Archaeology · Site Archive
Dadiwan Culture (大地湾文化)
Neolithic Archaeological Site · Qin’an, Gansu, China
The Dadiwan site lies in Qin’an County in eastern Gansu and preserves one of the most important prehistoric settlement sequences in the upper Wei River region. Its Neolithic remains span approximately 7800 to 4800 years before present, encompassing early farming communities, later Yangshao settlements and the transition toward increasingly complex regional societies.
Excavations have revealed houses, storage pits, kilns, burials, defensive ditches and thousands of objects in pottery, stone, bone and shell. Dadiwan is especially significant for early millet cultivation, painted pottery, changing village organisation, monumental architecture and evidence for the long development of settled life. The site provides a major archaeological reference for studying the formation of prehistoric cultures and early civilization in north-western China.
Site Library
Selected Books on Dadiwan
2006
秦安大地湾：新石器时代遗址发掘报告
Dadiwan in Qin’an: Report on the Excavation of a Neolithic Site
Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology · Cultural Relics Publishing House
The two-volume official excavation report is the fundamental primary publication for the site. It systematically records stratigraphy, architectural remains, burials and the pottery, stone, bone and shell assemblages recovered through the major excavation campaigns.
2018
大地湾之谜：八千年的原始记忆
The Mystery of Dadiwan: Eight Thousand Years of Prehistoric Memory
Edited by Xu Zhaoshou · Dunhuang Literature and Art Publishing House
An edited collection that approaches Dadiwan through archaeology, cultural memory and interpretation. It introduces the site’s settlement history, symbolic remains and place in discussions of the origins and long development of civilization in north-western China.