Taosi

Taosi

陶寺
Location in north China
Location	China
Region	Shanxi
Coordinates	35°52′30″N 111°30′29″E / 35.875°N 111.508°E / 35.875; 111.508Coordinates: 35°52′30″N 111°30′29″E / 35.875°N 111.508°E / 35.875; 111.508
Area	280 ha
History
Founded	c. 2300 BC
Abandoned	c. 1900 BC
Cultures	Longshan culture

Taosi (Chinese: 陶寺; pinyin: Táosì) is an archaeological site in Xiangfen County, Shanxi, China. Taosi is considered to be part of the late phase of the Longshan culture in southern Shanxi, also known as the Taosi phase (2300 BC to 1900 BC).

Taosi was surrounded by a gigantic rammed-clay enclosure. This was discovered from 1999 to 2001 by the archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; they attributed this wall to the Middle Taosi period (4,100 to 4,000 BP). Rectangular in form with an inner area of 280 ha.

An internal rammed-earth wall separated the residential and ceremonial areas of the elite from the areas inhabited by commoners, signifying the development of a stratified society.

The Huaxia settlement outgrew the perimeter of the wall.

The settlement is the largest Longshan site discovered in the Linfen basin, Yellow River basin area, possibly a regional center. The settlement represents the most political system on the Central Plains at the time. The polites in the Taosi site are considered an advanced chiefdom, but may not have not developed into a higher political organization. It was not the Taosi polites but, the less socially complex Central Plains Longshan sites, the scattered, multi-system competing systems that gave rise to early states in this region.

Taosi also contained an astronomical observatory, the oldest in East Asia.

This was discovered in 2003-2004. Archaeologists unearthed a Middle Taosi period semi-round foundation just beside southern wall of the Middle Taosi enclosure, which could be used for astronomical observations. The structure consists of an outer semi-ring-shaped path, and a semi-round rammed-earth platform with a diameter of about 60 m. The platform is 42m in diameter and over 1000 sq m in area. It can be reconstructed as a three-level altar.

Standing in the center of the altar and watching through the slots, one can find that most of slots respectively orientate to a given point of the Chongfen Mountain to the east.