4. The Nanzuo site in Qingyang, Gansu province
The Nanzuo site is a late Yangshao culture — a key Neolithic culture — settlement dating to approximately 5,100-4,700 years ago. Covering an area of about 6 million square meters, it represents the highest development of the Yangshao culture and serves as key evidence of the more than 5,000 years of Chinese civilization. The site features a multi-layered settlement structure centered on a well-preserved palace style building covering 690 square meters, forming the earliest and most clearly defined central axis of a capital settlement in ancient China. The discovery of the earliest bricks, adobe, and use of lime plaster demonstrates specialized labor, ritual systems, and social stratification, indicating the emergence of regional monarchy on the Loess Plateau.
