Stone Chamber Cluster at Archway

Stone Chamber Cluster at Archway

The Stone Chamber Cluster at Archway is a cultural heritage site protected by Yingkou City.

The Stone Chamber Cluster at Archway is located on Nantuan Mountain, south of Archway Village, Shizijie Town, Gaizhou City. It consists of 20 chambers arranged in sequence, extending southwestward.

The chambers are divided into above-ground and underground types. The above-ground chambers are situated atop Nantuan Mountain, descending from the summit. The first chamber (Chamber 1) is positioned at the highest point and oriented east-west. Its covering stone and eastern wall stone are missing, and the upper part of the northern wall stone is broken. The western wall stone is 2 meters long, 0.75 meters high, and 0.35 meters thick; the southern wall stone is 2.3 meters long, 0.75 meters high, and 0.2 meters thick. The base stone of the chamber is 2.7 meters long, 1.7 meters wide, and 0.2 meters thick. The overall length and width of the chamber are roughly equivalent to those of the base stone, and the height matches that of the wall stones. Artifacts unearthed include human bones, a bronze short sword, sword handle tips, spinning whorls, bone needles, bone awls, pottery jars, and beads.

The underground chambers are also oriented east-west but lack a base stone. Chamber 2, for example, measures 2.3 meters long, 1.74 meters wide, and 0.8 meters high. The processed wall stones are uniformly thick. The covering stone lies flush with the surface of the hill. Upon clearing the chamber, artifacts found alongside yellow sandy soil included remnants such as the rim, body fragments, and base of a small flat-bottomed cylindrical jar with reddish-brown, sand-tempered, thick rims.

In 1984, the Yingkou Municipal People's Government (Yingzheng Fa [1984] No. 108) designated the Stone Chamber Cluster at Archway as a municipal-level cultural heritage site. The protection scope and construction control zone defined by the Yingkou Municipal People's Government (Yingzheng Fa [1990] No. 38) are as follows: a 30-meter radius around each chamber constitutes the protected area, with a 50-meter buffer zone beyond that designated as a Class V construction control area.

Source: Municipal Bureau of Culture, Sports, News, and Broadcasting. Contributor: Dong Wenjie

Archway Village: Archway Village... More details about Archway Village++