Beiyinyangying Site

Beiyinyangying Site

The Beiyinyangying Site is located on the west side of Gulou Hill in downtown Nanjing, on the eastern bank of the Jinchuan River. The site is an oval-shaped earthen mound about 5 meters high, covering an area of 7,100 square meters. It was discovered in 1954, and from 1955 to 1958, the Nanjing Museum conducted four excavations there, uncovering an area of 3,132 square meters. The cultural layer accumulation is generally about 4 meters thick, containing remains of the Neolithic Age and the Hushu Culture from the equivalent of the Shang and Zhou dynasties in the Central Plains.

The Neolithic cultural remains are divided into eastern and western zones. The eastern zone is a residential area, while the western zone is a communal clan cemetery. In the residential area, remnants of rectangular living surfaces and hearths were found, along with several ash pits nearby. The cemetery yielded 253 graves, densely distributed with up to four layers of superimposition. No burial pits or coffins were found. The prevalent burial style was supine with straight limbs, with a few instances of flexed burials. Grave goods typically numbered fewer than 10 items, commonly including stone adzes, axes, pottery tripods, bowls, bean pots, jade huangs, jade rings, and jade tubes. Notable among the stone tools were seven-hole stone knives and perforated stone hoes, while distinctive pottery items included jar-style tripods, three-legged vessels, round-bottomed bowls, and painted pottery. A few graves also included one or two pig jawbones as offerings. The estimated age is over 5,000 years. This assemblage is quite rich and holds certain typological significance, and it is generally referred to by archaeologists as the Beiyinyangying Culture.

The Shang and Zhou dynasty remains consist of the second and third layers. According to carbon-14 dating, the second layer dates to 1195±105 BCE, and the third layer to 1540±90 BCE. These belong to the Hushu Culture of the Bronze Age in the Jiangnan region. Features include house foundations and pottery kilns. The main production tools were stone implements such as axes, adzes, knives, and sickles, while pottery was predominantly sandy red earthenware, along with gray clay pottery, geometric-patterned stoneware, and primitive celadon. Major vessel shapes included li tripods, ding tripods, basins, jars, bowls, bean pots, plain li tripods, and li tripods with horn-like handles, all featuring regionally distinctive pottery patterns and forms. Small bronze items such as knives, axes, arrowheads, and fishhooks have been discovered, along with divination tortoise shells and oracle bones.