International experts visit Shangshan Museum in Pujiang county, Jinhua, Zhejiang province. [Photo/Jinhua Media Group]

A delegation of international experts visited the Shangshan Archaeological Park in Pujiang county, Jinhua, Zhejiang province, on Oct 20 to learn about the Shangshan culture, rice domestication, and site protection.

Named after the Shangshan site discovered in Pujiang, Shangshan culture dates back 8,500 to 11,000 years and is the origin of the world's rice agriculture.

The visit supported the Liangzhu Forum's sub-forum, aimed at expanding Shangshan culture's international influence and promoting global cooperation in archaeology and heritage protection.

At the Shangshan Museum, pottery, polished stone tools, and ancient rice remains showed the culture's discovery and value, recreating early settled life and rice domestication.

Rana Ozbal, an archaeology professor at Koc University in Turkiye, praised the exhibition design and said the rice theme offered a useful contrast to her research on wheat and barley domestication. Gregson Schachner, an anthropology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the museum clearly presented the discovery, dating, and research value of the remains, calling it a high-quality archaeological display.

The group also toured the site protection hall and the original site to learn about monitoring, conservation, and public education. Experts said the discoveries and conservation practices offer a valuable Chinese model for global research on early agriculture and prehistoric site preservation.