Taixi Site

Taixi Site

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

The Taixi Site is located in the northeast of Taixi Village, Gangshang Town, Gaocheng City, Hebei Province.

The site centers around three prominent "platform mounds" (South Mound, West Mound, and North Mound). The South Mound is approximately 200 meters east of Taixi Village and has been leveled and no longer exists. The West Mound and North Mound currently have cultural layers covering an area of over 100,000 square meters. The North Mound is about 400 meters north of the South Mound, measuring approximately 100 meters from east to west and 60 meters from north to south, with a height of 6–7 meters. It is higher at both ends and lower in the middle, resembling a saddle. From the northern cliff of the North Mound, it can be observed that the upper layer (excluding the topmost part) belongs to the Warring States to Han Dynasty cultural stratum, while the lower layer down to the base consists entirely of Shang Dynasty cultural remains. The West Mound is located about 260 meters northeast of Taixi Village, measuring approximately 100 meters from north to south and 80 meters from east to west, with a height of 6 meters. Shang Dynasty cultural layers are also widely distributed around it, extending south to the northeastern roadside of Taixi Village and west to the vicinity of Gucheng Road, stretching about 130 meters. According to local residents, before the liberation of Cicheng, many bronze artifacts were unearthed from the West "platform mound." Between 1965 and 1972, villagers from Taixi discovered a set of bronze ritual vessels, a jade ge (dagger-axe) measuring 39 centimeters in length, as well as a bronze ding (tripod), liu (vessel), hun (vessel), yu (vessel), bi (knife), spear, zun (wine vessel), and stone mill while digging earth on the western side of the South Mound. These were identified by the National Cultural Heritage Administration and the Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics as cultural remains from the middle Shang Dynasty (circa 14th century BC). Particularly noteworthy is the iron-bladed bronze axe unearthed here, which drew widespread attention from the academic community both in China and abroad.

In 1973, the Hebei Provincial Cultural Relics Management Office formed an archaeological team to excavate the Taixi Shang Dynasty site. A total area of 1,889.75 square meters was excavated, uncovering 14 house foundations, two wells, 134 ash pits, and 112 tombs (including 10 tombs with slave burials). Over 3,000 artifacts were unearthed, including pottery, stone tools, jade artifacts, and bronze ware. According to scientific analysis, the earliest inhabitants to live and work here were people from the Yangshao Culture period.

The Taixi Site mainly includes residential remains and tombs from the middle Shang Dynasty. The 14 Shang Dynasty house foundations excavated here are divided into early and late periods based on stratigraphic superposition and artifact comparison. Two early houses were uncovered, both semi-subterranean. Twelve late-period houses were excavated, most of which were ground-level structures with wooden beams, including gable-and-hip roofed houses, flat-roofed houses, and sloped-roofed verandas. The design, structure, and construction techniques of these houses represent significant advancements over early architecture. For example, House No. 2 is a 30-square-meter double-room building oriented north-south, measuring 10.35 meters in length and 3.8 meters in width, with a partition wall dividing the space into two rooms. The walls of the house had evolved beyond the "wooden frame and mud wall" technique used during the Yangshao, Longshan, and early Shang periods, with the lower half built from rammed earth and the upper half constructed from adobe bricks. Notably, the house featured "wind windows" in the gable walls, marking an early innovation in architectural design for moisture prevention. Human sacrifices were also used in the construction of this house, including not only cattle, sheep, and pigs, but also living male and female individuals.

Cultural relics include pottery, stone tools, bone and horn implements, shell artifacts, lacquerware, oracle bones, textiles (mainly hemp cloth), plant seeds, as well as pottery inscriptions and symbols. A total of 112 tombs were excavated at the site. The burial chambers were rectangular vertical earthen pits, with most corpses buried in a supine or lateral extended position. Over 4,000 burial objects were found, including pottery, bronze, bone, jade, shell, lacquerware, and silk textiles. In 1972, an iron-bladed bronze battle-axe was unearthed from the site, which is the earliest known iron artifact discovered both domestically and internationally. Iron slag was also found, representing the world’s earliest known iron slag and proving that the ancestors in the Shijiazhuang area had mastered iron smelting techniques 3,400 years ago. Additionally, the world’s earliest surgical instrument—a stone bian (lancet) sickle—was discovered, along with plain-woven crepe silk textiles and degummed hemp fabrics spun using artificial techniques. The site also contains the best-preserved and earliest known brewery remains in the world, with 46 pottery vessels used for brewing unearthed, as well as 8.5 kilograms of yeast residue found in broken jars.

In 2006, the Taixi Site, as an ancient Shang Dynasty site, was included in the sixth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units by the State Council.

Further Reading:

· Second Batch of Hebei Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units