The Zhongkugou Archaeological Sites

The Zhongkugou Archaeological Sites

The Zhongkugou Archaeological Sites are designated as cultural heritage protection units of Tonghua County.

The Zhongkugou Archaeological Sites

The Zhongkugou Archaeological Sites are located on the western terrace of the Zhongkugou River (an upstream tributary of the Wendu River), within the territory of Wendu Tibetan Ethnic Township, Tonghua Salar Autonomous County. The terrace is backed by mountains to the west and faces the Zhongkugou River to the east, stretching approximately 2,500 meters in length and 400 meters in width, with flat terrain. From north to south along the terrace are five parallel sand gullies known locally as Duolangjiaomu, Azari, Warang, Zongqiang, and Gangxiang. Scattered along the second terrace bank between these gullies are ancient remains such as pottery shards and animal bones. During the survey, the sites were registered separately based on the gullies, yielding twelve locations: Wendulinchang, Duolangjiaomu (A), Duolangjiaomu (B), Azari (A), Azari (B), Warang (A), Warang (B), Zongqiang (A), Zongqiang (B), Gangxiang (A), Gangxiang (B), and Lalongwa. Among these, except for the Wendulinchang site, which is relatively large at about 200×80 meters, most sites are around 100×70 meters. The Lalongwa site partially lies beneath a village, while the others are situated within cultivated fields along the gullies. The cultural deposits are generally about 40–70 cm thick. In addition to scattered pottery shards, animal bones, and stone flakes on the surface, the Wendulinchang and Zongqiang (B) sites also feature fragments of white lime, ash layers, and ash pits, mostly exposed along the edges of the terrace and irrigation channels. The artifacts found across these sites are largely similar, with only slight variations in quantity. The pottery shards include undecorated and basket-patterned red clay double-handled jars, shoulder-jointed jars, and zun vessels from the Qijia Culture, as well as gray clay li tripods and sand-tempered rope-patterned jars. There are also remnants from the Kayue Culture’s Ahdatela type, such as sand-tempered gray clay long-necked double-handled jars, red clay jar vessels with abdominal handles, and a small number of painted pottery jars featuring spiral patterns. All twelve sites share consistent cultural content, representing coexisting Qijia and Kayue cultural remains. The sites are distributed quite densely and, were it not for the separating gullies, could easily form a continuous area, making this a relatively typical example of a concentrated cultural heritage site. Among them, the Zongqiang (B) site (also known as the Zhongkugou Site) is a county-level cultural heritage protection unit.