Zhaojiawan Site

　　—— The First Neolithic City Site in Southern Jing Region

　　    In 1983, the former Jingmen County organized its first cultural relics survey and discovered a Neolithic cultural site in Group 5 of Chenghe Village, Hougang Town. Archaeologists collected a large number of stone axes, adzes, red pottery fragments, and clay black pottery at the site. Some gray and red clay pottery pieces featured decorative patterns such as string patterns and cord patterns, with vessel shapes including dou (food containers) and guan (jars). Experts and scholars inferred that the site dates back to the Daxi Culture (4300–4900 BCE) to the Shijiahe Culture (2500–2000 BCE).

　　    The site stretches from north to south, bordered by undulating earthen ridges to the north and a flat plain extending east-west to the south. Centered around Zhaojiawan in the core area, an earthen rampart coils around the entire site from the east, around the south, to the west, resembling a giant dragon. The rampart stands up to 5 meters high at its highest remaining points, with a base width of about 13 meters and a circumference of approximately 1000 meters (excluding the northern section). The rampart is made of white clay and shows signs of rammed layers. Since primitive humans used stone tools and had backward production equipment, settlements were generally located near natural rivers for convenience. Coincidentally, about 100 meters from the southern rampart, an ancient river flows from west to east beneath the site. Locals call this river “Chenghe” (City River). The river’s upper reaches originate from the Longdang Reservoir, built in the 1970s, while its lower reaches pass through Guangping Xiaqiao Village in Hougang Town before turning east to join the Fenghuangjing section of Changhu Lake. The Zhaojiawan Site, situated within the ramparts and nestled against the mountain and water, enjoys convenient water sources and superior production conditions, making it an ideal habitat for humans. During the initial survey, the site was named Zhaojiawan Site because a natural village primarily surnamed Zhao (Dawanzi), home to over 10 farming households from Group 5 of Chenghe Village, was located inside the rampart.

　　    In recent years, multiple investigations and studies by cultural relics authorities have shown that the Zhaojiawan Site is not merely a Neolithic site but also a city site from that period. In November 2003, a researcher from the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, after inspecting the Zhaojiawan Site, concluded that it is not only an ancient city site but also one dating back to the Daxi Culture period. Its age predates other sites such as the Jingjiacheng Site, Majiawan Site, and the Jiejialing Site located in Jingshan County and the Qujialing Management District. Its city-building history also predates the Majiawan Site. Experts further inferred that 6,300 years ago during the Neolithic Age, the largest settlement or center of primitive tribal communities in the Jianghan Plain was likely located at the Zhaojiawan Site. Scholars cited the Daxi Culture-era city site in Lixian County, Hunan Province, as an example — its oval shape shares similarities with the Zhaojiawan city site, differing greatly from the square-shaped city sites of later Neolithic periods.

　　    The Zhaojiawan Site is currently a municipal-level cultural relics protection unit. The cultural relics department of Shayang County plans to apply for provincial-level approval to designate it as a provincial cultural relics protection unit and include it in national archaeological excavation projects. It can be affirmed that as the Zhaojiawan Site undergoes trial excavations and research, new discoveries and insights will emerge regarding human life and development in the Han River Basin during prehistoric times. (By Jin Liang)