The Dongjiabai Site

The Dongjiabai Site

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

The Dongjiabai Site is located on a highland about 300 meters southeast of Dongjiabai Village, which lies 3 kilometers east of Wenshang County. The site stretches approximately 300 meters from east to west and about 50 meters from north to south, covering a total area of around 15,000 square meters. It was discovered during a cultural relics survey in 1986, and from spring 1989 to spring 1990, the Shandong Team of the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, organized efforts to conduct drilling and excavation.

Two rounds of excavation uncovered an exposed area of 1,000 square meters, revealing over 10 house remains, more than ten ash pits, and 19 cleared tombs. The house structures came in two shapes—gourd-shaped and circular—and were all semi-subterranean buildings. Each house covered an area of 8–20 square meters. The tombs were relatively concentrated, mostly found at depths of less than 30 centimeters below the surface, and were primarily in a supine straight-limb burial style. In addition to single burials, there were also triple burials, relocated burials, and secondary burials, reflecting characteristics of a matrilineal clan society with exogamous pairing marriage.

Over 100 artifacts were unearthed, including pottery, stone, bone, and horn objects. Among them, the pottery items included bowls, plates, basins, cups, and small-necked double-handled jars; the stone tools comprised grinding plates, grinding rods, stone axes, and stone adzes; the bone tools included bone needles, bone awls, and hair-binding devices. The pottery was all handmade, with slightly soft clay, predominantly sandy red-brown pottery, and was relatively primitive in craftsmanship. The stone production tools were heavy in form, still retaining signs of flaking, and the polished parts also appeared coarse. More than 200 microliths were also collected at this site. These microliths included stone cores, flakes, scrapers, points, and burins, most made from black flint and a small number directly flaked from quartzite.

Through excavation, it has been preliminarily determined that the Dongjiabai Site is an early prehistoric cultural relic of the Beixin Culture type, dating back about 7,000 years. The Beixin Culture is the earliest discovered prehistoric culture in the lower reaches of the Yellow River to date, predating the Dawenkou Culture by over 1,000 years, and represents a developmental stage of the matrilineal clan society. The tomb clusters excavated here provide insights into the living customs of humans 7,000 years ago through the accompanying pottery, stone, and bone artifacts. The more than 200 microliths collected here, dating back over 10,000 years, were also the first such discovery in the plains region of China. This finding refuted the notion that “microliths cannot exist in plains.” At the same time, it filled a gap in the microlith record of Jining City and provided new clues for tracing the origins of the Beixin Culture.

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units