Chinese archeologists said they have discovered the largest known bronze production site from the late Shang Dynasty (c.1600BC-1046BC) in Central China's Henan Province.

In an excavated area of 4,000 square meters, several independent bronze casting workshops integrating bronze dissolving, casting and polishing have been discovered, said Kong Deming, deputy head of the Cultural Heritage Bureau of Anyang City.

A number of large bronze ritual vessels and casting molds have also been unearthed, he added.

The bronze relic site accounted for more than 50 percent of the total of 1 million square meters of the Xindian relic site. Nearly 12,000 pieces of molds and furnaces have been excavated at the site.

The Xindian archaeological site was discovered in 2016. 

The site is about 10 kilometers away from the core area of the ruins of Yin, the last capital of the Shang Dynasty.

Latest archaeological findings showed the core area of the Xindian site had five separate bronze production areas, which each had special zones for working, living, carrying out sacrifices and tombs, Kong said.

"These findings are of significance for the study of bronze casting craft in the late Shang Dynasty as well as the construction and layout of relevant facilities," Kong said.

Forty-six ritual bronze vessels have been unearthed from the tombs in the bronze site.

The large-scale Xindian relic site was the most important town 10 kilometers from the core Yinxu area and closely related to the development of the Shang capital, according to Kong.