SHENYANG, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Recent excavations at a prehistoric site dating back roughly 5,000 to 5,800 years in northeast China's Liaoning Province have shed fresh light on the origins of Chinese civilization. Archaeologists have uncovered monumental ritual structures and a wealth of relics, offering new insights into this ancient culture.
The Niuheliang site, discovered in 1981 in the city of Chaoyang, represents a milestone in the study of China's Hongshan culture. Centered on the temple of the goddess and surrounded by altars and stone tombs, it stands as a large-scale prehistoric burial and religious worship site independent of the residence.
Excavations have been carried out in the archaeological site, with nine large platforms and their auxiliary structures identified, revealing the outline of a massive ancient complex covering about 100,000 square meters.
Jia Xiaobing, head of the field excavation project and a scholar at the Institute of Archaeology with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said that his team uncovered seven neatly arranged burnt soil pits on one of the platforms, noting that their configuration mirrors the shape of the Big Dipper.
"It is believed that the Hongshan people translated their understanding of the cosmos and celestial phenomena into this model," Jia said.
At another site is a triple concentric circular altar with a maximum diameter of about 22 meters. Researchers believe the three tiers correspond respectively to the key solar nodes of the year: the winter solstice, the spring and autumn equinoxes, and the summer solstice.
Jia noted that both the altar and the pits reflect the ancient people's practice of observing the sky and tracking time, as well as their reverence for heaven and earth, offering valuable clues for understanding later ritual systems.
Chinese archaeologists have stepped up the excavation and research of the Hongshan culture after multiple Hongshan culture sites were discovered in the west of Liaoning Province, the north of Hebei Province and the east of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
A large number of jade objects have been unearthed at the Hongshan culture sites, many intricately carved in the shapes of dragons, phoenixes and human figures.
"The Hongshan culture has evolved from 'valuing jade for its beauty' to 'using jade to connect with the divine,' and jade articles have become the carriers of status, power and faith," said Wang Wei, a researcher with CASS.
Named after the crimson rocky hill, the Hongshan culture, literally meaning red mountain, was first discovered in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, where its characteristic relics such as potteries fired with red earth were unearthed in 1935. Later, Liaoning was found to be the core area in terms of the culture distribution and the focal region for studying this culture.
"Hongshan culture represents a foundational chapter in human development," said Shahbaz Khan, director of the UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia, in a video speech at the 2026 Conference on Hongshan Culture earlier this week.
"Vividly preserved at sites like the Niuheliang National Archaeological Site Park, its ritual architecture and extraordinary jade craftsmanship reveal humanity's early spiritual and social evolution," he said.
American scholar Elizabeth Childs-Johnson, who has spent decades studying the Hongshan culture, said people back then had developed "a very sophisticated method of ritual architecture," adding that Hongshan is one of several early Neolithic cultures in ancient China that set the precedent for traditional Chinese belief in spirit metamorphosis.
Diplomats and representatives from more than 20 countries and international organizations were invited to the Conference on Hongshan Culture.
"Although the Hongshan heritage and the ancient Egyptian heritage flourished in different regions, both became a source of inspiration, cooperation and friendship," said Khaled Nazmy, ambassador of Egypt to China.
"The Egyptian and Chinese civilizations are among the oldest civilizations in the world, both contributing profoundly to the advancement of humanity," he said. "The advancement of our bilateral cultural cooperation is reflected in the close collaboration between our museums and cultural institutions, joint efforts in the protection and restoration of historical monuments, joint archaeological excavation missions and the preparations of the nomination files to be inscribed on the world heritage list."
Eirini Anastopoulou, First Secretary for Public Diplomacy at the Embassy of Greece in China who visited the Niuheliang site before the conference, also believes that China and Greece, both with ancient civilizations, share notable similarities.
On how to promote the Hongshan culture, she suggested that more exhibitions be held globally. "A lot of Greek exhibitions of archaeological interest are in China," she said, noting that last year alone, five exhibitions from Greece were held in China. ■
