Guniu Mountain City Site

Guniu Mountain City Site

Guniu Mountain City Site is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Guniu Mountain City Site

Number: 7-0194-1-194

Era: Western Zhou to Spring and Autumn Period

Type: Ancient Ruins

Location: Nanling County, Wuhu City, Anhui Province

Introduction:

The Guniu Mountain City Site is located in Xianjin Village, Shipu Township, about 3 kilometers east of Nanling County. It lies adjacent to National Highway 318 to the north and borders National Highway 205 to the southwest.

Discovered in 1985, the site was investigated in detail using aerial remote sensing technology in the autumn of 1986, confirming it as an ancient city site. In 1997, the Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology conducted surveys and excavations at the ancient city. The Guniu Mountain ancient city has a rectangular layout, approximately 900 meters long from north to south and 750 meters wide from east to west, covering an area of about 700,000 square meters. The northern half of the city consists of five high terraces, separated by waterways that also connect to the outer moat. These terraces are relatively independent. The southern half features flat terrain, with an earthen platform of about 100 square meters each at the southeast and southwest corners, where the cultural deposit layer is approximately 0.3 meters thick. The moat, 20 to 50 meters wide, encircles the entire city and includes both inlet and outlet channels. The city's design is rational and its layout rigorous, demonstrating strong defensive capabilities.

Excavations carried out between 1997 and 1998 uncovered multiple remains such as pottery kilns, bronze casting sites, building foundations, and carbonized rice husks. Over a hundred artifacts were unearthed, including pottery, proto-porcelain, bronze ware, and stone tools, with the majority being sandy red pottery and geometric-patterned hard pottery. Pottery items included tripods, cauldrons, vessels, bean-shaped containers, jars, bowls, and basins, while the geometric-patterned hard pottery featured jars, pots, and vats. The decorative patterns mainly consisted of meanders, mat designs, zigzag lines, filled triangular patterns, filled diamond patterns, and thunder motifs. The vessel shapes exhibit distinct regional characteristics, dating from the late Shang Dynasty to the early Spring and Autumn Period.

The Guniu Mountain City Site is one of the earliest discovered, large-scale, long-lasting, and well-preserved urban sites from the Shang and Zhou periods in southern Anhui. It holds significant value for studying the socio-economic and cultural aspects of the Wu and Yue regions, especially in exploring their relationship with the Dagongshan and Fenghuangshan copper mine sites and the cluster of earthen burial mounds in southern Anhui.

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units