The Huangchuan Bawangtai Site

The Huangchuan Bawangtai Site

The Huangchuan Bawangtai Site is a protected cultural heritage site of Henan Province.

The Bawangtai Site belongs to the Peiligang culture type. Located in Lelou Village, Zhangji Township, Huangchuan County, Bawangtai is also known as "Gutaizi," "Zuxiantaizi," or "Shennongtaizi." It is one of the larger and culturally richer ancient cultural site ruins within Huangchuan.

Legend has it that Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Western Chu, once passed through this area and ordered his soldiers to pile up earth using their clothes to build a platform, which was completed overnight. Xiang Yu then set up camp here, hence the name Bawangtai (Hegemon-King’s Platform).

The Bawangtai is over 4 meters high, 310 meters long from north to south, and 300 meters wide from east to west. On the northwest side of the platform, there is a narrow sloping path that serves as the route to ascend and descend the mound. A large number of cultural relics have been unearthed on and around the platform, including two stone grinding plates, one broken stone grinding roller, as well as stone axes, stone chisels, li tripods, ding tripods, basins, jars, and pots. The cultural layer where the stone grinding plates were buried is grayish-yellow in color, with hard soil and a thickness of 0.6–0.8 meters, located about 1.5 meters below the surface. The stone grinding plates are rectangular, resembling the sole of a shoe, with the front part 22 cm wide and slightly pointed at the top, the rear part 17.8 cm wide and rounded at the end, tapering inward at the waist, and featuring four cylindrical feet underneath. They measure 49.7 cm in total length and 7.5 cm in height. The entire surface is polished and finely crafted, with a slight concave indentation along the waist on the front side, showing clear signs of use. Numerous pottery fragments were also found in the cultural layer surrounding the stone grinding plates, though they are quite broken and do not allow for clear identification of the vessel shapes.

Based on the characteristics of the stone grinding plates and the unearthed pottery fragments, these artifacts are believed to date back to the Peiligang culture type, with a history of 7,000–8,000 years. This represents the earliest historical evidence in the Xinyang region and also the earliest evidence of agriculture in the area. Research indicates that this site lies at the southernmost edge of the Peiligang culture distribution, providing reliable physical material for studying the long history of Huangchuan County and exploring the southern reach of the Peiligang culture.

Despite more than 2,000 years of weathering, the Bawangtai Site remains well-preserved. The site contains a wealth of physical specimens and has drawn widespread attention from professionals. A protected area has now been designated. In February 1987, it was approved by the People's Government of Henan Province as a “Henan Provincial Cultural Heritage Protection Unit.”