The Chinese Academy of History, affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, hosted an annual archaeology forum and announced the key archaeological discoveries in 2020 on March 26.

Among the selected six discoveries was the relic site in Jingtou Mountain, which is located in Yuyao, Zhejiang province.

The excavation project on the relic site in Jingtou Mountain was initiated in September 2019, unearthing a large amount of artifacts, including pottery, stoneware, bones, shells, woodware, and braided fabrics, as well as animal and plantation remains that were eaten by humans in ancient times.

The relic site is the only pre-historic shell mound site ever found in Zhejiang and the entire Yangtze River Delta region, tracing its history to somewhere between 7,800 and 8,300 years ago, about 1,000 years earlier than the Hemudu Neolithic culture, also found in Yuyao.

Some artifacts excavated in the relic site in Jingtou Mountain. [Photo/zj.zjol.com.cn]