Yao Dun Site

Yao Dun Site

The Yao Dun Site is a cultural heritage conservation unit of Suzhou City.

The Yao Dun Site is located on the earthen mound in Fanjiali Village, Yanma Village, Dongzhu Town. Originally, the Yao Dun was an earthen mound about 3 to 4 meters high and covering an area of approximately 400 square meters. It was gradually leveled due to soil extraction by a local kiln. The site’s boundary extends west to the pond in Fanjiali Village, south to the southern edge of the same pond, east to the small river of the kiln, and north to the high fields, covering a total area of over 40,000 square meters.

In April 1980, villagers discovered an ancient Eastern Han Dynasty tomb while excavating soil to build a kiln. During subsequent archaeological excavations, a variety of artifacts were collected, including a finely polished double-holed stone axe, a standard stone adze, large tripod feet made of red pottery mixed with sand in the shape of fish fins, tripod feet with a “T”-shaped cross-section, red pottery ears covered with incised patterns, black-coated gray pottery dou (food vessel) bases, dou handles decorated with bamboo joint patterns and openwork designs, fragments of red pottery jars with additional clay stacks and chiseled patterns, as well as gray and black-coated pottery jar rims. The characteristics of these cultural relics are similar to those of early and typical Liangzhu culture artifacts found at the Caoshan and Zhanglingshan sites in Wu County, indicating that this is an ancient cultural site dating back around 4,500 years. The Yao Dun Site is the first Neolithic cultural site discovered in the mountainous western region of Wu County. The discovery of this cultural site provides important physical evidence for further research into the ancient cultures of the Taihu Lake Basin.