Archaeological site of the Neolithic Age

Location: Qingpu County, Shanghai

Period: 4,000-3,000 BC

Excavated in 1960  

Pottery yi (shallow oval ewer with spout, handle, lid and usually four feet) in the shape of pig head: water vessel (mid-right, height 6.7 cm); Black pottery pot: water vessel or wine vessel (mid-left, height 19.5 cm); Huang (a jade tablet in the form of a semi-circle) in the shape of fish and bird: ornament (up and bottom, length 6.6 cm)

Significance: The Songze Culture is named after the site. It has supplied significant materials to the study of the primitive cultures of the area around Taihu Lake, as well as the prehistoric history of Shanghai.

 Introduction

Songze village has a longstanding history of over 6,000 years. The earliest ancestors of Shanghai people are born here, and the splendid ancient culture of Songze gestated in this land.

Songze lies at west of Shanghai Hongqiao Airport, Dingpu River and Youdun port go through all around the village. The convenient communications make it an important water passage connecting Shanghai with Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

Songze Site is the archaeological site of the Neolithic Age and the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC). Its cultural relics are divided into three levels according to its stratum: the lowest level but of the highest archaeological value of the three belongs to the Neolithic Age, unearthed relics including storage pits and production tools; the middle level is the tombs of the Matriarchy clan society; and the upper level is the relic of late Western Zhou Dynasty (11th century-771BC) and the Spring and Autumn Period, including pottery, porcelains, stone ware and some bronze.