Experts believed that many of its features are found in traditional Chinese wood structures for the following 5,000 years, and therefore the building provides important clues to studying the origin of Chinese architectures. It has fully demonstrated that the art of architecture existed as far back in primitive society, which is contrary to common people’s expections. 

 

Geographical Location: Qin’an County, Gansu Province

Period: 5800-3000 BC

Excavated in 1978

Significance: The Dadiwan Culture is named after the site. The find plays a key role in understanding the sequence of different Neolithic cultures of the upper reaches of the Yellow River, as well as their mutual relationships.

Introduction

The Dadiwan(大地湾Dàdìwān) Site,the ruins of a 5,000-year-old building in Qin’an country in western China’s Gansu Province and with an area of about 1.1 million square meters, is considered by Chinese archaeologists as the origin of palaces in China.

There are altogether 238 house bases, 357 ash pits, 79 tombs, 38 kilns and 106 hearths. About 8,000 pieces of relics have been unearthed, including various kinds of wares made of bone, stone and mussel, pottery, ornaments and daily utensils. The original look of the building is nowhere to find, but people can still tell its splendor from the main pillars, measuring 80 centimeters in diameter, and the thick and solid walls remained.

Consisting of a main room, two side rooms, a front room and a back room, the building is as large as a basketball field. According to the ashes of about 10 centimeters-thick in a large pit in the main room, archaeologists further mapped out a picture that ancient tribe leaders met regularly in the building, and around the fire to keep themselves warm.

The main room was divided into nine sections by eight pillars. The number nine is always an auspicious and sacred figure representing supreme power. Even though the wood pillars were already destroyed by fire, the earth layer covering the surface of the pillars remains intact.

It is amazing that this building method shares similarity with modern building technique. What is more surprising is that the floor is as flat and bright as that made of cement nowadays. With a pressure-testing machine, archaeologists found out that its intensity reaches that of cement of grade 120.