Dahecun Site

Dahecun Site

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

The Dahecun Site is located about 1 kilometer southwest of Dahecun Village in Liulin Town, Jinshui District, Zhengzhou City, Henan Province. It is a large Neolithic settlement site that includes cultural elements from three different historical periods: the Yangshao Culture, Longshan Culture, and Shang Dynasty culture, dating back approximately 6,800 to 3,500 years.

The Dahecun Site covers an area of 400,000 square meters, with a cultural layer ranging in thickness from 4 to 12.5 meters. The central part of the site was the residential area of Yangshao people, featuring overlapping house foundations and densely packed storage pits. Two clan cemeteries of the Yangshao Culture are located on the northwest and northeast edges of the site. Remains of the Longshan Culture are mostly found around the periphery of the site. Among them, House Foundations No. 1 to No. 4, dating back 5,040 years, are among the best-preserved of their period ever discovered in China and provide important physical evidence for the study of ancient Chinese architectural history. Artifacts unearthed mainly include red pottery and white-painted pottery. The painted pottery fragments feature various astronomical images such as sun motifs, moon motifs, constellation patterns, and solar prominence designs. This discovery holds significant importance for studying the relationship between the agricultural practices of the Yangshao Culture and ancient astronomy.

The Dahecun Site stands out in the Central Plains region due to its vast size, long duration of human activity, rich cultural content, and well-preserved developmental sequence. Its discovery and research provide important evidence for the periodization and classification of primitive cultures in the Central Plains, as well as for exploring the relationships between the primitive cultures of the Central Plains, the lower reaches of the Yellow River, and the Yangtze River basin. (National Cultural Heritage Administration)

Further Reading:

· Second Batch of Henan Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· China's National Second-Class Museum

· Fifth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units