Osmanthus Tree Site

Osmanthus Tree Site

The Osmanthus Tree Site is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Osmanthus Tree Site is located on a plateau in Dagoukou Village, Songzi City, on the southern part of Wangjiadahu Lake at the border between Songzi City and Gong’an County. The site is rectangular in shape, covering an area of 54,000 square meters.

The site was discovered in 1974, and trial excavations were carried out that same year by the Hubei Provincial Museum and others. The cultural deposits reach a thickness of 2.5 to 5.5 meters. The cultural remains are predominantly from the Daxi Culture. Stone tools show techniques such as cutting and drilling, with well-formed implements including shovels, axes, adzes, chisels, and engraving tools. There is a large quantity of pottery items with various forms such as tripods, bowls, cups, gui vessels, plates, dou vessels, jars, urns, pots, double-handled cups, straight-necked bottles, lids, and pedestals. Some red pottery items have dark red painted coatings on their surfaces or upper parts. Other artifacts include jade knives, jade bracelets, jade huang pendants, jade ornaments, and pottery balls. Archaeological excavations also uncovered a small number of cultural remains from the Qujialing Culture and Shijiahe Culture.

The Osmanthus Tree Site was the first to clarify the stratigraphic relationship among the Daxi Culture, Qujialing Culture, and Shijiahe Culture. This allowed researchers to accurately distinguish the differences in artifact categories between the Qujialing and Shijiahe Cultures, and it was the first to name the relics from the Longshan period as “Hubei Longshan Culture,” objectively advancing the study of the Shijiahe Culture.

Further reading:

· Third Batch of Hubei Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units