AbstractIn 2008, Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and other institutions excavated Zhangxiwan Site, which is the latest and the easternmost Neolithic city site in the middle reach of the Yangtze River known to date. Based on the features of the potteries unearthed in the city site, the cultural remains of this city site can be divided into three phases corresponding to the early, middle and late phases of Shijiahe Culture. The city walls began to be built roughly in the early phase of Shijiahe Culture, but it was abandoned in the middle or late phases of Shijiahe Culture. The discovery of Zhangxiwan City Site provided important materials and brand-new prospect for the understandings to the development processes of the prehistoric cities and the deep causes of their construction and abandonment and the process of the civilization during the prehistoric period in the middle reach of the Yangtze River.
Challenges in early phase of product family development processes