3,000-year-old settlement site found in SW China

KUNMING, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of a settlement site dating back more than 3,000 years in southwest China's Yunnan Province, which may offer new clues on the origin of the Dian culture once thriving in the region.

The site was found in the Gucheng Village Site in Kunming, the provincial capital.

The ring-shaped settlement is well-preserved and composed of platforms, trenches and slope protection, said Zhou Ranchao, a researcher with the Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.

The recent discovery of the settlement in the Gucheng Village Site marks a significant addition to the over 1,000 relic sites found there, including tombs, houses, trenches and ash pits, dating back to an era when China's central region was under the Shang and Zhou dynasties (1600-256 BC).

Zhou said the settlement, representing a culture earlier than the Dian culture, offers new materials for understanding the settlement forms, social organizations, funeral customs and ethnic composition of early cultures in southwest China.