Taosi

Taosi is a large Neolithic site of the Longshan culture and is located in Shanxi Province, China. Excavations were carried out 1978-1983.

Expansion

Its made ​​of rammed earth walls are 7-10 meters thick. They form an elongated rectangle with rounded corners in an edge length of 2,000 m (east-west ) by 1500 m ( north-south) covers an area of ​​nearly three million square meters.

History / Description

Taosi was settled during the Miaodigou II and the Longshan culture (2500-1900 BC). The site includes a very large cemetery ( over 30,000 m²) with about 1,000 graves. Most of the exposed graves contain no grave goods, only six of them contained special items, such as painted coffins of wood, jade, lacquer and ceramic ritual objects and musical instruments.

The objects from the royal tombs include ceramic basin with dragon motifs, stone chimes, cast copper bells ( quing ) and a receptacle ( hu) on which there is a written with a brush " who " sign.

Furthermore, it was found in this area, the 4,100 -year-old observatory of Linfen.