Zhangling Mountain Site

Zhangling Mountain Site

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

The Zhangling Mountain Site is located 2 kilometers southwest of Luzhi Town, Wuxian. It was discovered in 1956 and re-examined by the Nanjing Museum in 1957.

Zhangling Mountain is actually composed of two earthen mounds, about 100 meters apart from east to west, commonly known as East Hill and West Hill, each covering an area of approximately 6,000 square meters and standing about 6 meters above the ground. In 1977 and 1979, the Nanjing Museum and the Wuxian Cultural Relics Management Committee conducted two phases of excavation on West Hill. In 1982 and 1984, excavations were carried out at the East Hill site of Zhangling Mountain. The cultural layer accumulation at the site is about 8.4 meters thick, uncovering a total of 14 Neolithic tombs, one tomb of Wu culture, and five brick-chambered tombs from the Jin dynasties.

The Neolithic tombs include eight from the Songze culture and six from the early Liangzhu culture. Among the artifacts unearthed from the Songze culture tombs are finely polished production tools such as perforated stone axes and stone adzes; exquisite jade ornaments including huangs, cong, yuans, bracelets, rings, tubes, pendants, beads, and ornaments; and pottery items such as tripods, gui, dou, pots, bowls, jars, basins, cups, urns, vats, bowls, and lids. Among these, the tripod with drilled feet, latticed dou, folded-belly jar, and sunflower-petal-foot cup are typical artifacts of the Songze culture. The early Liangzhu culture tombs yielded artifacts such as tripods with fish-fin feet, long-necked pots, wide gui, solid-foot gui, as well as jade cong, jade yuans, which show transitional characteristics toward the Liangzhu culture. Jade cong, jade bi, jade yuans, jade bracelets, jade pendants, and the discovery of human head burials in the tombs reflect the emergence of private ownership and social stratification as primitive communes neared disintegration.

Luzhi Town: Luzhi, located 25 kilometers southeast of Suzhou City, borders the Wusong River to the north, faces Chenghu Lake to the south, connects to the Industrial Park to the west, and links to Kunshan to the east. The town covers an area of 115 square kilometers (including the 40-square-kilometer Chenghu Lake water area), and governs 16 administrative villages and 2 communities, with a total population of over 200,000. Roads such as the Suzhou-Shanghai Expressway, the Outer Ring Expressway, Luzhi Avenue, and East Avenue run through the town, giving it a superior location and convenient transportation.

Luzhi is a water town with a history of over 2,500 years and profound cultural heritage. It has been hailed by Mr. Fei Xiaotong as "the foremost water town in China." The town boasts numerous cultural and historical attractions... More details about Luzhi Town++