The Tonggu Mountain Site in Puan

The Tonggu Mountain Site in Puan

The Tonggu Mountain Site in Puan is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Era: Shang and Spring and Autumn periods

The Tonggu Mountain Site is located on the summit of Tonggu Mountain, about 500 meters east of Chenjialongtan in Yingpan Village, Qingshan Town, Puan County, Qiannan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province. The total area of the site is 4,000 square meters, and the total protected area covers 41,420 square meters.

During two excavations, a total of four house foundations, one kiln site, eleven ash pits, as well as activity surfaces, hearths, and numerous scattered postholes were uncovered. More than 500 relatively intact artifacts were unearthed, including pottery, stone tools, bronze ware, ironware, jade artifacts, and pottery and stone molds used for bronze casting, along with over 10,000 pottery fragments. Notably, apart from some pottery crucibles, the discovered molds include those for making ge (dagger-axe), swords, axes (yue), arrowheads, and fishhooks.

The excavators believe that the Tonggu Mountain Site was a handicraft workshop primarily for bronze casting (with an emphasis on weapons). The northern part of the site was mainly the casting workshop area, while the southern part served as the living quarters. The site dates back to the Warring States to Western Han period. It is the only officially excavated bronze casting site from the Warring States to Qin and Han periods within Guizhou, holding significant academic, research, and preservation value.

Further reading:

· First Batch of Guizhou Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units