Jiangzhai () is a

Banpo Banpo is an archaeological site discovered in 1953 by Shi Xingbang, and located in the Yellow River Valley just east of Xi'an, China. It contains the remains of several well organized Neolithic settlements, like Jiangzhai, carbon dated t ...

phase Yangshao culture

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology a ...

in the east of

Xi'an Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by other names, is the capital of Shaanxi Province. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong Plain, the city is the third most populous city in Western China, after Chongqi ...

, where the earliest

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

artifacts in China were found. The Jiangzhai site is located on the east bank of the Lin River in

Lintong District Lintong District (), formerly Lintong County, is one of 11 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi Province, Northwest China. The district was approved to establish from the former ''Lintong County'' () by th ...

, Xi'an,

Shaanxi Province Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), Ni ...

, only east of the Banpo site and about from the center of Xi'an. Excavated between 1972 and 1979, it is a prehistoric settlement site of the Neolithic period in the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the sixth-longest river system in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Ha ...

Basin. The Jiangzhai site is about 6,700 years old and contains the remains of five different cultural phases of the Neolithic Yangshao culture such as the Hanpo type, Shijia type, Miaodigou type, Xiwangcun type and KeShanZhuang II type of the

Longshan culture The Longshan (or Lung-shan) culture, also sometimes referred to as the Black Pottery Culture, was a late Neolithic culture in the middle and lower Yellow River valley areas of northern China from about 3000 to 1900 BC. The first archaeological fi ...

. It is the largest and most complete Neolithic village site discovered so far in the Yellow River basin. Of the site, 16,580 m² has been excavated, resulting in the discovery of 600 tombs and 10,000 objects of interest, most of them being utensils such as pottery and bone utensils. Some brass artifacts were also found, the oldest copper artifacts found in China. The total area of the site is estimated at 50,000 m², and consisted of a village with 100 homes. The brass found in Jiangzhai is the oldest

arsenical copper Arsenical copper contains up to 0.5% arsenic which, at elevated temperatures, imparts higher tensile strength and a reduced tendency to scaling. It is typically specified in boiler work, especially locomotive fireboxes. It also helps prevent embr ...

ever found, dated at 4700-4000 BC. However, the brass found at the site has many impurities, do not seem to be useful tools of any kind and have not been followed up by brass from descendant cultures, leading archeologists to believe that the Jiangzhai culture only created brass by accident and not systematically. In 1996, the Jiangzhai site was designated by the State Council as one of national key cultural relics protection sites. As of September 2013, the Jiangzhai site is still in a mediocre state of protection, with only a concrete plaque above the ground identifying the National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit, and the modern buildings above the ground being demolished.

References

{{reflist 1972 archaeological discoveries History of Xi'an Archaeological sites in China Chalcolithic sites of Asia Former populated places in China Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Shaanxi Yangshao culture Populated places established in the 5th millennium BC

See also

References