Archaeologists confirm southern China’s oldest city is more than 3,000 years old
Discoveries include defensive double walls and moats at the site in the ancient region of Lingnan, starting point of the Maritime Silk Road
Archaeological remains of a city in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region are the earliest found so far in southern China, dating some 3,000 years to the early Shang dynasty (c1600-1050BC).
A panel of experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Archaeology, Hubei University, and the Guangzhou Municipal Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology confirmed the site’s age at a meeting in December.
The panel made the determination after examining relics excavated from the site in Gongcheng Yao autonomous county near the city of Guilin, according to reports carried by state broadcaster CCTV and Guangming Daily.
The Niuluchong site was discovered in 2022 when a construction project on the previously unused land stumbled upon patterned bricks and broken pottery, the Guangming Daily report said.
Excavations in April suggested that the site dated from between the late Neolithic period and the Shang dynasty. A three month-long “rescue” dig that began in September helped to confirm the site’s age.
In an interview with CCTV, excavation team leader He Anyi said this year’s finds included double city walls and moats.
“[The site] is about 165 metres (541ft) long from north to south and 140 metres long from east to west, with a total area of 23,100 square metres (75,790 sq ft),” he said.
