Ruins of 3,000-year-old building complex found in east China

This aerial photo taken on April 8, 2023 shows part of the Pishan site in Wuxing District of Huzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province. (Zhejiang's provincial institute of cultural relics and archaeology/Handout via Xinhua)

HANGZHOU, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Ruins of a magnificent building complex believed to have been constructed in the late Shang Dynasty (1600 B.C.-1046 B.C.) have been unearthed in east China's Zhejiang Province, including a 3,400-square-meter ritual site, pottery workshops and relics.

Located at the Pishan site, Wuxing District of Huzhou City, the settlement cluster where the buildings were discovered was moated by a ring trench. It dates back to about 3,000 years ago. The Pishan site is currently Zhejiang's biggest archaeological site featuring remnants of ancient China's Xia (2070 B.C.-1600 B.C.) and Shang dynasties.

The settlement cluster covers about 330,000 square meters in total. Bronzeware, potteries and primitive porcelains were also unearthed at the site.

This new discovery helps provide abundant physical evidence of the influence of the Shang culture on regions south of the Yangtze River. Together with the renowned Sanxingdui Ruins and other sites in the Yangtze River basin, the discovery can help prove that ancestors in the river basin area created diverse regional cultures and ushered in a rapid development period at that time, said Luo Rupeng from Zhejiang's provincial institute of cultural relics and archaeology.

The magnificent buildings also indicate that the Pishan site was previously a center of the regional political civilization at the basin of the Dongtiaoxi, a local stream. The center's influence may have extended to a broader area including the Taihu Lake basin, which may be confirmed by further studies, said Xu Lianggao, a researcher from the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. ■

This file photo taken on Oct. 21, 2021 shows a primitive porcelain unearthed from the Pishan site in Wuxing District of Huzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province. (Zhejiang's provincial institute of cultural relics and archaeology/Handout via Xinhua)

This file photo taken on Oct. 21, 2021 shows a pottery unearthed from the Pishan site in Wuxing District of Huzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province. (Zhejiang's provincial institute of cultural relics and archaeology/Handout via Xinhua)