Mogou Site (including burials)

　　   The Mogou Site (including burials) is situated on a terrace on the southwestern bank of the Tao River, about 300 meters northwest of Mogou Village, Wangqi Township, Lintan County, at the junction with Min County, covering an area of approximately 800,000 square meters. It encompasses various prehistoric cultures including Yangshao, Majiayao, Qijia, and Siwa, along with remains from the Song Dynasty.

　　   Discovered in 1958, the site was jointly excavated in 2008 and 2009 by the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Research Center for Cultural Heritage and Archaeology of Northwest University. Exposed on the site’s cliff face are house foundations and burial sites. The burial ground covers an area of about 8,000 square meters. The tombs are arranged in a northwest–southeast orientation, primarily featuring inhumation burials with a small number of cremation graves. Sacrificial human remains have been found in tomb passages. Grave goods include pottery, stone tools, bronze ware, bone implements, as well as shell, tooth, stone, and composite material ornaments, with advanced gold artifacts also discovered. The burial ground mainly dates to the late Qijia Culture and early Siwa Culture periods.

　　   The Mogou Site is currently the largest discovered center settlement from the Neolithic and Bronze Ages in the upper reaches of the Tao River. With rich content, long continuity, and excellent preservation, it provides entirely new archaeological data for studying the social structure, family and marriage patterns, and the process of social complexity during the Qijia Culture period. It also has far-reaching implications for research on different models of the origins of Chinese civilization.

　　   In May 2013, it was designated and announced by the State Council as part of the seventh group of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level.