Wangyin Site

Wangyin Site

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

The Wangyin Site is located on a slightly elevated terrace to the south of Wangyin Village, Wangyin Town, Yanzhou District, Shandong Province, about 1 meter higher than the surrounding flat land.

Two kilometers east of the site lies the ancient Si River, and there is an ancient river channel to the north of the site. The central part of the site covers an area of 60,000 square meters, while the outer perimeter spans 120,000 square meters, making it a relatively large-scale archaeological site. From autumn 1975 to autumn 1978, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences conducted seven excavations at the site, uncovering an area of 10,180 square meters. These excavations revealed 899 Neolithic burials, 14 house foundations, and 423 ash pits. A large number of stone, pottery, bone, jade, shell, tooth, and horn artifacts were unearthed, along with numerous animal remains.

The Wangyin Site is divided into five layers, with layers two to four belonging to the early Dawenkou Culture, and layer five belonging to the late Beixin Culture. All the burials at the Wangyin Site are found within the Dawenkou Culture layers, predominantly featuring supine straight-limb burials, with a certain proportion of joint and secondary joint burials, and fewer side or flexed-limb burials. The burial area of the Wangyin Site is one of the largest prehistoric cemeteries in China and the clan communal cemetery with the highest number of discovered burials. The excavation at the Wangyin Site focused mainly on the burial area, but a large living area remains well-preserved. The production tools, daily utensils, burial objects, and subtropical animal remains unearthed at the Wangyin Site provide important physical evidence for studying prehistoric living customs, burial methods, human physical characteristics, and the prehistoric environment.

The Dawenkou and Beixin cultures reflected at the Wangyin Site provide crucial stratigraphic evidence for establishing the succession relationship between the two cultures. The excavation data from the Wangyin Site has been compiled into the archaeological monograph "Shandong Wangyin" by the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and published by Science Press.

In 2006, the Wangyin Site was included in the sixth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units by the State Council as a Neolithic-period ancient site.

Further Reading:

· First Batch of Municipal-Level Cultural Relics Protection Units in Jining City

· Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units