Excavations at a peripheral site of the Liangzhu Culture in Zhejiang Province have unearthed a remarkable technological find: a 5,000-year-old agricultural plough featuring a jade-tipped blade. Alongside the plough, archaeologists discovered a set of perforated stone templates that experts believe were used to ensure standardized seed spacing in wet-rice paddies, a technique that would have maximized crop yields for the growing urban population.
The use of jade—a material usually reserved for ritual objects—in a functional agricultural tool suggests that the Liangzhu elite may have viewed agricultural productivity as a sacred endeavor. The precision of the grain-spacing templates matches the geometric sophistication found in the culture's iconic jade cong tubes, indicating that the same level of artisan skill was applied to the foundations of the civilization's food supply.