.

Further Reading:

· Sixth Group of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level