Liangzhu: A Model for Large-Scale Archaeological Sites

The Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City (about 3300-2300 B.C.)  in Hangzhou, capital of eastern China’s Zhejiang Province, were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List during the 43rd session of the World Heritage Committee on July 6, 2019. The inclusion marked international recognition of China’s five thousand years of civilization and its authenticity and integrity.

The World Heritage Committee said that the archaeological ruins of Liangzhu show an early regional state supported economically by rice-cultivating agriculture five millennia ago, making it an outstanding example of early urban civilization.

Testament to Five Millennia of Chinese Civilization

Named after the town where they were discovered, the Liangzhu ruins were first brought to light in 1936 when Shi Xingeng (1911-1939), one of the first generation of Chinese archaeologists, discovered some Neolithic black pottery pieces in Liangzhu Town in Hangzhou’s Yuhang District. Over the following eight decades, four generations of archaeologists have been excavating and researching the Liangzhu ruins, piecing together a huge capital city site from remains of mausoleums and aristocratic cemeteries, jade artifacts, grand palaces, residences, and complex water conservancy systems. Spanning over 100 square kilometers, the site was finally presented to the world as testimony for previous speculation that Chinese civilization started more than 5,000 years ago.

Between 2006 and 2007, Liu Bin, an archaeologist and then director of the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, worked with a team to find the four city walls enclosing the Liangzhu ruins, thus confirming the shape of the ancient city, approximately 1,900 meters from north to south and 1,700 meters from east to west. The sensational archaeological discovery connected more than 300 sites unearthed successively by four generations of archaeologists and drew a clearer picture of the Liangzhu site as a state-level civilization. “We can confidently say that what resulted in the Liangzhu ruins was a mature civilization,” said Liu.

On the periphery of the ancient city was a large reservoir covering about 14 square kilometers created by 11 dams, which were connected to the ancient city by a five-kilometer-long embankment. This is the earliest large-scale water conservancy system discovered in China so far. The east-west earth ridge of about 5,000 meters discovered in 1981 was presumed by archaeologists to be a flood dam built by the ancestors of Liangzhu. This theory was not confirmed until 2011 when the United States declassified a satellite image taken in 1969. This water conservancy project, with functions integrating flood control, transportation, drinking and irrigation, showcased unparalleled scientific and technological achievements of the era and offered an important perspective for understanding the management mechanism and social complexity of the ancient civilization.

Liu stressed that the Liangzhu civilization was not inferior to the ancient Egyptian, Sumerian, or Harappan civilizations in terms of scale of the ancient city, complexity of the urban system, or size of the settlement. The discovery of the Liangzhu site has fundamentally changed the view of the international academic community that the history of Chinese civilization is less than 5,000 years, representing an important step forward in global understanding of the history of Chinese civilization and human civilization. It showed that Chinese civilization started at least 5,000 years ago, 1,000 years earlier than previously thought, according to Colin Renfrew, a retired professor of archaeology at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of the British Academy, who visited Liangzhu three times. Vernon L. Scarborough, professor at the University of Cincinnati in the United States, said that archaeological findings at Liangzhu have not only rewritten China’s history but also world history.

Archaeological Excavation and Heritage Protection

Liu believes that many of the breakthroughs made during excavation and research of the Liangzhu site can be credited to the establishment of the Liangzhu mode for large-scale archaeological sites and its methods for balancing archaeological excavation and heritage protection. He added that the Liangzhu mode inspired Chinese archaeologists to expand the research area from the original ancient city to the surrounding 100 square kilometers. Moreover, thorough surveys of resources such as stone, jade, forests, water, and soil, as well as archaeological remains and natural environments  were conducted within the 1,000-square kilometer zone surrounding the ancient city.

“When excavating the Fanshan site of the Liangzhu ruins in 1986, we could tell the bottom was far away, so we asked the local government to protect it,” Liu recounted. “This is how every important site was protected. Without government protection, the site of the ancient city might have been covered with modern buildings and you would not see the complete site as it is today. The process of discovering the Liangzhu civilization truly reflects a balance between archaeological excavation and heritage protection.”

In 2009, a forum on conservation of large-scale archaeological sites held in Liangzhu passed the Liangzhu Consensus which envisioned building a park around the archaeological site. In 2017, Liangzhu National Archaeological Site Park was established along with an archaeology and protection center and a monitoring center.

Since the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, the archaeological focus of Liangzhu has shifted to small-area and refined excavation. At the same time, large-scale and coordinated protection of the World Heritage site in accordance with international standards was put onto the agenda. Under the model, a platform was launched in 2018 to apply big data technology in the monitoring, protection, and management of the Liangzhu site.

Site Archives:

Time of discovery: 1936

Location: Liangzhu Town, Yuhang District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China

Historical period: From the late Neolithic Age to the early Spring and Autumn Period (5,300-4,300 years ago)

Area: 114.1 square kilometers

The site was inscribed onto the UNESCO World Heritage List in July 2019.