Baicaogou Site

Baicaogou Site

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

The Baicaogou Site is located on a terrace along the Dagya River east of Anmu Village, approximately 15 kilometers southwest of Wangqing County in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Jilin Province. It is a large settlement site dating from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age.

The site extends about 1,500 meters from east to west and around 500 meters from north to south, covering an area of approximately 750,000 square meters. The cultural layer is exposed along the riverbank cliff for several hundred meters, featuring a wide distribution and rich cultural content. The cultural layer varies in thickness from 0.8 to 1.5 meters and is divided into upper and lower strata. The upper layer, about 0.15 meters thick, belongs to the Iron Age. The dwelling remains are shallow pit-houses with living surfaces made of yellow sand soil mixed with black ash and leveled to about 0.1 meters thick. Stone foundations, hearths, and flues were found on the living surfaces. Artifacts unearthed include stone axes, stone knives, grinding tools, stone daggers, ring-shaped stone implements, grinding plates, grinding rods, sandstone grinders, pottery dou (stemmed bowls), pottery steamers, pottery basins, pottery jars, pottery urns, and iron axes.

The lower layer, about 0.6 meters thick, dates back to the Bronze Age. The dwellings are also shallow pit-houses, with mostly unworked living surfaces. Hearths and flues are rare inside the houses, but stone foundations are present. Artifacts found include [missing artifact], stone axes, bronze buttons, bone needles, bone daggers, oracle bones, bone chisels, pottery basins, pottery jars, and pottery bowls. Approximately 1 kilometer northwest of the site, on the northern slope of Xinhualv Village, there is a cemetery from the same period as the settlement.

The Baicaogou Site represents the remains of the Woju people during the Warring States period to the Wei-Jin period and is one of the most representative sites of the Bronze–Iron Age in the eastern mountainous region of Northeast China. With its rich cultural content, it provides a comprehensive reflection of the social life of the Woju people, as well as their connections with neighboring cultures and even those of the Central Plains. It holds significant historical and scientific value for the study of the development history of China’s eastern frontier.

In May 2006, the Baicaogou Site was approved by the State Council to be included in the sixth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units