Archaeologists claim that cultural relics they discovered in Yunyang county, southwestern China's Chongqing municipality, cover each culture of a 5,000-year period with distinct cultural stratums. "We discovered human traces of each period from the Neolithic Age to the imperial Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, which covers 5,000 years," said Prof. Luo Erhu with the archaeological department of prestigious Sichuan University.
     Nearly 1,000 articles were unearthed at the site. Luo acknowledged that "essential historical articles were discovered at each cultural stratum, especially those after the Shang (16-11 centuries BCE) and the Zhou (11 century BCE - 221 BCE) dynasties, which are well preserved and uninterruptedin age. Such an accumulation of cultural relics spanning a complete 5,000 years is very rare in China." It is cited as another significant archaeological finding in the Three Gorges Reservoir
     So far, more than 4,000 square meters have been excavated at the site and further excavation is underway.

Source: People's Daily (23 March 2004)