Ancient Civilization

The cultural sequence of the Lower Yangtze/Taihu Lake region

Majiabang Culture(马家浜文化) ~5000BC – ~4000BC
Songze Culture(崧泽文化) ~4000BC - ~3300BC
Liangzhu Culture(良渚文化) ~3300BC - ~2300BC

The Caoxieshan(Straw-Shoe Hill) Site is located in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. Excavations at the Caoxieshan Site have revealed cultural layers from the Majiabang, Songze, and Liangzhu periods The Caoxieshan Site is crucially significant as it provides a continuous stratigraphic sequence encompassing the Majiabang, Songze, and Liangzhu cultures, making it a key reference for studying the prehistoric cultural chronology in the Yangtze River Delta region.

The Caoxieshan Site was a major archaeological discovery of the 1970s in the Lake Tai region. It stands out among Neolithic sites in the area for having the most abundant stratigraphic deposits and the most complete temporal sequence. Consequently, it enabled the archaeological community to establish, for the first time, a continuous cultural sequence in the region composed of the three successive cultures: Majiabang, Songze, and Liangzhu. This breakthrough definitively established the chronological development of prehistoric cultures in the Lake Tai area, providing a comprehensive view of the survival and living conditions of ancient human societies across different stages in the Lake Tai basin. Furthermore, it tangibly demonstrates, through concrete evidence, the historical process by which the ancient inhabitants of the Lake Tai basin, including the Suzhou area, crossed the threshold into civilization.

The Caoxieshan Site: China’s Ancient Site with the Deepest Cumulative Cultural Stratigraphy. The Caoxieshan Site in Suzhou is not only the most significant Majiabang Culture site in Suzhou, but also in the entire Lake Tai basin. The Caoxieshan Site is situated on the southern shore of Yangcheng Lake in Lingnan Village, Weiting Town, Suzhou Industrial Park, approximately 15 kilometers east of Suzhou’s ancient city center. Originally, the site comprised two mounds. One, shaped like a straw sandal, gave the site its name “Caoxieshan” or “Grass-Shoe Hill.” The other mound, which survives today and faces Caoxieshan across a road, is known as Yilingshan.

The Caoxieshan Site was listed among the Seventh Group of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level in 2013. The site was first discovered in 1956 during a cultural relics survey conducted by the Jiangsu Provincial Commission for the Preservation of Ancient Monuments. Subsequently, it underwent multiple investigative surveys. After workers at the Weiting Brick and Tile Factory unearthed artifacts such as cong (ritual jade tubes) and bi (ritual jade discs) during clay extraction, the Nanjing Museum, with assistance from the relevant departments of the former Wu County, conducted two major excavation seasons in 1972 and 1973. Following that, the site has been excavated on several other occasions.

The excavations conducted in 1972 and 1973 revealed an exceptionally deep ancient cultural deposit at the site, reaching up to 11 meters in thickness. This stratigraphy was divided into 10 distinct cultural layers, representing the deepest known cumulative cultural sequence at any ancient site in China—a rare find even by global standards. These layers correspond to successive cultural periods in the following order from bottom to top: Layers 10, 9, and 8 belong to the Majiabang Culture; the overlying Layers 7, 6, and 5 to the Songze Culture; Layers 4, 3, and 2 to the Liangzhu Culture; and the topmost Layer 1 to the Wu and Yue cultures of the Spring and Autumn period. This sequence spans from the early Neolithic stage to the flourishing period of early states in the Lake Tai region (i.e., the Spring and Autumn period), covering nearly the entire pre-Qin chronological framework for the lower Yangtze River and Lake Tai area. Consequently, it preserves traces of human activity at Caoxieshan over a remarkably long period, from approximately 7,000 to about 3,000 years ago. This establishes the site as one of the earliest known places inhabited by the ancestors of modern Suzhou, alongside the Sanshan Island site. Moreover, the continuous settlement here lasted for over 4,000 years—a duration longer than the entire history of Suzhou city from its founding to the present day.

Within the 10 cultural layers, the lower Layers 10, 9, and 8 belong to the Majiabang Culture. The deepest layer (Layer 10), dating back about 7,000 years, yielded carbonized rice grains. Identified by the Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, these included both indica and japonica varieties, representing the earliest known cultivated rice in the Yangtze River Basin. This same layer also contained three small fragments of carbonized textile. Analyzed by the Shanghai Textile Research Institute and Shanghai Silk Industrial Company, the material was likely made from wild kudzu vine fibers, woven in a leno pattern with weft-faced designs featuring geometric motifs of zigzag and lozenge shapes. These fragments are the earliest physical evidence of textiles yet discovered in China. Furthermore, within the Majiabang cultural layer at Caoxieshan, archaeologists uncovered a circular dwelling trace formed by a ring of 10 postholes. Preserved wooden posts and base plates were also found in the same layer, indicating that the indigenous inhabitants were already constructing houses directly on the ground. This represents the earliest known residential structure built by the ancestors of Suzhou.

The carbonized rice grains discovered in the lowest layer (Layer 10) at the Caoxieshan Site, dating back approximately 7,000 years, rank among the earliest cultivated rice ever found in China. From 1992 to 1995, a Sino-Japanese joint archaeological team conducted the first paddy field archaeological research project in China at the Caoxieshan Site. Participating institutions included the Nanjing Museum, the Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Japan’s Miyazaki University, the Suzhou Museum, and the then Cultural Relics Management Committee of Wu County.

This excavation and research project uncovered three chronologically successive types of paddy fields from the Majiabang Culture period. The earliest type involved the utilization and slight modification of irregular natural depressions, with cultivation along their sides. The middle period featured small, strip-distributed ridged fields, interconnected by water outlets, with specially dug ditches and water storage pits. The late period consisted of basic units formed by ridged fields, water outlets, and shallow troughs. These units were all distributed around a large pond, which served dual functions of water storage and drainage. This evolution reflects the progression of agriculture in the region from natural planting to a more artificial and patterned cultivation method. Scientific analysis confirmed that the rice cultivated was of the japonica variety.

This site represents the first ancient rice paddy discovered in China and currently stands as the oldest known paddy field remains in the world. All this evidence indicates that the 6,000-year-old rice paddies discovered at the Caoxieshan Site are the earliest ancient rice fields with an irrigation system yet found in China.

The above content is cited from General History of Suzhou: Pre-Qin Volume.