Shijiahe
Shijiahe Ancient Walled Town · Tianmen Shijiahe
Qujialing → Shijiahe 2600–2300 BCE (Jianghan Late Neolithic) → Meishan·Shijiahe culture (Middle Yangzi walled city)·🇨🇳 Hubei Province, Tianmen City, Shijiahe area (northwest Jianghan Plain, Han River south bank, 150 km west of Wuhan), China
About
About Shijiahe
Jianghan Plain walled mega-town (c.3000–2300 BCE, Shijiahe culture 2600–2300 BCE climax) northwest of Tianmen — 120 ha walled enclosure (1.2 km wall of rammed earth, moat) with inner palace 7 ha, excavated 1987–97 by Hubei/Jingzhou Museums. Shijiahe shows: massive jade workshop (10,000 jade pieces — largest Neolithic jade in China, cong, bi, phoenix), lacquer and textile advanced, religious art (jade humans with crowns), and hydraulic system with reservoirs and 20 km outer canal linking to Yangzi. The Late Shijiahe layers have burned palace and abandonment 2300 BCE contemporary with 4.2 ka event and Chengtoushan decline, linking to Taosi in north.
Why it mattersLargest Neolithic jade workshop in China (10k) — proves Middle Yangzi walled city parallel to Liangzhu; 4.2ka collapse contemporary with Taosi and Indus decline (climate).
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Was jade phoenix religious elite symbol before Chinese dragon?
Theories
- 01Shijiahe–Taosi shared 4.2ka stress linking Yangzi–Yellow River Neolithic network
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.3000 BCE early embankment; walls 2600–2400 BCE
- Period
- Qujialing → Shijiahe 2600–2300 BCE (Jianghan Late Neolithic) → Meishan
- Culture
- Shijiahe culture (Middle Yangzi walled city)
- Builders
- Shijiahe walled city jade artisans and elites
- Purpose
- Middle Yangzi jade-lacquer ceremonial walled city controlling Jianghan hydraulic plain
- Abandoned
- c.2300 BCE (4.2 ka abrupt collapse, burnt palace, flooding)
- Rediscovered
- 1987 Jingzhou Museum excavation; jade cache 1992 Dengjiawan
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.3000–2600 BCE
Qujialing–early Shijiahe embankment with copper and elephant ivory
c.2600–2300 BCE
120 ha walls with moat, jade palace workshop 10k pieces, hydraulic 20 km canal
c.2300 BCE
Burned citadel and abandonment synchronous with global 4.2 ka event
On the ground
Structures & features
30.5500° N · 113.0500° E · 28 m · 2 mapped features
Walled Outer Town and Moat
citadel120 ha rammed-earth wall and moat enclosing jade workshop plain
30.5505° N · 113.0505° EInner Palace and Jade Workshop
palace7 ha inner palace with 10,000 jade cong/bi and lacquer workshop (Dengjiawan)
30.5495° N · 113.0495° E