Support to boost preservation at prehistoric ruins

The mysteries of Hongshan culture have laid dormant for more than 5,000 years at the Niuheliang archaeological site in Chaoyang, Northeast China's Liaoning province. Since its discovery in 1981 and first excavation in 1983, generations of archaeologists have been working on this large-scale ritual center for Hongshan society, dating back around 5,000 to 5,800 years.

Sacrificial public buildings such as a goddess temple, a three-tiered round altar and rubble mound tombs have been found in Niuheliang, together with stone tools, pottery, and most notably, exquisite jade ware — depicting dragons, birds and figures.

According to Jia Xiaobing, a researcher with the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who is leading the excavation of the site, archaeological discoveries at Niuheliang have indicated the existence of a worship system dedicated to heaven, earth and ancestral gods.