Wannbei Site

Wannbei Site

The Wannbei Site is a protected cultural heritage site of Jiangsu Province.

The Wannbei Site is located 15 kilometers north of Shuyang County and approximately 2 kilometers east of the Lao Shuhe River. It currently belongs to Wannbei Village, Wanpi Township, Shuyang County, Huaiyin City. It was discovered in the spring of 1987 during an archaeological survey conducted by the Nanjing Museum and the Huaiyin City Museum in Shuyang. The site rises about 2 meters above the surrounding ground, covering a total area of 100,000 square meters.

From 1987 to 1988, the Nanjing Museum and the Huaiyin City Museum conducted trial excavations and two phases of formal excavations at the site, uncovering an area of 500 square meters. The site has relatively thick cultural deposits, generally reaching around 3.5 meters. It includes burials and ash pits. Chronologically, the cultural layers from bottom to top consist of early Neolithic remains, Qingliangang culture, Dawenkou culture, Yueshi culture, as well as late Shang Dynasty burials.

The early Neolithic cultural remains have been radiocarbon-dated and calibrated to approximately 6,540 years ago. The pottery is predominantly orange-red clay pottery, followed by sandy pottery. Major artifacts include clay bowls and sandy jars, with tripods and jars as the main cooking vessels. Handmade production was predominant. Stone tools are rare among the implements, but there is an abundance of bone tools used for fishing and hunting, including many bone needles. The stratum contains large amounts of shells.

The Qingliangang culture remains include ash pits and child burials. Major finds include tripods, pots, bowls, and jars. The surfaces of the artifacts commonly feature incised line patterns, along with numerous pieces of painted pottery, mainly decorated with wave and net-like patterns. This period lacks stone tools but features a wealth of bone tools, along with a large number of animal bones identified as belonging to elk, sika deer, pigs, and dogs. Child burials were found in supine extended positions, accompanied by painted pottery bowls and small-necked double-handled jars, with the bowls placed over the heads.

The Dawenkou culture remains include burials. Pottery finds include tripods, bean pots, jars, basins, pots, cups, bowls, and other items. Stone tools include axes, spades, and adzes. Interior painted designs are absent, with only exterior-painted pottery present. This phase is roughly contemporaneous with the middle period of the Dawenkou culture, specifically the Huating phase.

The Yueshi culture remains have only been found in a localized area to the eastern part of the site. The pottery is primarily sandy reddish-brown, followed by gray pottery. Key finds include zun (wine vessels), jars, cups, li (tripod cauldrons), ding (cooking vessels), and mushroom-shaped knob lids. Most of the artifacts were wheel-made, with thick walls and prominent ridges.

The late Shang Dynasty burials are all shallow vertical pit tombs oriented east-west, with bodies in a supine extended position and heads facing east. Burials with waist pits and human sacrifices were discovered, most of which were single burials. Most tombs contained bronze weapons, production tools, and pottery. Types of pottery included li, ding, jars, bean pots, gui (food vessels), and gu (wine vessels). Some of these exhibit distinct regional characteristics, generally plain or adorned with triangular incised patterns.

The discovery and excavation of the Wannbei Site provide important information for studying the types of Neolithic cultures in the lower reaches of the Huai River and offer significant clues for research on the relationship between Shang culture and Dongyi culture.

On December 19, 2011, the Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government designated it as a provincial-level cultural heritage protection unit in the seventh batch.

Further reading:

· Seventh Batch of Jiangsu Provincial Cultural Heritage Protection Units