Scott No: 3461
Serial number: 2005-24
Values in set: 1
Date of issue: November 6, 2005
Denomination: 80 fen
Designer: Guo Chenghui
Size of stamps: 40*30 mm
Perforation: 12.5
Sheet composition: 10
Size of sheet: 220*120 mm
Printing process: Photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

This special stamp set, Chengtoushan Site, was issued on November 6, 2005. It consists of one stamp with a face value of 0.80 yuan, designed by Guo Chenghui, with Shi Yuan serving as the responsible editor, and printed by Beijing Stamp Printing Works using the photogravure process.

The Chengtoushan Site, located on the Liyang Plain in Li County, Hunan, is the earliest prehistoric city discovered in China to date, dating back approximately 6,000 years, spanning from the Daxi Culture to the Qujialing Culture. The site preserves complete city walls, moats, altars, pottery workshops, and the world's earliest artificially cultivated rice paddies, providing evidence that the middle reaches of the Yangtze River were a key cradle of rice civilization. It has been recognized twice among China's top ten archaeological discoveries of the year and is a crucial piece of evidence in the Project for Tracing the Origins of Chinese Civilization. This stamp integrates the city's landscape with representative artifacts, presenting the brilliant early urban civilization of the Yangtze River basin and looking back to the dawn of Chinese agricultural civilization.

Stamp Design and Historical Background

Chengtoushan Site

The background depicts the excavated city walls and landscape, with four representative artifacts arranged horizontally across the stamp. From left to right, they are a painted pottery cup from the Daxi Culture, a stone battle-axe from the Qujialing Culture, a Daxi Culture bowl with a folded rim, and a Qujialing Culture perforated stemmed bowl. The painted pottery cup features simple and lively patterns, the stone battle-axe symbolizes early power and ritual, and the bowls demonstrate the advanced pottery-making skills of ancient peoples. These artifacts recreate the production and daily life of people six thousand years ago, capturing the civilizational marks of this earliest ancient city.

Artistic and Design Features

The horizontal format features warm and rich tones, with an earthy yellow background evoking the ancient and distant atmosphere of the prehistoric site. The artifacts are rendered with realistic detail, presenting the painted pottery and the simple texture of stone tools. The photogravure printing provides delicate and rich layers. The stamp incorporates multiple anti-counterfeiting features, including security paper, security ink, shaped perforations, and fluorescent spray codes. The overall design is serene and profound, carrying the ancient charm of prehistoric archaeological civilization.

This stamp is a special issue on the theme of prehistoric archaeological sites and artifacts, suitable for thematic collections on the origins of Chinese civilization and ancient pottery archaeology.