Zishan Site

Zishan Site

The Zishan Site is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Zishan Site is located southeast of SanChaJiang Bridge at the eastern foot of Zishan Mountain in Xi'ao Village, Huitou Township (now part of Xi'ao Village, Zhangting Town). Due to the discovery of pottery shards in earlier years, the site was excavated in 1981 by the Provincial Institute of Archaeology. Analysis of the unearthed pottery shards showed three pottery types: high-carbon-content carbonaceous black pottery, as well as high-fired sandy gray-red pottery and clayey gray-red pottery. From September to December 1996, a joint archaeological team composed of the Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Archaeology Department of Xiamen University’s History Faculty conducted another excavation of the site. This three-month excavation covered an area of 350 square meters, with cultural deposits up to 3 meters thick, divided into 10 layers on-site, and yielded over a thousand relics including stone axes, spinning whorls, bone arrowheads, ivory carvings, and numerous pottery items. Based on the discovered artifacts and remains, the site dates back to the second and third cultural layers of the Hemudu Site, approximately 5,500 to 6,400 years ago. The site covers an area of several tens of thousands of square meters, with a cultural layer about 60 centimeters thick.

Major findings from the excavation: First, the discovery and confirmation of the extensive use of flint tools for making stone implements in the Hemudu Culture, which was the first such finding in the excavation of Neolithic sites in Zhejiang Province. Second, the discovery of contiguous stilt-style building remains, mainly including posts, pits, foundations, and supporting timbers—revealing the internal connections between posts, pits, and foundations, and furthering our understanding of the stilt-style architecture of the Hemudu Culture. Third, the pottery unearthed at the Zishan Site, in terms of both types and varieties, is identical to that of the Hemudu Site. Among them, the forms of pottery items such as pots and jars show clear evolutionary trajectories from early to late periods, once again proving that the Hemudu Culture's first through fourth phases form an organically connected and continuously developing whole.

The Zishan Site is well-preserved and was listed as a Provincial-Level Cultural Relics Protection Unit in August 1997. In May 2013, it was designated by the State Council as part of the seventh batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Zhangting Town: Zhangting Town is located in the eastern part of the city, 14 kilometers from the urban area. In the old days, where the Cijiang River and Yaojiang River diverged, there were seventeen or eighteen zhang (approximately 50–60 meters) of stone reefs, upon which a square-zhang room served as the lodging of the old garrison commander, formerly called “Zhangting.” It borders Sanqi Town to the east, Fengshan Subdistrict to the west, faces Yaojiang River and Cixi across the river with Lupu and Hemudu Towns to the south, and adjoins Henghe Town of Cixi City to the north. The town covers an area of 55.86 square kilometers. By the end of 2005, it had 9,940 households, a resident population of 30,145, including 2,829 non-agricultural residents. The town administers Zhangting, Hujiie, Yuxi, Siquanwang, Banyao, Fengdong, Huilong, Longfeng... More details about Zhangting Town++

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units