Luobei Lingshan Site

Luobei Lingshan Site

The Luobei Lingshan Site is a Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Heritage Conservation Unit.

The Lingshan Site is located in Luobei Subdistrict, Luqiao District, Taizhou City, dating back to the Neolithic Age.

The Qiaolingshan Site is a provincial-level cultural heritage conservation unit, located at the eastern foot of Lingshan in the western part of Luqiao urban area. In March 2010, during construction work at the foot of Lingshan, an archaeology enthusiast discovered the site. Thereafter, the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, together with staff from the Luqiao District Museum, carried out archaeological surveys and trial excavations.

The surface elevation of the Lingshan Site ranges from 3 to 5 meters, with cultural deposits lying beneath layers of miscellaneous and uneven sandy soil of varying thickness, distributed along the terrain in slope-like formations. Based on the depth of the strata and the unearthed artifacts, it can mainly be divided into two formation phases: the upper (later phase) and the lower (earlier phase), corresponding to the Shang and Zhou periods, and the late Hemudu Culture, respectively. It is a prehistoric and Shang-Zhou period village-type site. The overall thickness of the cultural layers within the excavation area mostly ranges from 50 to 100 centimeters.

The unearthed artifacts mainly include: relatively small fragments of sand-tempered reddish-brown pottery, clay gray pottery, and stamped hard pottery, most of which are difficult to identify as complete vessel forms; a small number of stone tools such as axes, adzes, arrowheads, whetstones, and knives; very few wooden tools, as well as animal and plant remains such as deer antlers, jujubes, and carbonized rice grains. Among them, particularly precious is the discovery of a dugout wooden well barrel, slightly flared at the mouth, with a cinched waist, and traces of gray-black coating still preserved on parts of the outer wall. The well barrel has an overall height of 80 centimeters, a diameter of 60 to 75 centimeters, and a wall thickness of 1 to 5 centimeters. It is the earliest whole-log wooden barrel structure discovered in the province to date and is extremely rare.

The Lingshan Site also retains architectural remains. In the third and fourth excavation areas, archaeologists discovered a number of small pits of varying sizes, depths, and shapes, most with irregular, nearly circular openings, with diameters mostly between 20 and 50 centimeters, and the deepest being 40 centimeters. Based on the size and arrangement of these pits, archaeologists believe they are remnants of the foundation parts of housing structures at the time.

A large quantity of carbonized rice grains was unearthed at the Lingshan Site. These rice grains are well-preserved and exhibit diverse forms. Radiocarbon dating indicates they date back 5,000 years. They provide valuable material for studying the evolution of prehistoric agriculture and the expansion of regional cultures in Zhejiang.

The discovery and excavation of the Lingshan Site push the cultural origin of the Taizhou coastal area from the Shang and Zhou periods back to the late Hemudu period, about 6,000 years ago. It provides important data for studying the causes of the decline, transmission directions, and diffusion routes of the late Hemudu Culture.

On January 13, 2017, it was announced as part of the seventh batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Heritage Conservation Units.

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Heritage Conservation Units