The Donghaiyu Site

The Donghaiyu Site

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

The Donghaiyu Site is located in the northwest of Donghaiyu Village, southeast of Shijiusuo, Donggang District, Rizhao City, Shandong Province.

The site spans a total area of 80,000 square meters, with its northeastern part rising 2.2 meters above the surrounding ground level, locally known as “Aozi Ding.” Discovered in 1960, it has undergone three archaeological excavations since 1973. The only two complete eggshell-thin black pottery cups with openwork and tall stems unearthed in China both come from the Donghaiyu Site. These artifacts rank among the 200 treasured relics showcased in the 1992 Exhibition of Highlights of Chinese Cultural Relics. Each cup stands 26.5 centimeters tall, with the thinnest part of the vessel wall measuring just 0.2–0.3 millimeters, and each weighs only 22 grams. With their regular shapes, fine texture, even thickness, and glossy jet-black color, they represent the highest achievement in pottery-making during the Longshan Culture. In addition, the site has also yielded polished stone tools and other cultural relics.

The pottery unearthed from the lower layer of the Donghaiyu Site, such as black pottery tall-stemmed cups, slender-necked bag-footed vessels, sand-tempered globular jars, as well as tripods, ewers, and drinking vessels, all exhibit characteristics of the late Dawenkou Culture. According to radiocarbon dating and calibration, they date back to 2860–2690 BCE. Among the artifacts from the middle layer, such as the eggshell-thin black pottery tall-stemmed cups, drinking vessel-shaped cups, and isosceles triangle stacked-pattern tripod feet, some evolved from similar items in the lower layer, while others served as prototypes for those found in the upper layer. The middle layer remains reflect a transitional phase from the Dawenkou Culture to the Shandong Longshan Culture, and some scholars classify them as early remains of the Shandong Longshan Culture. The upper layer features artifacts such as thick-necked solid-stemmed cups, thick-necked bag-footed cups, large wide-rimmed eggshell-thin black pottery tall-stemmed cups, nearly straight-walled cups with handles at the base, bean-shaped vessels, jars, lidded basins, and bird-head-shaped tripod feet, all of which display traits of the Shandong Longshan Culture. The three cultural layers not only show continuity in artifact development but also share inherited relationships in burial practices and house construction. The tombs across the three layers share similar structures and burial customs, typically featuring rectangular earthen pits or rectangular vertical-shaft stone-lined tombs, with bodies laid in an extended supine position facing northwest, and similar combinations of burial objects. The houses in the middle and upper layers were characterized by nearly square ground-level constructions built on raised platforms, either erected directly on rammed earth foundations or built with walls dug into foundation trenches. The wall bases were mostly made of yellow clay mixed with stones, and the exterior walls featured protective slopes. Indoor floors were constructed using a mix of yellow clay and sand. Both the platform slopes and indoor foundations were built up in layered, rammed sections. The emergence of house platforms and the use of ramming techniques marked the origins of China’s traditional rammed-earth platform-based earthen-and-timber architecture, holding significant importance in the history of ancient Chinese architecture.

In 2006, the Donghaiyu 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:

· Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units