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This weekend, @NishiDholakia @AntiokhosE and I explored the largest & most confounding #Neolithic site in China: #Shimao. A massive fortified stone city in an unexpected place, w/ objects from far afield, and grizzly human sacrifices. Vibrant until abandoned around 1800BCE 1/ 
This first mystery of #Shimao was the location: the city was built on the Northern Loess Plateau, relatively dry and far from the lush Yellow River “cradle of Chinese civilisation”. What might attract a large #Neolithic population to create a major city in such a place? 2/
The second mystery was the building material. #Archaeologists associated this period in #China with rammed earth structures. But this #Neolithic city - built in 2300 BCE - was made of #stone, dominated by a 20 tiered oblong stepped #pyramid structure on the highest hill 3/
