Jiaozhuang Site

Jiaozhuang Site

The Jiaozhuang Site is located southeast of Jiaozhuang in Lunan Village, Feng Township, Donghai County. It lies east of the Lunan River and west of the Nian River, appearing as an elongated earthen mound about 3 meters higher than the surrounding land. The mound is higher in the north and lower in the south, covering an area of approximately 20,000 square meters. It was discovered in 1960, and in 1973, the Nanjing Museum excavated 300 square meters of the site, uncovering cultural remains from the Western Zhou and Western Han periods.

The remains from the early Western Zhou period represent a village site. A well was found in the eastern part of the site, likely part of the residential area. In the western part, a cemetery was discovered, where seven tombs were excavated. The burials featured individuals lying supine with straight limbs and hands placed on the abdomen, wrapped in rush mats, most without burial objects. The deceased were mostly young and middle-aged adults. Artifacts unearthed include stone axes, sickles, chisels, adzes, and spinning whorls; bone awls, arrowheads, chisels, shovels, knives, clam sickles; bronze arrowheads, scrapers; pottery li tripods, bu jars, dou stem-cups, yu basins, bowls, net sinkers, and beaters; as well as animal remains such as deer, cattle, and pigs. Notably, rice grains from the Western Zhou period were excavated at the site. According to identification by the Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, they belong to the japonica subspecies of cultivated rice. Artifacts from the Western Han period include iron knives, adzes, bronze arrowheads, wuzhu coins, pottery jars, basins, steamers, and dou stem-cups, as well as construction materials such as roof tiles, tubular tiles, cloud-patterned half eaves tiles, and cloud-patterned mixed-leaf round eaves tiles.