Longqiu Relics

Longqiu Village Relics = Lóngqiú Zhuāng Yìzhǐ = 龙虬庄遗址

Say " lohng-chee-yoo jwahng yee-jihr"

The Longqiuzhun Relics are located in Longqiuzhuang Village, a short drive north of Gaoyou. The Relic, as the Chinese refer to it, is an archeological site where a tribal village from the Neolithic era (approximately 7000 years ago) has been uncovered.

The site is a park like setting with many displays, and sculptures, showing how the original inhabitants lived, and worked, 7000 years ago. In addition, a small, but excellent, museum contains many impressive artifacts excavated from the site. If you plan to visit the Longqiuzhuang Relics, make sure that your guide service arranges access in advance, as it is unclear when the site is open for visitors.

The Nanjing Museum, Yangzhou City Museum, and the Gaoyou Cultural Relics Protection Society have together carried out four archaeological excavations, and found four Neolithic era inhabitation relics, 34 ash pits, and 402 tombs or graves. At the same time, over 2,000 cultural relics including exquisite pottery, jade ware, and bone-horn ware were unearthed.

Especially amazing to scientists, is that they found over 4000 high quality grains of carbonized rice, 7,000 to 5,500 years old. These rice grains are some of the best examples found in China. Archeologists have determined that the rice was cultivated, not wild, helping to establish a timeline for the spread of agriculture in ancient China.

The discovery, and excavation, of the Longqiuzhuang Relic has been very important to the research of the distribution, and types of ancient culture, in the Jiangsu Region, exploring the origin and spread of China's rice farming, and defining the changes of the prehistoric ecological environment. In 1993, The Longqiuzhuang Relic was chosen as one of "Ten Great Archaeological Discoveries in China".

Resources for “Longqui Village Relics”

A book available for purchase at the China Post office in Gaoyou, Gaoyou - A Famous Historical and Cultural City Author and publisher unknown.

A page on the Longqiu Village website www.longqiu.net http://longqiu.net/lq002e.htm