Pingyuancun Ancient Cultural Site

Pingyuancun Ancient Cultural Site

The Pingyuancun Ancient Cultural Site is a Shanghai Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Pingyuancun Ancient Cultural Site (PingyuancunGuwenhuaYizhi) is located about 13 kilometers northwest of the city, at the foot of the eastern side of Xiaojishan Mountain. In 1960, during an archaeological survey organized by the Municipal Cultural Relics Management Committee, ancient relics were exposed along both banks of a newly excavated river channel that runs north-south through the plains village at the mountain’s base. The collected relics mainly belong to the late-period stamped pottery culture of the Tinglin type, including a gray pottery three-legged plate with ring-footed gui patterns, a sandy clay tripod cauldron with conical feet, as well as stamped pottery fragments featuring twisted, rope, and mat patterns. In 1979, during foundation excavation for a deep pit at the Tianma Commune Agricultural Machinery Factory near Xiaojishan, a black soil layer at a depth of 0.80 meters yielded relics such as a rectangular polished perforated stone axe of the Songze culture type, a latticed-handle gray pottery bean pot with a coarse handle, a four-loop chicken-crest-rim jar, and a net-patterned jar with impressed designs. These findings led to the conclusion that the early portions of this site belong to the Songze and Liangzhu culture types.