The Wudangang Site

The Wudangang Site

The Wudangang Site is a cultural heritage protection unit of Anhui Province.

The Wudangang Site is located in Fengshou Village, Huoli Town, Ma'anshan, Anhui Province. It was accidentally discovered by local cultural heritage authorities during a cultural relics survey conducted in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It is a renowned cultural site in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The site is adjacent to the famous Putan Scenic Area, and the surrounding region features diverse landforms. The ancient site exhibits a distinct "Hushu" cultural style, characterized by a typical southern temperament that differs from the Central Plains and Jianghuai cultures of the time.

The Wudangang Site covers a total area of 100,000 square meters. The settlement included multiple functional zones. Archaeologists discovered over 40 artifacts from the Shang and Western Zhou dynasties, as well as a burial site, with the burial area spanning approximately 7,000 square meters. In 2002, the Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology led a rescue excavation of a 2,500-square-meter living area, unearthing nearly 400 artifacts across three major categories: production tools, household items, and weapons, including stone, pottery, bronze, proto-porcelain, and bone objects. These findings indicate that as early as 3,500 years ago, the area already had highly developed handicrafts, agriculture, and fishing industries, making it one of the central settlements in ancient China.

One of the major discoveries at the Wudangang Site is a well. The well opening has a diameter of about 13 to 14 meters, with a bottom diameter of around 1.2 meters, both nearly circular. Except for slight damage to the upper part, the well is remarkably well-preserved. At its center is a nearly circular stone ring, initially about 95 centimeters in diameter, which gradually expands downward. At a depth of 8 meters, the shaft diameter reaches about 1.2 meters, then narrows again to 85 centimeters until the bottom. A row of vertical footholds is found on the southeastern outer wall of the well, likely used during its construction. Approximately 100 meters from this ancient well lies the former moat. Why did the ancient inhabitants choose to dig a well instead of using the readily available river water? Professor Che Guangjin from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics explains that residents in the middle and lower Yangtze River region suffered from schistosomiasis for a long time, and digging wells was a necessary measure to prevent the disease.

Artifacts such as plows, wooden objects, bronze arrowheads, and animal bones were found in the fill soil outside the well. Inside the well, a wealth of cultural relics was discovered, predominantly pottery. Analysis of the excavation process suggests that the backfill soil inside the well originated from the cultural layer of the Wudangang Site and was artificially deposited. Artifacts such as oracle bones, peach pits, deer antlers, and a broken bronze sword indicate that the early use of the well also coincided with the period of its most intensive water usage. Moreover, the time of the backfilling should not be later than the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, suggesting that the settlement’s later residents no longer used this water source.

Wells of the same scale and type are unprecedented in China. The cultural relics unearthed from the well serve as a vivid encyclopedia, authentically showcasing the social life of people during the Shang and Zhou periods. The pottery unearthed from the well shows clear chronological stratification, providing an excellent cultural development sequence for future research on this settlement. Notably, some pottery pieces are exquisitely crafted, such as high-necked jars and stamped hard pottery, indicating that the pottery firing techniques of the time had reached a very advanced level. Some of the stamped hard pottery artifacts feature green glaze. In particular, the proto-porcelain exhibits very fine body material, a hard texture, low water absorption, and evenly applied glaze, demonstrating that the ancestors in Ma'anshan had already mastered mature proto-porcelain firing techniques. Stamped hard pottery and proto-porcelain laid the foundation for the later development of mature Chinese porcelain. This excavation has yielded many complete related artifacts, offering significant research value. It is worth mentioning that three oracle bones were unearthed at a depth of 13.3 meters in the well, providing a true reflection of the spread of Central Plains culture into the southern regions.