Page 76 - JCAU-6-1

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Virtual reconstruction of archaeological sites

of the physical site but also because it has the potential numerous ground investigations. Six formal archaeological
to integrate multi-source and multi-format information excavations were conducted in 1995, 2000, 2004 – 2005,
to help the comprehensive restoration work for building and 2008, leading to the publication of the archaeological
remains in archaeological sites. report Pishan. In 2013, the Pishan site gained national
recognition as a major historical and cultural site, securing
1.1. The study site
protection at the national level in China and becoming
The Pishan (毘山) site, located in Pishan Village, Hudong part of the first batch of provincial archaeological site parks
Street, Wuxing District, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province, in Zhejiang Province. Simultaneously, the Archaeological
China, is positioned 10 km south of Taihu (太湖) and in Work Plan of Huzhou Pishan Site (2014 – 2018) was
the lower reaches of the Yangtze River (长江), as depicted formulated (Yan et al., 2022).
in Figure 1. The main remains at the site date back to the
Neolithic Age through the Zhou (周, 1046 – 256 BCE) In 2013 and 2014, an extensive exploration of the
dynasty. Notably, it holds the largest site from the late Shang Pishan and Xishan area was conducted, resulting in the
(商, 1600 – 1046 BCE) dynasty to the early Western Zhou determination of an area covering nearly 1 million sqm
(西周, 1046 – 771 BCE) dynasty in Zhejiang province. at the Pishan site. To determine the specific boundary of
Since its discovery in 1957, the site has undergone the Pishan site and elucidate the characteristics of cultural

A B

C

Figure 1. Location map of the Pishan site. (A) Study area in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. (B) Yangtze Delta and the location of Huzhou.
(C) Topographic map of Huzhou and the location of Pishan. Source: Drawings by the authors

Volume 6 Issue 1 (2024) 3 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.1735