The Panlong City Site is located in Yedian in the southwest of Huangpi County in the northern suburb of Wuhan City, Hubei Province.
The site, close to the Fu River in the south and Panlong Lake in the north, is 290 meters long from south to north and 260 meters wide from east to west, with a perimeter of 1,100 meters. Covering an area of about one square kilometer, the whole site belonged to the early Shang Dynasty (17th to 11th century BC), which dates back over 3,500 years ago.
Outside the city wall is the site of the Shang period that spreads over about one million square meters. To the south of the city are residential areas and workshops, and to the other three sides are tombs from the mid Shang period where a number of sacrificial slave pits and exquisite bronze ware were unearthed.
During archaeological excavations, hundreds of pieces of bronze, pottery, jade, stone and bone ware were unearthed. Of these exquisite items, the bronze round caldrons, bronze locks and 94-centimeter-long jade dagger are rare treasures among China’s cultural relics.
The Panlong City Site discoveries provide precious materials for the study of the politics, economy and culture of the Shang Dynasty.
(Source: chinaculture.org)
