A project titled Hongshan Society and the Processes of Social and Cultural Complexity from China will be showcased at the Field Discovery of Distinction at the Sixth Shanghai Archaeology Forum, which opened in Shanghai on Dec 16.

Hongshan Culture, which existed during the Late Neolithic period in northern China, dates back about 6,500 years and entered a proto-state stage around 5,800 years ago.

Led by Jia Xiaobing's team from the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the project is part of the national "Archaeology of China" initiative, involving research institutions and universities from Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, and Hebei.

In recent years, the project has yielded major discoveries that shed new light on Hongshan society.

In 2023, a Neolithic dragon made of mussel shells was unearthed at the Caitaopo site in Songshan district, Chifeng, alongside evidence suggesting ritual activities within residential areas, indicated by unusually large house structures and ritual objects found inside them.

In 2024, archaeologists in Aohan Banner, Chifeng, fully excavated a late Hongshan stone-piled tomb, uncovering more than 100 jade artifacts. The site marks the first discovery of a combined burial-and-ritual complex featuring a northern circular structure and a southern altar with tombs. By 2025, surveys of more than 30 sites confirmed 28 as stone-piled tombs and ritual locations.

The Niuheliang site represents the peak of Hongshan Culture and is its highest-level ceremonial center. Renewed excavations have confirmed a 60,000-square-meter platform complex associated with the "Goddess Temple," further increasing understanding of its central ritual role.

Meanwhile, the Zhengjiagou site in Xuanhua, Hebei, shows that communities beyond the Yanshan Mountains continued core Hongshan burial practices, jade traditions, and ritual styles. Slightly later than Niuheliang, the site offers new clues to the late development of Hongshan society.

Together, these discoveries expand the temporal and spatial framework of Hongshan Culture and reveal a complex society in China's "proto-state" era. They suggest that Hongshan civilization emerged through the interaction of religious authority, technological specialization and regional networks, rather than a simple linear transition toward statehood.