Liangzhu dam system
Sistema de presas de Liangzhu
- Date
- c. 3100 BCE · confidence high
- Place
- Liangzhu, Yuhang, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
- Credited to
- Liangzhu culture
- Field
- Tools
What it is
Eleven earthen dams, high and low, reinforced with bags of clay and straw, that controlled floods and created reservoirs around the city of Liangzhu. It is the largest known hydraulic project of its time in East Asia.
Radiocarbon-dated to 3100-2900 BCE (Liu et al., 2017). Somewhat earlier dams exist at Jawa (Jordan).
What it led to
- flood control and river transport in the Yangtze delta
- mobilisation of labour by a centralised power
- first planned city with hydraulic works in China