Archaeological site reveals jade production process

Nanyang in Henan province is planning to build an archaeological park at Huangshan village, a neolithic site with a jade workshop. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Nanyang in Henan province is planning to build an archaeological park at Huangshan village, which was a neolithic site with a jade workshop.

Excavations across an area of 2,400 square meters at the Huangshan site were conducted by the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Nanyang City Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology from May 2018 to January 2022.

The dig revealed important features dating from the Yangshao, Qujialing and Shijiahe Culture periods, including one dock and one section of a canal, 48 houses and stone or jade workshops, 146 tombs, nine sacrificial pits and more than 140 urn burials, in addition to 45,000 stone or jade objects.

Jade objects unearthed from the Huangshan site in Nanyang, Henan province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

This excavation confirmed the site was a core settlement bounded by waterways that specialized in the large-scale production of stone or jade objects. It revealed the natural transportation waterways linking the site and the well-known jade quarry of Mount Du, about three miles away. The archaeological work filled a gap in the understanding of Neolithic jade manufacturing sites in the Central Plains and the middle Yangtze River.

Yuan Guangkuo, a professor of history at Capital Normal University, called it "the first jade workshop in the prehistoric Central Plains" in an article published in Guangming Daily in June 2022.

"The Yangshao Culture building group found in the Huangshan site with a workshop in the front and a residential house in the back was one of the best preserved prehistoric buildings in China. It was also a major feature of early architecture in southwestern Henan province," he wrote. "With well-preserved architectural techniques and details of daily life, it could be called a 'Pompeiian' relic of China's prehistoric history. The workshop reproduced the complete production process of jade or stone objects, providing new material for the study of jade processing technology during that period."

Nanyang in Henan province is planning to build an archaeological park at Huangshan village, a neolithic site with a jade workshop. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The earliest Chinese painting of orchid grass unearthed from the Huangshan site in Nanyang, Henan province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A cup unearthed from the Huangshan site in Nanyang, Henan province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A jade spade unearthed from the Huangshan site in Nanyang, Henan province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The production process of a jade tool unearthed from the Huangshan site in Nanyang, Henan province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]