Shenzhen as a city has a history of less than 50 years, but human activity here may date back more than 3,500 years, as evidenced by artifacts excavated from tomb ruins underneath the campus of Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in Nanshan District.

The Wubeiling Ruins, uncovered at SUSTech, contain ancient tombs from the Shang and Zhou periods, spanning from around 1,600 B.C. to 256 B.C.

The ruins was discovered accidentally in 1999 when a staff member with Shenzhen Museum stumbled upon a small stone axe while taking photos on a hilltop in the Wubeiling area, prior to the establishment of SUSTech. The finding led museum staff to conduct a further search in the area, uncovering numerous artifacts such as ancient pottery shards, stone arrowheads, and even a broken bronze sword. These artifacts had surfaced due to rainwater erosion and the digging of villagers to plant trees.

Two years later, the city’s cultural relics administration carried out a trial excavation at the Wubeiling site, clearing more than 10 tombs and six ash pits. Most of the burial artifacts were later confirmed to date back to the Shang Dynasty, along with two tombs from the Eastern Zhou period and one from Ming Dynasty. Subsequently, the Guangdong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Shenzhen Museum and other institutions jointly conducted a formal excavation, uncovering 81 tombs from the Shang Dynasty, and six from the Warring States period, with over 200 artifacts recovered.

For a long time, domestic historians and archaeologists believed that the Shang culture did not extend beyond the Yangze River. This view was challenged only after the 1973 discovery of the Wucheng site in Zhangshu City, Jiangxi Province, which is south of the Yangze River. However, local historians were still uncertain whether the Shang culture had crossed the Nanling Mountains to reach the coastal area such as Guangdong.

Shenzhen archaeologists invited renowned history professor Zou Heng of the School of Archaeology and Museology at Peking University in Beijing to inspect the Wubeiling site. Zou’s on-site assessment confirmed that Wubeiling was indeed an early Shang Dynasty tomb cluster, pointing out that the site represened a distinctive culture specific to the Lingnan region during the Shang period.

The discovery of Shang period tombs at Wubeiling astonished the domestic archaeological and historical communities, with the site being hailed as one of China’s top 10 archaeological discoveries in 2001.

The artifacts from Wubeiling, mostly practical tools, offered valuable insight into the everyday life of early inhabitants of Shenzhen.

According to research of the Cultural Heritage Research Center of SUSTech, the Wubeiling culture dates back 3,800 to 3,000 years, when people lived in small, scattered settlements in river valleys and hillside areas. This is detailed in the published paper “Shenzhen’s Shang Period Relics in Dashahe River Upstream and Wubeiling Culture.”

Design elements on the artifacts shows cultural connections with inland regions and even the Central Plains. The paper suggests that the commonly found tall-handled goblets were likely influenced by the Wucheng culture of Jiangxi Province, while the finely crafted pottery vessels may be linked to the Shang culture from the Central Plains.

The Wubeiling Ruins under excavation in 2002. Photo from Shenzhen Museum 

Interestingly, no human bones were found in the graves at the Wubeiling site, which aligned with funeral customs still practiced among southern Hakka communities. Historian Xu Zhaokang noted in his paper “A Brief Analysis of the Pre-Qin History of the Pearl River” that in southern Hakka traditions, descendants exhume the remains after several years of burial, place them in pottery urns and keep them in fields or other locations.

Apart from Wubeiling, cultural relics dating from the Shang to the Pre-Qin periods have also been unearthed along the upper Dashahe River and near today’s Xili Reseroir. These findings indicate continuous habitation in Shenzhen during those eras.

Other cultural heritage sites uncovered in Shenzhen

From the Neolithic period:

1.Yingge Mountain Site

Located on the south slope of Yingge Mountain in the northwest of Nantou Ancient City, west to Zhongshan Park in Nanshan District, this site was first discovered in August 1956 by a team from the History Department of Sun Yat-sen University, and re-examined by Shenzhen Museum in 1984. The site yielded numerous pottery shards and a small number of stone tools.

2.Xiantouling Site

Situated in Diefu Village in Dapeng New District, the site was discovered in 1981 during an archaeological survey conducted by Shenzhen Museum. Findings from Xiantouling Site suggested that Shenzhen’s cultural history began 6,000 to 7,000 years ago, indicating that the Pearl River civilization is no younger than those of the Yellow River and Yangtze River.

3.Dameisha Site

Located on the sandbar by the seaside of Dameisha in Yantian District, the site was uncovered during Shenzhen’s first cultural relics census in 1982. The pottery and stone tools recovered here suggested human habitation in Shenzhen between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago.

4.Hubei Mountain Site

Situated on the south slope of Hubei Mountain in Shekou, Nanshan District, the site was discovered by the Guangdong Provincial Museum during a cultural relics survey in 1980. It was confirmed in the first Shenzhen cultural relics census in 1984.

From the Shang Dynasty:

Xiangnan Village Site

Located on a sandbar in Xiangnan Village in Nanshan District, this site yielded 64 stone tools and 12 bone artifacts during an archaeological excavation by Shenzhen Museum in 1996.

From the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods:

Songting Hill Site

Located in Donghu Park in Luohu District, this site was discovered during Shenzhen’s second cultural relics census in 2000.