In the center of the Group Sites is the Ancient Shijiahe City surrounded by city walls and moats. Among the unearthed relics, pottery and jade crafts are the most distinguished. Apart from the long-used stone tools, copper discovered in the site is the best proof that human beings were beginning to use copper in daily life in the Shijiahe Culture. 

 

The group sites of the late Neolithic Age

Location: Tianmen, Hubei Province

Period: 3,000-2,000 BC

From 1954 to the present

Significance: The findings serve as a major breakthrough in exploring the origin of civilization in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. 

Introduction

The group Sites at Shijiahe(石家河Shíjiāhé) belongs to the late Neolithic Age, with an area of 8 square kilometers and consisting of dozens of cultural ruins like the Sanfangwan Site and the Tanjialing Site. The formation of Shijiahe Culture, named after the Group Sites at Shijiahe, came through a successive developing process from Daxi Culture to Qujialing Culture, and finally Culture of Shijiahe.