A stretch of prehistoric paddy fields unearthed at the Shi'ao Site in the county-level city of Yuyao, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/WeChat account: nbfb0574]

The Shi'ao Site in the county-level city of Yuyao, East China's Zhejiang province was recently listed in the top 10 archaeological discoveries in China in 2021.

Located about 7.5 kilometers away from the renowned Hemudu Site, the unearthed paddy fields in the site date back to between 4,500 and 6,700 years and cover an area of about 900,000 square meters, according to preliminary research.

It is the largest and oldest area containing ancient paddy fields that has been found in the world thus far.

The discovery of the paddy sites suggest that rice farming was already an economic pillar in early Chinese cultures like Hemudu and Liangzhu, and provides insight into the prehistoric society along the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

The evacuation was conducted by the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the Ningbo Cultural Heritage Management Research Institute and Yuyao Hemudu Site Museum from 2020 to 2021.