Liangzhu International Scientific Committees, Members and (China) Independent Experts
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Consultations and Technical Evaluation Mission Desk reviews have been provided by ICOMOS Liangzhu International Scientific Committees, members and (China) independent experts. No 1592 An ICOMOS technical evaluation mission visited the property from 19 to 24 September 2018. Additional information received by ICOMOS An Interim Report was provided to the State Party on Official name as proposed by the State Party 21 December 2018, summarising the issues identified by Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City the ICOMOS World Heritage Panel. Location Further information was requested in the Interim Report Yuhang District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province. including boundaries of the buffer zone, legal protection, conservation, management and research. Brief description The nominated property includes the archaeological Additional information was received from the State Party on remains of Liangzhu City (ca. 3300-2300 BCE) which was 2 February 2019 and has been incorporated into the once the centre of power and belief of an early regional relevant sections of this evaluation report. state in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in Late Neolithic China. Located in the eastern foothills of the Date of ICOMOS approval of this report Tianmu Mountains in a plain criss-crossed by a network of 13 March 2019 rivers, the nominated property consists of four component parts: the Area of Yaoshan Site; the Area of High-dam at the Mouth of the Valley; the Area of Low-dam on the Plain – Causeway in Front of the Mountains; and the Area of City 2 Description of the property Site. Note: The nomination dossier and additional information contain detailed descriptions of this property, its history and its state of The property testifies to the existence of a regional state conservation. Due to limitations on the length of evaluation with a unified belief system and supported economically by reports, this report only provides a short summary of the most rice-cultivating agriculture in late Neolithic China. It also relevant aspects. represents an early urban civilisation with complex functions and structures. Description and history The Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City are located on The sites of the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City were a plain crossed by river networks in the eastern foothills of partially discovered in 1936 and since then have been the Tianmu Mountains in the Yangtze River Basin on the excavated, researched, conserved, then presented or southeast coast of China. reburied. The nominated property consists of four component parts: Category of property In terms of categories of cultural property set out in Article I The Area of Yaoshan Site (also called Yaoshan Cemetery) of the 1972 World Heritage Convention, this is a serial is located on top of a hill outside the city and contains the nomination of four sites. Yaoshan Altar (a sacrificial site) and the Yaoshan cemetery, with two rows of tombs. Hundreds of objects, including jade artefacts, have been unearthed from the 1 Basic data cemetery. This component part covers an area of 66.56 ha. The remains date from ca. 3300-3100 BCE, an early period Included in the Tentative List of the Liangzhu culture. 29 January 2013 The Area of High-dam at the Mouth of the Valley is located The property was included in the Tentative List as a single approximately 11 km northwest of the City Site and consists site, including only the fourth component part of the of six artificial dam sites with residual heights of no more current nomination, the Area of City Site, under criteria (ii), than 15 metres and a series of natural ridges and peaks (iv), and (vi). directly associated with them. It covers an area of 136.41 ha. The area is believed to have been built ca. 3100-2850 Background BCE and was continuously in use until ca. 2600 BCE. This is a new nomination. The Area of Low-dam on the Plain - Causeway in Front of the Mountains is located to the north and west of the City Site, and consists of four artificial dams, which form a water storage system with a length of approximately 2.4 km, and 112 the Causeway in front of the Mountains (also known as the significance as a representative of an ancient rice- Tangshan Site), containing composite dams extending for cultivating civilization. 