When our car stopped in front of the iron grating, I heard the rooster crow. This is an ordinary farmyard located in Shijiahe Town, central China's Hubei Province. What I didn't know is that this modern farm is a famous Neolithic Shijiahe Site complex. 

The site is considered the largest-scale prehistoric walled-ruin ever found for the Neolithic period, which is more than 4,000 years ago. Sacrifice culture has played an important role in Chinese history. And Shijiahe site might be the earliest finding for people to trace such a pristine culture. 

Several steps away from the farmyard is the old sacrificial area, named Yinxintai. Five man-made altars were discovered here. Numerous features and artifacts such as more than 100 urn coffin tombs and nested vats were found along the base of the platform. 

I can still see the pottery shards and pits for tombs on the site. This was my first time visiting an archaeological excavation site in person. When I stepped on to the ancient earth, seeing the thick, red ceramic cylinders and red ceramic cups, along with a small number of human remains next to my feet, I felt like their life and their presence was tangible.

We visited the museum which displayed most of the unearthed relics from the Neolithic period. A batch of jade wares dated to the Post-Shijiahe culture period is on exhibition, enriching our understanding of the development of the Chinese Civilization.  

Each jade piece is small but exquisite. They contain an array of unprecedented forms such as Deity Portraits, Double-Headed and Conjoined Half-Circle Jade Rings, Jade Pendants in Double-Eagle Shape with Tiger Base, Jade Tigers, and Jade Eagles. They were all found in the sacrifice area, which implied the divine sacrificial culture at that time.  

The sculpting skills of the jade reflects the highest level of jade craftsmanship in prehistoric China. This trip to Shijiahe provides insight into the settlement transformations, the developing sacrifice culture, the formation of a regional civilization center, and the development of a pluralistic, integrated Chinese Civilization. 

Reporter: Li Yimei  

Scriptwriter: Li Yimei 

Editor: Zhang Ziyu 

Copy editor: Liane Ferreir 

Chief editors: Chen Ran, Lin Dongwei, Zhou Zongxin

Cover image: Yin Yating  

Executive producer: Zhang Xiaohe 

Producer: Si Nan 

Supervisor: Zhang Shilei