The Xuejiagang Ancient Cultural Site

The Xuejiagang Ancient Cultural Site

The Xuejiagang Ancient Cultural Site is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Xuejiagang site is located in Wanghe Town, Qianshan County, Anhui Province, covering a total area of approximately 100,000 square meters. Since 1979, the Anhui Provincial Institute of Archaeology and the Department of Paleoanthropology at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou have excavated the Qianshan Xuejiagang site six times, unearthing more than 3,000 cultural relics. Among these unearthed relics, stone tools such as stone shovels and odd-numbered perforated stone knives are particularly distinctive, with floral and fruit-shaped patterns painted around the perforations—features that are extremely rare. One 13-hole stone knife is not only the first of its kind found in China but is also unique in the history of world archaeology.

The site is situated by the Qian River, elevated 3–7 meters above the surrounding farmland, forming an oval-shaped terrace with a total area of about 60,000 square meters. Within the over 1,000 square meters of excavated ponds, five natural strata can be observed based on soil structure.

The first layer is the cultivated topsoil, the second layer belongs to the Tang and Song dynasties cultural stratum, the third to the Shang dynasty cultural stratum, and the fourth and fifth layers are the Neolithic cultural strata. Judging from the superimposed relationship of the fourth and fifth layers and the variations in burial goods, the Neolithic people of Qianshan had already moved away from the nomadic life of primitive tribes, gradually settling down and creating relatively advanced tools for daily life and production.

The site is surrounded by water on three sides and backed by a mountain on one, making it convenient for accessing drinking water, farming, aquaculture, and escaping to the mountains in times of disaster. This uniquely situated settlement was named “Xuejiagang Culture” by the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and designated as a Provincial Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit by the Anhui Provincial Government. It provides valuable material for studying the life and production activities of humans in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River during the Neolithic Age.

According to officials from the Qianshan County Cultural Department, the Xuejiagang site protection project has a total investment of 34 million yuan and will be implemented in three phases. The currently ongoing Phase I project has a total investment of 3.4 million yuan, mainly focusing on the preservation of the site itself, including lake management, slope and guardrail construction, pedestrian pathways, and management facilities. Phase I is expected to be completed in the first half of next year. Phases II and III will integrate the development of a site park with tourism projects that showcase the natural landscape of Tianzhu Mountain, such as reconstructing scenes of primitive human life. It is reported that the entire project will take 15 years, after which the Xuejiagang site, which has been dormant for 5,000 years, will be restored to its original appearance.

It has been determined that the Xuejiagang site dates back over 5,000 years. Due to its long duration, wide distribution, thick cultural layers, abundant relics, and profound cultural significance, it has become a typical representative of the ancient culture in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River—the Xuejiagang Culture—and has been listed as a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit. Xuejiagang Culture is also the only independently developed tribal culture in Anhui, occupying an extremely important position in the research of Neolithic culture in the Yangtze River basin.

Xuejiagang Village: Xuejiagang Village was formed in 2005 through the merger of the former Lihua and Yonggang administrative villages. It is named after the Xuejiagang Ancient Cultural Site located within its boundaries. The village lies in the northeastern part of Wanghe Town, bordering the Qian River to the east and facing Youba Township of the same county, adjacent to Xinfaxiang and Hezhen villages to the southwest, and bordering Chengjiajing Village to the northwest. The village has two main township-level roads, Guigang Road and Guiyuan Road; Guigang Road has been completed, while Guiyuan Road is under construction. The village comprises 28 villager groups, with 910 households and a population of 3,786, including 2,300 able-bodied workers, of whom 1,700 work outside the village. District division... Detailed information on Xuejiagang Village++

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units