A stone tablet is erected for the Qingdun relic site in Hai'an. [Photo/WeChat account: hafbwx]

Covering an area of 70,000 square meters, the Qingdun relic site in Hai'an, Nantong, is the most well-preserved site of the Neolithic Age－defined in China as between 10,000 to 4,000 years ago – in the eastern part of the Jianghuai Plain.

Unearthed in 1973, experts from the Nantong Museum and Nanjing Museum carried out archaeological excavations three times from 1977 to 1979, and the area excavated so far accounts for less than 1 percent of the total area.

The relics buried at the site can be divided into three phases. The first and second phases boast an abundance of cultural relics related to the Jianghuai Plain culture, while the third phase highlights not only Jianghuai Plain culture, but also early Liangzhu Culture in the Jiangnan region and Dawenkou Culture in the northern area of the Huaihe River.

The earliest and most intact stilt-style architecture in the eastern part of the Jianghuai Plain was excavated at the Qingdun relic site, where large amounts of cultural relics with high archaeological and scientific value have also been discovered.

The most renowned are the earthenware axe with handle and deer horn with Eight-Diagram patterns. The former has been classified as a first-class cultural relic in China while the latter has been recognized as one of the earliest relics featuring Eight Diagrams, a traditional Chinese philosophy to explain both natural and social phenomena.

Carbonized rice unearthed at the Qingdun site is another important discovery related to rice after Hemudu relics, which proves that rice originated in China.

In 2006, the Qingdun site was listed as a key cultural relic under national protection, and in 2019, the Hai'an government established the Qingdun Relic Site Museum to showcase its long history and profound culture via relics unearthed at the Qingdun site.

Address: Qingdun village, Nanmo town, Hai'an, Nantong