Baligang Site

Baligang Site

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

Baligang Site

The Baligang Site is a prehistoric cultural settlement from the Neolithic Age, located on a sloping high ridge northwest of Baligang on the southern bank of the Tan River, about 3 kilometers east of Dengzhou City, Henan Province. It dates back approximately 6,800 years, with cultural layers 3–5 meters thick and covering an area of nearly 90,000 square meters. The Baligang Site was discovered in 1957 and designated as a county-level cultural relics protection unit; on September 25, 2000, it was listed as part of the third batch of provincial-level cultural relics protection units by the People’s Government of Henan Province; and on June 25, 2001, it was designated as part of the fifth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units by the State Council.

Since autumn 1991 to the present, the Department of Archaeology at Peking University’s School of Archaeology and Museology, in collaboration with the Nanyang Cultural Relics Research Institute, has conducted seven excavations at the Baligang Site, uncovering an area of over 5,000 square meters. A wealth of remains and artifacts have been unearthed, yielding significant results. Among these, the 1994 excavation was recognized as one of the top ten archaeological discoveries in China that year due to the discovery of long-row, connected-room housing foundations from the middle to late Yangshao Culture. The excavation revealed numerous valuable remains and artifacts, including 66 house foundations, more than 150 graves, over a thousand ash pits and storage cellars, and more than 10,000 cultural relics samples. The cultural layers at the site are stacked from bottom to top as follows: early Yangshao, middle to late Yangshao, middle to late Qujialing, and late Shijiahe–Longshan cultures.

The excavation work was mainly carried out in the central area of the site, where over 500 storage pits and ash pits, 48 house remains, and more than 120 graves were cleared. A large number of artificial artifacts such as pottery, stone, and bone tools, as well as natural remains like grain and animal bones, were recovered. Most of these date from the late Neolithic to the Chalcolithic period, spanning the Yangshao to Shijiahe cultures. The cultural sequence is relatively complete, adding new data to the study of prehistoric culture in the Nanyang Basin. Among them, multiple long-row, connected-room houses from the late Yangshao early phase and the Miaodigou period are not only early examples of their kind but also well-preserved, providing valuable materials for studying prehistoric social history through settlement remains.

The remains found during the various excavations primarily include storage pits and ash pits, densely distributed with frequent instances of one cutting into another. Most storage pits are round, with small openings and larger bases, some of which are still over 3 meters deep. Some pit walls were coated with mud, while others had layers of crushed red-fired earth at the bottom to prevent moisture. Many pit fill soils contained carbonized rice and other carbonized fruits, collected through flotation. Some pits, after being abandoned, were used for burials or yielded whole pigs or dogs. Ash pits produced a large number of pottery pieces, as well as common animal remains such as deer, cattle, pigs, and clams.

Most of the house foundations cleared to date belong to the early-late Yangshao and Miaodigou periods, mostly consisting of multi-room long-row houses, as well as double and single rooms. They are arranged in two parallel rows, north and south, spaced about 20 meters apart, corresponding in age. Within each row, houses from different periods are layered atop one another but remain within their original row. The stratified deposits between the two rows of houses consist of horizontally stacked, dense, and relatively hard layers with few and fragmented artifacts, lacking contemporary ash layers or pits—indicating an artificially leveled open space. This suggests that although houses in this settlement area were abandoned and rebuilt over a long period, the overall layout remained consistent after its initial planning, representing a relatively stable phase in the settlement’s evolution. While many houses are poorly preserved, with only wall foundations or leveled fill remaining, many others were destroyed by fire, leaving their walls and living surfaces baked into hard red-fired earth, thus in good condition. Some remaining walls stand about 70 centimeters high, and indoor items left behind due to hasty abandonment can still be found. Based on current findings, the construction methods of all long houses are largely consistent.

Beneath the above house settlement remains lies a cemetery from the Banpo phase of the Yangshao Culture. The graves are mostly densely arranged, with complex overlapping and cutting phenomena, roughly divisible into early and late phases. The late phase consists mainly of collective burials in vertical earthen pits, some with second-level platforms, each containing several to over ten individuals, even nearly a hundred, most of which are secondary burials with few primary ones. The early phase mostly features single primary burials in vertical pits, predominantly oriented east-west with heads facing west. Grave goods vary, ranging from 1–3 to over 20 items, primarily pottery, with some sets including ding (tripods), jars, bowls, and pedestals. Within the cemetery area, there are also several circular sacrificial pits, possibly separate from the graves, for burying offerings. These are generally small, containing ten pig mandibles and a few pig skulls, sometimes alongside several pottery jars or lids as funerary objects.

On March 28, 1993, and December 25, 1994, China Cultural Relics News featured the site in prominent reports twice. In 1994, the Huaxia Archaeology journal published an excavation brief, and the site was named one of the top ten archaeological discoveries of 1994, causing a sensation both domestically and internationally. Dengzhou tourism is uniquely distinctive. Dengzhou City was established early and is a renowned historical and cultural city in the Central Plains, with a long history and rich cultural heritage. Over 20 Neolithic sites dating back seven to eight thousand years have been archaeologically excavated here. Historical records indicate that Dengzhou has served as the seat of a state, commandery, prefecture, state, district, county, and city throughout the ages, resulting in abundant aboveground and underground cultural relics.

Dengzhou City boasts numerous cultural relics and historic sites, including 93 municipal-level cultural relics protection units and 4 provincial-level ones. These encompass Yangshao and Longshan culture sites such as Taizigang, Baligang, and Heilong Temple; ancient city ruins like Rang, Nieyang, Guanjun, Anzhong, Lecheng, and Lintuan; Qin and Han dynasty tomb clusters, polychrome portrait bricks from the Northern and Southern Dynasties; scenic spots and historic sites such as Fusheng Temple Pagoda, Huazhou Academy, and the Tomb of Wuli, the Marquis of the Deng State; as well as precious artifacts like Han Dynasty stone pillars and Jin-Yuan steles. Fan Zhongyan, a famous statesman of the Northern Song Dynasty, once served as the magistrate of Dengzhou and wrote the timeless masterpiece “Memorial to Yueyang Tower” at Huazhou Academy. In May 1985, a rare treasure trove including a golden coffin, silver reliquary, and sarira was discovered in the underground palace beneath Fusheng Temple Pagoda, further enhancing Dengzhou’s cultural splendor.

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Henan Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Fifth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units