Shangpo Site in Rongcheng

Shangpo Site in Rongcheng

The Shangpo Site in Rongcheng is a cultural heritage protection unit of Hebei Province.

The Shangpo Site is a Neolithic to Shang Dynasty archaeological site, located on a platform 50 meters south of Shangpo Village, about 1 kilometer south of Rongcheng County. The site is rectangular in shape, measuring 100 meters from north to south and 20 meters from east to west, covering an area of approximately 2,000 square meters. From April 1981 to May 1982, provincial, regional, and county cultural relics workers conducted excavations at the Shangpo Site. Its cultural layers generally accumulated to a depth of 1–3 meters, covering an area of 988 square meters, and were divided into four strata from top to bottom: Cishan Culture, Yangshao Culture, Longshan Culture, and Shang Culture.

The excavation unearthed over 500 artifacts including pottery, stone tools, and bone implements. The Cishan Culture layer yielded pottery bowls, supports, grinding plates, and grinding rods. The shapes and combinations of these items were consistent with those found at the Cishan Site. The Yangshao Culture layer produced painted pottery bowls and double-handled brown pottery jars. The Longshan Culture layer contained folded-rim basins, basket-patterned pottery jars, and double-handled jars. The Shang Dynasty layer included pottery such as li tripods, gui vessels, dou stemmed bowls, basins, spinning whorls, and net sinkers. Bone artifacts included bone awls, knives, spoons, and deer antler hammers. Stone tools comprised knives, sickles, axes, chisels, pestles, grinding plates, and grinding rods. In addition, two housing foundations and 83 ash pits from the late Shang Dynasty were also discovered.

The house foundations were rectangular, featuring doorways, door sills, roof posts (only post holes remain), as well as drainage facilities outside the entrances. Each house had cooking hearths near the entrance, with chimneys leading outdoors. These remains reveal the living conditions of Shang people 3,000 years ago. The excavation of the Shangpo Site expanded the known distribution of the Cishan Culture from northern Henan and southern Hebei to the area north of Baoding, possessing significant historical and archaeological value. It was also the first discovery of a Cishan Culture layer in the Baoding region. In July 1982, the site was designated as a key cultural relic protection unit of Hebei Province.

Exact location: On a platform 50 meters south of Shangpo Village, about 1 kilometer south of Rongcheng County

Further reading:

· Second Batch of Key Cultural Relics Protection Units of Hebei Province