Qujialing Site

Qujialing Site

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

A Neolithic site. Located 100 meters west of Qujialing Village, Jingshan County, Hubei Province, on a terrace where the Qingmudang River and Qingmu River converge. Central geographic coordinates: 113°50′ east longitude, 30°50′ north latitude. The site covers an area of approximately 3 million square meters, with a cultural layer about 3 meters thick. It is the naming site of the "Qujialing Culture."

Discovered during a cultural relics survey in 1954 while constructing the Shilong Crossing the River Reservoir, the site was excavated in 1955, 1956, and 1989. Remains such as house foundations, tombs, and storage pits were found. The house foundations are rectangular, with floors often paved with red-fired clay blocks containing densely packed layers of japonica rice husks. Some living surfaces were built as raised earthen platforms with rows of symmetrically distributed postholes, indicating above-ground structures. Adult burials were mostly single pit graves, while children were interred in urn coffins. There were also unique burial customs such as multiple burials in one grave and tooth extraction. Stone tools unearthed were mainly polished, including axes, chisels, spades, adzes, and arrowheads. Pottery was predominantly gray clay pottery, followed by red and black clay pottery. Decorations included string patterns, basket patterns, as well as perforations and painted designs. Vessel types included tripods, jars, pot-shaped vessels, bowls, and three-legged dishes. Among the artifacts, painted pottery spinning whorls, double-curved flared pottery, painted black pottery, and eggshell-thin painted pottery are the most distinctive. The Qujialing Culture is widely distributed across the Jianghan Plain, the northwestern mountainous areas within Hubei Province, as well as the border region between southwestern Henan and adjacent Hubei, exhibiting highly distinctive local cultural characteristics.

Designated as part of the third batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units by the State Council in 1988

Location

Qujialing Village, Jingshan County, Hubei Province

Further Reading:

· First Batch of Hubei Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Third Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units