Archaeologists discover 3,000-year-old city, oldest in southern China

Before the excavations, the site only looked like a simple piece of virgin land, with an area of ​​7,000 square meters. After extensive research by a group of experts, they discovered that it concealed, buried, the oldest known city in the Lingnan region in southern China. A rare discovery which could allow us to learn a little more about the Silk Road.

Construction projects had been started on this land. But after bricks and pottery shards were discovered by workers in 2022, work was suspended. According to the newspaper South China Morning Post a group of experts from the Institute of Archeology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hubei University and Guangzhou Municipal Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archeology conducted more in-depth research. Through the discovery of pottery artifacts, masonry and stone tools, experts confirmed that the site must be associated with the Shang dynasty, which ruled between 1600 and 1046 BC. Making it the oldest known city in the ancient Lingnan region of southern China.

The region was the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road – a network of sea passages that connected Southeast Asia to Europe. The Shang dynasty marked history with major advances, such as the invention of writing, the calendar and religious rituals. It is said to be at the origin of Chinese culture. The architectural heritage of this region was also highlighted from December 2023 to June 2024 during an exhibition in Hong Kong.

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The head of the excavation team, He Anyi, said this year’s discoveries uncover double city walls and moats. « The north and west walls of the entire city site are well preserved. The tallest part of the west wall may be around 1.4 meters »he specifies. Part of the ruins run along the river, a very advantageous position at the time for internal defense, as well as the management of waterways.

The team leader says excavations at the site are continuing and the team hopes to find more remains. Archaeologists will also spend time in a laboratory, collecting and analyzing some of the relics, including a bronze artifact « badly rusted » which appears to be a sword.