Neolithic Site at Pengtoushan and Bashidang of Li County
The site of Pengtoushan, lying at Mengping Village, Daping Town, Li County can be traced back some 8,000 years ago. In 1988, an excavation was carried out by the Hunan Provincial Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics, plenty of grains and rice husks were found mixed in pottery pieces, which were identified as the early stage of cultivated rice. This finding confirms that in the world history, the middle regions of the Yangtze River is one of the areas where grain is grown at a very early stage. Bashidang is situated at Wufu Village of Mengxi Town that is in the northeast of Liyang Plain, Li County. Its history can be traced back to 8000 years ago, paralleling with the latter half stage of Pengtoushan culture. The third excavation was carried out from October through November in 1995 by the Hunan Provincial Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics, in which a black silt layer was found at a depth of 4.5 meters in the former washland of the channel. In this layer of silt, there were a large number of organic substances, over 100 kinds of identifiable plants, dozens varieties of bones of animals and domestic animals, articles made of wood, bamboo and bone. The amount of unearthed grain and rice exceeds 15,000 units, surpassing the total of that discovered in China. The well preserved grain and rice are of greater value than those of Pengtoushan in making a breakthrough in the study of cultivated agriculture.

Carbonized Rice

Neolithic Age 8000 years ago
Unearthed at Bashidang site, Menxi Town, Li County in 1995
 The grain and rice with so many kinds and variants amount to more than 15000 units, giving precious practical materials for researching the origin of cultivated agriculture.