Dongqiao Neolithic Site

Dongqiao Neolithic Site

The Dongqiao Neolithic Site is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Era: Neolithic Age

The Dongqiao Neolithic Site is the only ancient settlement site discovered in recent years in Xiping County that primarily features Yangshao culture, along with coexisting archaeological cultures such as Longshan, Erlitou, Eastern Zhou, and Han dynasties, covering an area of nearly 500,000 square meters. Not only is this site quite large in area, but it also has a long duration of human activity, which is why it was listed as part of the third batch of Provincial Key Cultural Relics Protection Units by the Henan Provincial Government in June 2006. Its Yangshao cultural elements show little difference from those of the same period in central Henan, while some pottery features appear to have been influenced by the Xiawanggang Yangshao culture in southwestern Henan. Based on the collection of nearly a hundred Yangshao cultural artifacts, the Yangshao culture here is mainly characterized by clay red pottery and clay ginger-yellow pottery, though the former is slightly more prevalent than the latter. Sandy red pottery comes next, followed by sandy ginger-yellow pottery, and sandy gray pottery is extremely rare. The grains of sand and shell fragments in the sandy pottery are clearly visible on the vessel walls, while the clay pottery is made from finely screened clay and is relatively delicate. There is also a small amount of red-slipped pottery and a few pieces that are red on the outside and gray on the inside, mostly used for making bowls and cups. The sandy pottery contains a higher proportion of shell fragments, generally fine in size, and is mainly used for making tripods, with occasional use for jars. The decorative patterns include only concave string patterns, pit dots, and a small number of red band patterns. The collected pottery shards that can be identified as specific vessel types mainly include tripods, urns, jars, basins, bowls, cups, and so on.