Yufeng Site

Yufeng Site

The Yufeng Site is a cultural heritage protection unit of Suzhou City.

The Yufeng Site is located on the southern side of the western foothills of Yufeng Mountain. It was named after being discovered near Yufeng Mountain and is a cultural site of ancient human activity from the Neolithic Age. The site covers an area of 1,000 square meters, with a circular earthen platform in the center rising 7.8 meters above the ground surface, covering approximately 366 square meters. It was discovered in November 1992 during road construction when earth was being excavated. A large number of pottery shards from the Majiabang Culture—including red, black, and gray pieces—fragments of black-glazed pottery and gray pottery from the Songze Culture, as well as 11 stone implements such as axes and adzes from the Liangzhu Culture were collected. Part of the elevated terrain still remains. In July 2004, it was announced as part of the third batch of cultural heritage protection units in Kunshan City.

It is understood that traces of ancient inhabitants have been found in areas such as Yufeng Mountain, Chuodun Mountain, Zhaoling Mountain, Shaoqing Mountain, Huangni Mountain, and Taishidian. Around 6,500 years ago, there was a fluctuation and decline in the sea level of the East China Sea, causing the seawater to recede eastward, with the sea level being about 3–4 meters lower than it is today. At that time, the ancestors of Kunshan gradually moved from the higher southern foothills of Ma’anshan (Yufeng Site) to lakeside areas such as Chuodun Mountain, beginning a settled way of life. The Yufeng Site is the earliest known dwelling place of the primitive inhabitants of Kunshan.