Shaxi Site

Shaxi Site

The Shaxi Site is a cultural tourism attraction.

The Shaxi Site is located in the northern part of Shaxi Village, Chaiqiao, Beilun District, on the southern side of the Chuanshan–Baifeng Highway, and to the east of Snake Mountain at an elevation of 19 meters. In 1987, the northwestern part of the site near Snake Mountain was still a raised area that extended continuously along the eastern slope of the mountain. Later, due to continuous earth extraction by a brick kiln for firing bricks, the raised ground was gradually leveled, and the Shang-Zhou cultural layers at the upper part of the site disappeared entirely, while the late Neolithic cultural layers were also severely damaged. The current site area is approximately 7,000 square meters.

Through two phases of excavation, it was discovered that the Shaxi Site is not a typical accumulation of site deposits, but rather a special large-scale artificial site, tentatively referred to as the “Multi-Layered Ash Surface” site.

The structure of the “Multi-Layered Ash Surface” site can be described as: using ash surfaces as a medium, divided into many soil layers inclined from north (west) to south (east). The stratigraphic relationship of the site is not only manifested in vertical superposition but more significantly in lateral expansion. Due to the limited excavation area, the exact number of layers of the site could not be clearly determined. Based on the available data, the thickness of the “Multi-Layered Ash Surface” site exceeds 1.4 meters (the upper part has been damaged), with over 10 layers, and an area exceeding 2,000 square meters.

The formation process of the “Multi-Layered Ash Surface” site is believed to be: spreading a layer of relatively clean soil, leveling it slightly, then scattering or burning plant ash, red burned soil, and broken pottery on the surface, and repeating this process. During this procedure, there was an intentional formation of a north-high, south-low incline (possibly related to the slope in the northwest part of the site). During excavation, the medium between layers, in addition to plant ash, also included pottery fragments, red burned soil blocks, and animal bone fragments, while the differences in the soil itself were minimal, all close to the natural subsoil of the respective chronological positions.

Cultural remains predating the “Multi-Layered Ash Surface” site are extremely sparse, mainly consisting of several ash pits. One of them is an acorn storage pit; acorns are a type of starch-based food. Analysis of pottery fragments unearthed from several pits indicates that they belong to the same period as the “ash surface” site that overlies them.

Regarding the nature of the “Multi-Layered Ash Surface” site, only speculative analysis can be made based on the connotations of the stratigraphic media. Plant ash, red burned soil, and pottery fragments are all related to fire; in addition, there are also numerous bones of animals and fish on the interfaces, which are likely remnants of meat consumption. From this, it is inferred that each interface of the piled-up site corresponds to a religious activity or ritual. This ritual must have been related to the function of the site. The site is close to the sea, and whether it reflects the coastal inhabitants' religious mentality of fear and worship toward the sea—related to concepts such as “fire” or the “conflict between water and fire”—awaits further verification.

Cultural artifacts are primarily pottery, with very few stone tools. The pottery includes sandy clay, fine clay, and coarse clay types, among which some sandy clay and coarse clay pottery bodies, due to insufficient firing temperatures, exhibit a “charcoal-included” state, showing that the pottery contains organic material. Types of pottery include tripods, cauldrons, jars, plates, beans, bowls, and cauldron supports. Among them, the fish-fin-shaped basin-like tripod and the bamboo-joint-handled black pottery bean are typical items of the Liangzhu culture. Cord-marked cauldrons and cauldron supports also exhibit features of the post-Hemudu culture. The majority of the pottery consists of a type of coarse clay red pottery, characterized by small mouths, mainly including low-ring-footed jars, as well as cord-marked cauldrons, tripods, and a type of straight-mouthed bowl. This group of pottery has regional characteristics and is similar to the Matao Site on Zhoushan Islands, representing a new archaeological type in the coastal regions of Zhejiang.