An aerial view of the archaeological site of Shijiaoshan ancient city in Yunxi township, Qujiang district, Quzhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo/qz123.com]

New progress was made in the archaeological excavation of the site of Shijiaoshan ancient city in Yunxi township, Qujiang district, Quzhou, Zhejiang province, local media reported on April 23.

Since 2021, after discovering the site of the ancient city through field surveys, two consecutive years of archaeological investigation, exploration and excavation have revealed structures such as moats, walls and internal accumulations.

According to the preliminary analysis of the typology of unearthed cultural relics and carbon samples, the age of the inner city is predicted to be from the late Neolithic period to the Xia and Shang dynasties (c.21st century-11th century BC), while the outer city is predicted to be from the Shang and Zhou dynasties (c.16th century-256 BC).

Wang Wei, a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and chairman of the Chinese Archaeological Society, affirmed the archaeological achievements of the Shijiaoshan ancient city site and pointed out that it is another important archaeological achievement in Quzhou after the discovery of Western Zhou Dynasty (c.11th century-771 BC) aristocratic mound tombs, providing clues for future archaeological work in Quzhou.

The discovery of the Shijiaoshan ancient city site will have significant academic value for the study of early Quzhou civilization, investigating early human life and production methods in Quzhou, and researching Zhejiang's historical culture.