Residents of stilted houses and their burials in eastern China, 5500 BP: Excavation of the Gujiazhuang site on the southern shore of Hangzhou Bay

The discovery of the remains of early rice cultivation in the coastal regions of eastern China has garnered significant international attention. However, there has been a lack of focus on the early rice agricultural settlement construction process, building material selection and spatial utilization pattern. This study introduces the Gujiazhuang site, a small-scale settlement from the late Neolithic Hemudu culture. At this site, stilt buildings were constructed on earthen platforms using Celtis pillars and boards with multiple tree species. Also, twelve uniformly constructed graves surrounding above buildings, some using camphor wood as coffins, have been found. The remains indicate that human daily activities were concentrated on the consciously constructed earthen platform, with stilted houses and burials distributed in a mixed manner, and the scale of the population was likely to be that of a family. This discovery provides a household model for adapting to coastal, low-altitude environments in late Neolithic eastern China.