The Caozhuang Site

The Caozhuang Site

The Caozhuang Site is a cultural relic protection unit of Henan Province.

The Caozhuang Site is located 1 kilometer east of Queshan County and 250 meters north of Caozhuang Village. It is a provincial-level key cultural relics protection unit. The site is bordered by mountains to the south and west, with a river about 1.5 kilometers to the north and a vast plain to the east.

The site is a raised platform about 4 meters high, measuring 144 meters wide from east to west and 150 meters long from north to south.

According to surveys, the cultural layer of the site lies beneath the surface soil layer at a depth of 60 centimeters and is 3.2 meters thick. Due to the construction of irrigation canals in 1958, 1965, and 1968, the cultural layer in the northern part of the site has been damaged. Drilling surveys reveal that the upper part is light gray while the lower part is dark gray, and the finds are exclusively artifacts from the Longshan Culture. Collected stone tools include trapezoidal, quadrangular, cylindrical, and willow-leaf-shaped arrowheads from the Longshan Culture, as well as large perforated stone sickles, stone axes, and crescent-shaped stone knives. Pottery items include finely cord-marked vessels, pottery base fragments, ring-footed black pottery bowls, black pottery containers, red pottery li tripods with wine strainers, and red pottery ding tripods with sand-tempered cylindrical feet. The site holds significant value for studying the ancient culture of southern Henan.

In June 1963, the Caozhuang Site was designated as one of the first batch of cultural relics protection units by the People's Government of Henan Province.

Further Reading:

· First Batch of Cultural Relics Protection Units in Henan Province