16 sites · 10 provinces
Excavated cities, tombs and settlements, where the finds rather than the standing fabric are the point.
16 of them here, grouped by region. 9 carry a UNESCO listing. Chinese addresses are given as they are written, which is the form to show a driver. See all seven kinds, or the background on the shape in the ground and the museum beside it.
2 sites
North China (华北)
| Site | Period | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Zhoukoudian Peking Man Site (周口店北京人遗址)UNESCOThe cave where Peking Man controlled fire 700,000 years ago, the site that rewrote humanity’s origin story, though its fossils vanished in wartime.(北京 房山区 周口店镇龙骨山（周口店大街 1 号）) | Paleolithic | 2.5-3h · Best Mar-May, Sep-Nov |
| Taosi Site (陶寺遗址)The possible capital of Emperor Yao, a 4,300-year-old city with the world’s earliest astronomical observatory (500 years older than Stonehenge) and the earliest Chinese writing, 800 years before oracle bones.(山西 临汾 襄汾 陶寺村) | Neolithic (Longshan Culture) | 1.5h · Best Apr-Oct |
2 sites
Northeast China (东北)
| Site | Period | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Guonei City (Goguryeo) (高句丽国内城)UNESCOA Goguryeo capital buried beneath a modern Chinese border city, 2,000-year-old stone walls where a kingdom that rivaled Tang China once ruled.(吉林 通化 集安市 市区（鸭绿江畔通沟平原，高句丽遗址公园内）) | Goguryeo | 1-1.5h · Best May-Oct |
| Wandu Mountain City (Goguryeo, incl. Gwanggaeto Stele) (丸都山城（含好太王碑）)UNESCOA mountain fortress capital of the Goguryeo kingdom, guarding a six-metre stele inscribed in 414, described as the oldest document of a lost northeast Asian kingdom.(吉林 通化 集安市 西北 2.5km 丸都山上（山城路 3333 号）；好太王碑位于集安东 4km 太王陵东北侧) | Goguryeo | Best May-Oct |
5 sites
East China (华东)
| Site | Period | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Xanadu (Shangdu) Site (元上都遗址)UNESCOKublai Khan’s lost summer capital on the Mongolian steppe, the Xanadu of Marco Polo and Coleridge, where grass grows over a vanished imperial city.(内蒙古 锡林郭勒盟 正蓝旗 上都镇东北约 20km 闪电河北岸金莲川草原) | Yuan (Mongol Empire) | |
| Shuidonggou Paleolithic Site (水洞沟遗址)China’s earliest excavated Paleolithic site where 30,000-year-old stone tools meet a Ming Dynasty underground garrison, a rare collision of prehistory and imperial defense.(宁夏 银川 灵武市 临河镇水洞沟旅游区（距银川市区 19km、河东机场 11km）) | Paleolithic (Late Pleistocene) / Ming (Great Wall overlay) | 3-4h · Best Apr-Oct |
| Gaochang Ancient City (高昌故城)UNESCOThe Silk Road city where Xuanzang (the real Journey to the West monk) stayed for a month and became sworn brothers with the king, a 2,000-year-old oasis capital at the foot of the Flaming Mountains.(新疆 吐鲁番 高昌区 火焰山南麓) | Han / Gaochang Kingdom / Uyghur / Yuan | 2h · Best Apr-Oct |
| Jiaohe Ancient City (Yarkhoto) (交河故城)UNESCORecorded as the world’s largest earthen city, carved downward out of the loess rather than built upward, a 2,000-year-old town of streets, temples and houses preserved by the desert.(新疆 吐鲁番 高昌区 雅尔乃孜沟) | Cheshi / Han / Tang / Yuan | 2h · Best Apr-Oct |
| Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City (良渚古城遗址)UNESCOThe proof of China’s 5,000-year civilization, a 5,300-year-old city with the world’s earliest dam system, predating the Egyptian pyramids, with exquisite jade artifacts that founded China’s jade culture.(浙江 杭州 余杭区) | Neolithic (Liangzhu Culture) | 2-3h · Best Mar-Nov |
2 sites
Central China (华中)
| Site | Period | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Erlitou Site (二里头遗址)The capital of China’s first dynasty (Xia), a 3,700-year-old city with China’s earliest palace, road network, and bronze ritual vessels, including a 64cm dragon made of 2,000 pieces of turquoise.(河南 洛阳 偃师 二里头村) | Xia / Early Shang | 1.5-2h · Best Mar-Nov |
| Yinxu (Ruins of Yin) (殷墟)UNESCOThe birthplace of Chinese writing, a 3,300-year-old capital where oracle bone inscriptions were found, along with the Houmuwu ding, recorded as the world’s largest bronze vessel.(河南 安阳 殷都区) | Shang | 2-3h · Best Mar-Nov |
2 sites
Southwest China (西南)
| Site | Period | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Jinsha Site (金沙遗址)The successor to the mysterious Sanxingdui civilization, home to the Sun and Immortal Bird gold ornament, now the symbol of all Chinese cultural heritage, found at a site where excavation continues in view of visitors.(四川 成都 青羊区 金沙遗址路) | Shang-Zhou (Shu Kingdom) | 2h · Best All year |
| Sanxingdui Archaeological Site (三星堆遗址)An archaeological discovery still not fully explained, a lost 3,000-year-old civilization with bronze masks with bulging eyes and giant ears that look alien, which vanished without written records and still puzzles archaeologists.(四川 德阳 广汉 鸭子河畔) | Neolithic / Shang (Shu Kingdom) | Best Mar-Nov |
3 sites
Northwest China (西北)
| Site | Period | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Daming Palace Site (大明宫国家遗址公园)The political heart of the Tang Dynasty for 200 years, a palace complex 4.5 times the size of the Forbidden City, where envoys from all over the world knelt before the emperor, now an archaeological park showing its lost grandeur.(陕西 西安 新城区 未央区) | Tang | 2h · Best Mar-Nov |
| Shimao Site (石峁遗址)China’s Stonehenge, a 4,200-year-old stone city of 4.25 million square meters with triple walls, exquisite stone carvings, and jade, a completely forgotten civilization never mentioned in any historical text.(陕西 榆林 神木 高家堡镇) | Neolithic (Longshan) / Early Xia | 2h · Best May-Oct |
| Weiyang Palace Site, Han Chang’an (汉长安城未央宫遗址)UNESCOThe command center of the Han Dynasty for 200 years, a palace complex larger than the Forbidden City, now silent earth mounds where China’s Silk Road began.(陕西 西安 未央区 邓六路（汉长安城遗址西南部，西安门里）) | Western Han / Han | 2-3h · Best Mar-May, Sep-Nov |
Which of These Are Worth the Detour
Some of these sit inside cities and take two hours; others are a half day off the expressway and worth it only if the period interests you. Tell our local team your route and they will say which ones fit and which are better left.