Shibeikou Site of Yongnian

Shibeikou Site of Yongnian

The Shibeikou Site is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Shibeikou Site is located in Lin... Township, Yongnian County, Hebei Province.

The terrace is approximately 700 meters long from east to west and 300 meters wide from north to south, covering a total area of about 200,000 square meters. Between 1986 and 1987, provincial, regional, and municipal cultural relics departments carried out large-scale excavations here, unearthing one house foundation, 96 ash pits, eight tombs, and over 1,000 cultural relics. Among the unearthed production tools were chipped stone axes and knives, as well as ground stone tools such as axes, spades, adzes, chisels, grinding plates, and rollers—representing more advanced implements. Domestic items included a large number of pottery pieces, bone and horn tools, and ornaments. Pottery artifacts featured pots, stoves, tripods, jars, vats, basins, bowls, as well as scrapers, spinning whorls, and net sinkers. Among them, the most typical were red-topped bowls—red on top and gray at the bottom—which reflected advances in pottery firing techniques and an evolving aesthetic sensibility. The appearance of pottery tripods marked a significant improvement in cooking utensils.

The Shibeikou Site belongs to the Yangshao Culture of the Neolithic Age and is one of the most distinctive local Neolithic remains in the central and southern Hebei and northern Henan regions. The discovery of this cultural deposit not only greatly enriched the content of the Hougang Phase I Culture but also provided new clues for further exploration of its origins and connections with the Cishan Culture.

In 2006, the Shibeikou Site was listed in the sixth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units by the State Council as an ancient site from the Neolithic period.

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Hebei Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units