The Xiàqīyuán Site

The Xiàqīyuán Site is located on the terrace on the north bank of the Zhang River, southwest of Shíyíng Village in Cixian County. The site boasts an extremely rich cultural content. Apart from a portion of Warring States period tombs, the remains are primarily pre-Shang dynasty artifacts. In 1974, to support local farmland infrastructure projects, the Hebei Provincial Cultural Relics Management Office and other organizations conducted excavations at the site, uncovering a total of 30 excavation units…

The Xiàqīyuán Site

The Xiàqīyuán Site

The Xiàqīyuán Site is located on the terrace on the north bank of the Zhang River, southwest of Shíyíng Village in Cixian County. The site boasts an extremely rich cultural content. Apart from a portion of Warring States period tombs, the remains are primarily pre-Shang dynasty artifacts. In 1974, to support local farmland infrastructure projects, the Hebei Provincial Cultural Relics Management Office and other organizations conducted excavations at the site, uncovering a total of 30 excavation units covering an area of 960 square meters. The excavation yielded 4 pottery items, 104 ash pits, 23 Shang dynasty tombs, 6 Warring States period tombs, 19 human skeletons, and 5 skeletons of cattle, deer, and pigs. A total of 304 pottery artifacts, 354 bone artifacts, 481 stone artifacts, 274 shell artifacts, 34 horn artifacts, as well as 124 other cultural relics including oracle bones and bronze arrowheads were unearthed.

The Xiàqīyuán Site is divided into four clear stratigraphic layers with distinct artifact characteristics. It provides a reliable stratigraphic basis for the periodization of Shang culture in southern Hebei. The main features of the Xiàqīyuán Site include one group of pottery items such as sandy-tempered jars with waist ridges, olive-shaped jars, flared-rim deep-bellied basins, and cord-marked shallow-bellied flat-bottom basins; and another group consisting of bulging-bellied li tripods, arc-bellied li tripods, and egg-shaped urns. These two groups of pottery essentially represent the defining features of the Xiàqīyuán Site. In academic circles, they are referred to as the “Xiàqīyuán Culture,” making this site a representative example of the typical pre-Shang Zhang River type culture. It is now a key cultural relic protection unit of Hebei Province.

Further Reading:

· Second Batch of Hebei Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units