"the fortified sites likely served as focal points for defense and social organization, protecting the smaller villages around them."
"Each wall, ditch, and passage suggests that these people were learning how to live together, to protect themselves, and perhaps to govern,"
Archaeologists and cultural heritage researchers uncovered 573 stone fortresses in the mountains near Yulin, Shaanxi, after six years of investigation. The oldest fortifications date to approximately 2800 BC, with later structures built through the Shang and Zhao dynasties (ca. 1600–220 BC). Aerial scanning targeted ancient river systems and identified forts clustered near water sources. The sites show architectural and social evolution over millennia, from Yangshao-period agricultural villages to more hierarchical fortified communities with roles for leaders, laborers, and artisans. The layout of walls, ditches, and passages indicates organized defense, social coordination, and emerging governance, paralleling other 4,000-year-old fortified settlements.
Read at ARTnews.com
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