Tianluoshan
Tianluoshan Relic Site · Tianluoshan Hemudu Settlement
Hemudu culture 6500–5000 BCE (Early → Middle → Late Hemudu)·Hemudu (Lower Yangzi Neolithic, Austroasiatic? → later Wu-Yue)·🇨🇳 Zhejiang Province, Yuyao City, Sanqishi Township, Xiang'ao village between two hills 7 km NE of Hemudu, China
drawing by Henri Breuil , published by Henry Fairfield Osborn · Public domain
About
About Tianluoshan
6500–5000 BCE, 7000–5800 cal BP) in Yuyao, Zhejiang — 3 ha Neolithic settlement between two hills 7 km northeast of Hemudu, excavated 2004–07 by Zhejiang Provincial Institute. Tianluoshan preserves waterlogged wooden posts, dugout canoe paddles, Hemudu black pottery, bone tools and the world's earliest 'reedy' textile (6000 BCE phytolith evidence) and water chestnut (Trapa) cultivation 7000 BP. The site documents Lower Yangzi rice domestication (Oryza marsh) with paddies and animal remains (pig domestication 7000 BP) in anaerobic layers sealing 8 cultural layers spanning 7000–5500 BP, almost contemporary with Hemudu but with special-purpose industrial activities (pottery production was not village but special purpose per Zhejiang Provincial Museum).
Why it mattersEarliest fine reedy textile (6000 BCE phytolith) — global fibre technology origin; water chestnut cultivation 7000 BP proves Lower Yangzi aquatic vegeculture independent of millet north.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Was textile loom or frame?
- 02Was Trapa domesticated or tended?
Theories
- 01Lower Yangzi rice + aquatic plant vegeculture as Hemudu distinct economy (Fuller)
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.6500–6000 BCE early Hemudu at Tianluoshan; layers below 6 sealed waterlogged
- Period
- Hemudu culture 6500–5000 BCE (Early → Middle → Late Hemudu)
- Culture
- Hemudu (Lower Yangzi Neolithic, Austroasiatic? → later Wu-Yue)
- Builders
- Hemudu rice farmers and textile makers
- Purpose
- Waterfront pile-dwelling rice village and reedy textile/pottery workshop on Yangzi estuary
- Abandoned
- c.5000 BCE (transgression/sealevel rise, site submerged)
- Rediscovered
- 2004–07 Zhejiang Institute excavations; anaerobic preservation
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
c.7000–6500 BP
Lower layers 8–7: early Hemudu with water chestnut cultivation and canoe paddles
c.6500–5800 BP
Layers 6–3: Middle–Late Hemudu with paddies, pig, earliest reedy textile 6000 BCE
2004–07
8-layer excavation; Nature 2016 phytolith textile paper
On the ground
Structures & features
30.0242° N · 121.3794° E · 5 m · 2 mapped features
Waterlogged Pile-Dwelling Block
settlementWooden pile rows and dugout paddles in anaerobic layers 8–6 (6500 BCE)
30.0245° N · 121.3797° ETextile and Water Chestnut Horizon
workshop6000 BCE reedy textile phytoliths and Trapa water chestnut storage pits in middle layers
30.0239° N · 121.3792° E
Gallery