The Heying Site

The Heying Site

The Heying Site is a cultural heritage site protected by Anhui Province.

The Heying Site is surrounded by water on three sides, with its surface now used as farmland, covering an area of approximately 6,000 square meters. The site’s stratigraphic layers are mostly horizontally deposited, generally at a depth of around 2–3 meters. Aside from the upper layer, which consists of early Western Zhou cultural deposits, most of the site dates to the late Shang Dynasty. The settlement layout is roughly divided into residential areas, burial grounds, and ritual areas. The site was excavated in 2002, uncovering a number of house foundations, ash pits, tombs, and ritual remains, along with hundreds of artifacts including pottery, stone tools, bronze ware, and bone and horn implements. It represents the first large-scale scientific excavation of a settlement site from the Shang and Zhou periods in eastern Anhui, and has helped establish a new local archaeological culture type. Its rich cultural content and numerous unearthed relics also provide favorable conditions for multidisciplinary comprehensive research.