Xigua Ridge Site

Xigua Ridge Site

The Xigua Ridge Site is a cultural tourism attraction.

The Xigua Ridge Site is located at Guizaiping in Xigua Ridge Village, Taiping Farm, Zengcheng District, Guangzhou. It dates back to the Warring States period. The site was discovered in 1958, and an excavation covering 110 square meters was conducted in 1962. The thickest cultural layer reaches 1.66 meters. Two damaged kiln pits were found, both of which are dragon kilns. Kiln No. 1 has a remaining length of 7.6 meters, a width of 2 meters, and a remaining height of 1.54 meters, with a firing chamber at the front. Its walls were rammed and fired to a hardened state. Since Kiln No. 1 was built over Kiln No. 2, only the firing chamber of Kiln No. 2 remains, measuring 1.72 meters in length, 1.52 meters in width, and 0.26 meters in depth. However, the artifacts unearthed from both kilns are identical, suggesting that they were not built far apart in time. The pottery items found include jars, pots, vats, cauldrons, bottles, basins, cups, boxes, small vessels, tripods, bowls, cups, ewers, spinning whorls, animal figurines, as well as pottery-making tools such as pressing hammers, stamps, and spacer rings. The decorative patterns feature stamped rice-character motifs, double-line grid intersecting patterns, grid patterns, taotie patterns, and mat textures, including combinations of rice characters with grids and double-line grids with grids. Incised designs include wave patterns, dotted lines, string patterns, and stripe patterns, often appearing in combined forms. Some items bear incised symbols. A small number of the pottery surfaces are coated with a yellow-brown glaze. The firing temperature was very high. Bronze knives and whetstones were also found.