5 km, with widths varying from twenty to fifty metres. This component part covers an area of 349.24 ha and is The State Party submitted additional information in believed to have been built ca. 3000 to 2600 BCE. February 2019, detailing the origins and archaeological records concerning rice cultivation in the middle and lower The Area of City Site, built mainly between ca. 3000 and reaches of the Yangtze River. Liangzhu culture is a pioneer 2850 BCE, is composed of the palace area, inner city, outer in terms of rice cultivation techniques, on a large scale for city, and a series of socially-graded cemeteries; the natural the management of rice resources. It was the regional topographic elements directly associated with them, and centre of an agrarian economy. three main ancient river courses, are also included within the site. This component covers an area of 881.45 ha. The The nominated property remained as ruins from ca. 2300- City Site was continuously in use until 2300 BCE. 2100 BCE. In 1936, the archaeologist Xin’geng discovered the site and conducted excavations after he found black Liangzhu City was the capital and power centre of the pottery representative of the Neolithic period. In 1959 the whole Liangzhu society. It is not located in the geographic site was named ‘Liangzhu Culture’. Further excavations, centre of the Liangzhu cultural area for strategic reasons discoveries and research have been undertaken since the such as transport, water conservancy, agriculture, 1980s, up to 2016. mountain resources and flood risk. Boundaries According to the latest analysis of Carbon-14 dating, The area of the four components totals 1,433.66 ha, with Liangzhu City was built and occupied ca. 3300-2300 BCE a buffer zone of 9,980.29 ha. and abandoned by ca. 2100 BCE. Its rise and decline may be divided into the following 4 periods, according to current The entirety of the area of Yaoshan Site (component 01), research. the Causeway in Front of the Mountains (part of component 03) and the entirety of the Area of City Site (component 04) The first period is ca. 3300-3100 BCE (the early period): the are located within protection zones as stipulated in the early inhabitants of Liangzhu were active over a large area, Conservation Master Plan for the Liangzhu Archaeological with Daxiongshan Hill at the centre; high-grade cemeteries Site, as National Priority Protected Sites. were built. The Area of High-dam at the Mouth of the Valley The second period is ca. 3100-2850 BCE (the middle (component 02) and the Area of Low-dam on the Plain (part period): ca. 3000-2850 BCE was the critical period for the of component 03) are located within protection zones, as establishment of Liangzhu City - the Peripheral Water specified in the Delimitation Scheme of Protection Zone Conservancy System, terraces at Mojiaoshan and and Construction Control Zone for the Periphery Water surrounding areas, the Zhongjiagang water system and Conservancy Project Site of Liangzhu Ancient City, as surrounding highland settlements (including Outer City Provincial Protected Sites of Zhejiang. settlements), and Fanshan and other high-grade cemeteries were built. It was also the key period for urban The boundaries of the four component parts are delineated development with a consciousness of functional zoning of taking into consideration roads and natural features such urban planning. as river systems and hills. The third period is ca. 2850-2600 BCE (the earlier stage of One buffer zone surrounds the four component parts of the the late period): highland settlements began to form in nominated property. It includes surrounding groups of sites Bianjiashan Terrace and Meirendi Terrace and around and parts of the surrounding landscape that are of Mojiaoshan Terrace; the ancient river courses represented supporting value to the property. The delineation of the by the Zhongjiagang River and dam system were both still buffer zone is based on the Construction Control Zone in use; the high-grade cemeteries were continually being stipulated by the Conservation Master Plan for the added to and used. According to the dating of the stratum Liangzhu Archaeological Site and the protection zoning of of the bedded stones at the bottom of the Inner City walls, the Delimitation Scheme of Protection Zone and these walls were already under construction and/or in use. Construction Control Zone for Periphery Water Conservancy Project Site of Liangzhu Ancient City. The fourth period is ca. 2600-2300 BCE (the later stage of the late period): the area within the city walls of Liangzhu ICOMOS considers that the boundaries of the four City and the surrounding terraces (such as Meirendi component parts are well delineated and include the City Terrace) were still in use as settlements; the dam system Site, the Periphery Water Conservancy System, the might have been abandoned by this time. socially-graded cemeteries, various archaeological artefacts and the related natural topographic elements, all In its Interim Report, ICOMOS requested more information, of which are the features expressing the proposed if available, on the state of research pertaining to rice Outstanding Universal Value. cultivation and rice typologies in relation to the relevant components of the nominated property, given its 113 ICOMOS considers the boundaries of the buffer zone result of twenty years of rapid urbanization and population adequate. However, ICOMOS noted a discrepancy growth. Steps are being taken by the State Party to shut between the boundaries of the buffer zone and the down quarries, and to move factories and large boundaries of the protection zones (the Construction manufacturing units outside the nominated property.