Chengtoushan
Chengtoushan Ancient City · Li County Walled Town
Daxi (5500–3300) → Qujialing → Shijiahe 5500–2300 BCE·Daxi → Qujialing → Shijiahe (Middle Yangzi walled cities)·🇨🇳 Hunan Province, Changde Pref., Li County, Chengtoushan plateau at Li River–Loushui confluence (Liyang Plain), China
About
About Chengtoushan
5500–3000 BCE) at Chengtoushan plateau on the Liyang Plain near Li County — 8 ha fortified town with 3 m rammed-earth wall 800 m diameter and outer moat, excavated 1989–93 by Hunan Institute. Chengtoushan is type-site for Daxi culture walled city (5500–3300 BCE) and the oldest cereal paddy fields in the world (6500 BCE rice paddies with field bunds and ditch irrigation 8 m spacing) discovered beneath the walls. The site shows Pengtoushan → Zaoshi → Tangjiagang → Daxi → Qujialing → Shijiahe continuous evolution, and is on UNESCO Tentative alongside Pengtoushan and Bashidang as 'Ancient City Wall of Chengtoushan'.
2600 BCE rice fields are the oldest preserved irrigation system.
Why it mattersEarliest walled town in China (4700 BCE) with oldest rice paddy irrigation (6500 BCE) — proves Middle Yangzi as urban and rice cradle predating Erlitou by 3000 years.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Were paddies 6500 BCE fully irrigated or seasonal bunded?
Theories
- 01Chengtoushan as archetype for Chinese wall-building tradition (Liu model)
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.5500 BCE earliest paddy 6500 BCE; wall c.4700 BCE
- Period
- Daxi (5500–3300) → Qujialing → Shijiahe 5500–2300 BCE
- Culture
- Daxi → Qujialing → Shijiahe (Middle Yangzi walled cities)
- Builders
- Middle Yangzi Daxi rice urbanists
- Purpose
- Earliest paddy-irrigated walled town controlling Liyang Plain rice surplus and Li River
- Abandoned
- c.2300 BCE (Shijiahe decline)
- Rediscovered
- 1989–93 Hunan rescue + paddy field discovery 1997–2015 ground-penetrating radar
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.6500 BCE
World's oldest paddy fields (6500 BCE) with bunds and ditches beneath wall
c.4700–3000 BCE
Rammed-earth walled town 800 m diameter with moat, Daxi culture
1997
Paddy field discovery pushes rice irrigation to 6500 BCE — earliest cereal irrigation
On the ground
Structures & features
29.6800° N · 111.6500° E · 40 m · 2 mapped features
Rammed-Earth Walled Town
citadel800 m diameter rammed-earth wall 3 m thick with outer moat (4700 BCE)
29.6805° N · 111.6505° EAncient Paddy Fields
field6500 BCE rice paddy grid with bunds and ditches (8 m spacing) under town — world's oldest irrigation
29.6795° N · 111.6495° E