Shagutun Site

Shagutun Site

The Shagutun Site is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Era: Neolithic Age

The Shagutun Site is located in a natural cave on the eastern slope of Xifu Mountain in Shagutun Township, Nanpiao District, Huludao City, Liaoning Province. The cave entrance is about 2 meters high, 3 meters wide, and nearly 10 meters deep. Inside the cave, three naturally formed sections of space gradually narrow toward the back, resembling a slightly horn-like shape. It was discovered in June 1921 by Swedish geologist Dr. Johan Gunnar Andersson, who was invited by the Chinese government to conduct geological surveys.

A large number of stone tools, bone tools, and pottery artifacts were unearthed at the site. Among the stone tools were polished stone axes, stone knives, as well as various stone products such as stone rings and stone beads. Bone tools included bone awls, bone needles, and bone arrowheads with double wings. The pottery was mostly in fragments, all in gray-brown color, with rope-pattern decorations being the main type, along with incised patterns, wavy patterns, and other designs. Among them, pottery with a specific decorative pattern is what people commonly refer to as "painted pottery."

The stone pagoda is located on Shilong Mountain and was built in the sixth year of the Taihe era of the Jin Dynasty (1206), classified as a provincial-level protected cultural relic. The pagoda is constructed from stone in a hexagonal five-tiered form, standing about 5 meters tall. It is assembled from ten carved stone blocks and placed atop a large sedimentary rock. The base of the pagoda is of the Sumeru style, with each recessed waist section carved with a door, inside which is a beast sculpted in various expressions. The body of the pagoda features a lotus pedestal, with each face centered around a pointed arch-shaped niche housing a seated Buddha atop a lotus. The niches are adorned with carvings and decorated with canopies. Each corner has a round pillar. Above the body of the pagoda, five stone blocks form the eaves, with upward-curving corners that gradually taper with each level. The topmost level converges to a hexagonal spire, topped with a jade bead finial. The upper part of the eaves features carvings of ridges, beasts, and tiles, with circular holes at the front ends of the corner ridges for hanging wind chimes. On the rocks to the southwest of the pagoda is inscribed “the seventh month of the sixth year of Taihe.”

The Shagutun Stone Pagoda holds an important position in the history of Buddhist architecture and is recorded in many reference works, including the Encyclopedia of Chinese Buddhism.

Protected Area: Within 5 meters outward from the center of the cave entrance in the east, south, west, and north directions.

Construction Control Zone: A secondary construction control zone within 30 meters outside the protected area.

Shagutun Township: Shagutun Township is located 5 kilometers from the seat of Nanpiao District on the western section of the Jinzhao Highway, bordering Chaoyang County. It governs 11 administrative villages and 33 natural villages, with a population of 13,240. The total area of the jurisdiction is 1,143.3 hectares, of which 1,045.4 hectares are land (including 468.9 hectares of forest, 271.7 hectares of farmland, 3.3 hectares of difficult-to-use land, and 17.12 hectares of pastureland, with a forest coverage rate of 10%), and 97.9 hectares are water bodies. There are many barren hills and little arable land; it is a typical hilly mountainous region.

The area is rich in coal resources, which form the pillar industry of the township... More detailed information on Shagutun Township++

Further Reading:

· Fifth Batch of Cultural Relics Protection Units in Liaoning Province

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units