The Tianluoshan Site is 7km north away from the Hemudu site, Yuyao, Zhejiang province. In 2012, the Zhejiang Institute of Archaeology took charge of the fifth excavation at the Tianluoshan site.

In brief, the excavation at the Tianluoshan site in 2012 supplied multi-aspect special values for scientifically and systematically studying the Hemudu culture and further confirming the status of the Hemudu culture in the origin of rice cultivation and development, the origin of the pile-dwelling, Chinese prehistory settlement pattern, interaction between human being and environment, the origin of the Austronesian family culture and other important academic projects both here and abroad:

1. preliminarily understood the settlement pattern at the Tianluoshan site and did the exploration for the study on the prehistory settlement pattern and cultural relics conservation in the hilly and humid area of south China.

2. clearly knew the four development stages of the construction technology of the pile-dwelling architecture during the Hemudu Culture: first discovering the functional districts separated the daily living buildings from ritual buildings in one village; basically confirming the unit patterns and scale of the pile-dwelling architecture; unearthing quantities of square wood parts reflecting the superb process and construction technology, which was rare in Chinese prehistory.

3. further revealing the early rice cultivation technology and the extensive cultivation pattern during the Hemudu culture that the rice fields were irrigated by using the pieces of everglades, wet lands, natural rain or small pond, brook which could be found in local area. Moreover, it was found from the typical stratigraphic sections that the rise and fall of the rice cultivation during the Hemudu culture was obviously limited by the natural elements in coastal area, such as the sea level change during the late Holocene.

4. unearthing a few magic artifacts with special functions and superb technology, which enriched the connotation of the Hemudu culture.

5. systematically obtaining the organic remains reflecting the ancestors’ subsistence pattern (food structure) and process activities, especially micro-faunal and floral remains which were usually neglected in the archaeological excavation. This type of micro-archaeology made it possible that are close to history or re-appear of a true and complete history. Based on this, the archaeology at the Tianluoshan site opened a window for re-construction of the Neolithic history in Southern China. The unearthed camellia plant remains possibly prolonged the Chinese tea culture history to 6000 years ago.

6. the multi-disciplines knowledge and technology should be continuously utilized in the excavation. Meanwhile, the site and ruins conservation and exhibition should be carried out at the same time, exploring a possible way for the archaeological work paying attention to archaeological excavation and cultural relics conservation.