Site of the Guta Temple Ruins

Site of the Guta Temple Ruins

The Site of the Guta Temple Ruins is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Era: Neolithic Age

The Site of the Guta Temple Ruins is located in the farmland about 200 meters south of Yaocun Village, Caotown, Weiqiao District, approximately 10 kilometers from the Xiaoshankou Site.

In the southern part of the site, there is an earthen platform about 10 meters above the ground. It is said that there used to be temple structures on the platform, hence the name “Guta Temple.” The Guta Temple Ruins are slightly higher than the current ground level, stretching about 300 meters from north to south and about 200 meters from east to west, covering a total area of approximately 60,000 square meters.

The site was discovered in 1982. In the spring of 1990, the Anhui Team of the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, conducted another survey of the site, followed by trial excavations in 1991. The stratigraphy of the Guta Temple Ruins, apart from the plow layer, includes deposits from the Han Dynasty, the Dawenkou Culture, and the early Neolithic Age. The surface of the site is scattered with a large number of pottery fragments and a small number of stone tools, mostly gray pottery and a few red pottery pieces. Artifacts include tripods, jars, and dou vessels, mostly decorated with cord and string patterns. A large quantity of bone, horn, stone, and pottery artifacts were unearthed during the excavation.

The excavation of the Guta Temple Ruins uncovered stratigraphic evidence of the chronological sequence between the early Neolithic culture and the Dawenkou Culture in northern Anhui, providing rich physical material for further understanding the features, nature, and interconnections of the Dawenkou and Longshan cultures in the region.

Protected Area: East to the ditch, south to the northern bank of the east-west ditch, west to the eastern bank of the ditch, north to the southern stream of Yaocun Village.

Construction Control Zone: Outside the protected area — 50 meters north, 200 meters east and west respectively, and 10 meters south of the high-voltage power line.

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units