Ancient Ruins of Mount Li

Ancient Ruins of Mount Li

The Ancient Ruins of Mount Li is a Shandong Provincial Cultural Heritage Protection Unit.

Ancient Ruins of Mount Li: The Ancient Ruins of Mount Li is a provincial-level cultural heritage protection site. It is located 20 meters west of Lishanmiao Village, Yanshe Town, Juancheng County, Heze City, Shandong Province, beneath the former village primary school, bordering Dongxicun Street to the south, a newly built Shun Temple complex to the west, and residential houses to the east and north. Lishanmiao Village currently has 600 residents, predominantly surnamed Liu, who migrated and established the village in the early Ming Dynasty. The site measures 45 meters from east to west and 77 meters from north to south, covering a total area of 3,465 square meters with a rectangular layout. It was designated as a county-level cultural heritage protection unit in 1982 and as a Shandong Provincial Cultural Heritage Protection Unit in 2006. The site was first discovered during the 1980 cultural relics survey. Through shovel pit investigations at the Ancient Ruins of Mount Li, it was revealed that the cultural layer accumulation is 3.7 meters deep. The top 1 meter is a disturbed layer, from 1 to 2 meters is gray-brown soil representing the Han to Shang-Zhou cultural layers; from 2 to 4.7 meters is gray-black soil representing the Longshan cultural layer. The main finds include pottery shards, human bones, charcoal, clamshell fragments, fired earth blocks, and metal smelting slag. Pottery shards are primarily sandy red and sandy gray pottery, followed by gray clay pottery, with rope patterns being the most common, along with a significant proportion of square and basket patterns, as well as a small amount of polished black pottery. Analysis of some shards with identifiable forms suggests that the site mainly contains artifacts such as li tripods, jars, basins, cups, and tiles. Specimens are now housed in the Heze Museum. The site once had an ancient Yu the Great Temple, which was demolished in 1958. The temple ruins measure approximately 40 meters east-west and 50 meters north-south. Fifty meters west of the ruins stands a stele erected in the Yuan Dynasty inscribed with “Reconstruction of Yu the Great Temple.” Regarding Mount Li, historical records throughout the dynasties have documented it: Sima Qian of the Han Dynasty wrote in *Records of the Grand Historian: Annals of the Five Emperors*, “Shun farmed on Mount Li, fished in Lake Lei, made pottery by the river, crafted various implements in Shouqiu, and traded in Fu Xia.” Li Daoyuan of the Northern Wei Dynasty wrote in *Commentary on the Water Classic*, “Ten li southwest of Lake Lei is a solitary, towering mountain known as Mount Li. To the north of the mountain is a small hill, and to the south by the northeast edge of the lake lies a pottery ruin. It is said that Shun farmed and made pottery here, with the ruins and hills extending along the Hu River.” The *Sui Annals* mention that there is a Mount Li in Leize County. The *Yuanhe Annals* state that Mount Li is 16 li north of Leize County. The *Universal Geography* also records that Mount Li is 16 li north of Leize County, located about 70 li southeast of present-day Puzhou, adjacent to the boundary of Heze.

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Shandong Provincial Cultural Heritage Protection Units