Gaianling Ruins

Gaianling Ruins

The Gaianling Ruins is a cultural tourism attraction.

The Gaianling Ruins are located on Gaianling Mountain in Hanjia Village, Ciyu Township, approximately 30 kilometers southeast of Leping City, covering an area of about 60,000 square meters. First discovered in March 1979, two trial pits were excavated in the northeast part of the site in December of the same year. Artifacts unearthed included stone tools such as knives, arrowheads, and chisels, all of which were polished. Stone knives can be categorized into saddle-shaped, crescent-shaped, and triangular. Pottery items included jars, cups, pots, bowls, plates, tripods, li tripods, and net sinkers, made either by hand or wheel. Jars were the most common, often featuring butterfly-shaped knobs and high necks.

Hard pottery was predominantly decorated with leaf vein patterns and thundercloud motifs, along with small amounts of meander patterns, cord patterns, grid patterns, mat-weave patterns, wavy patterns, and rice-patterned designs. Soft pottery was also mainly decorated with leaf vein patterns, followed by grid patterns and appliqué patterns. Based on the shapes and decorative motifs of the artifacts, they bear similarities to those unearthed from the Wucheng Culture site in Qingjiang County, our province.

This site is the first excavation in northeastern Jiangxi. Analysis suggests that it is a platform settlement dating from the late Neolithic Age to the early Shang Dynasty, approximately 3,500–4,000 years old.

In October 1983, it was designated as a cultural relics protection unit of Leping County.