New Neolithic finds at China's Majiayao dig site

Archaeologists carrying out a large excavation project in Gansu province, at the Majiayao dig site, this August have discovered many pottery shards and stone implements which, they say, represent life in Neolithic communities along the upper reaches of the Yellow River during the Majiayao culture period (3,300-2,000 BC).

Archaeologist Zhang Xiaoru at the Majiayao site
[Credit: Xinhua/Chenbin]

The excavation is under the guidance of the Institute of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Archaeology department, and the province's Archaeology Institute.

Neolithic artefacts found at the Majiayao site 
[Credit: Xinhua/Chenbin]

Majiayao culture came into being in the Late Neolithic period over 5,000 years ago and the site was first discovered by the Swedish archaeologist Johan Gunnar Andersson, in the 1920s, in the village of Majiayao. The State Council designated the area a key national relics protection unit, in 1988.

Source: People's Daily Online [August 14, 2015]