Wild Store Ruins

　　The Wild Store Ruins are situated south of Yedao Village, Yishan Town, on a highland by the mountain and river—close to the Long River to the south, National Highway 104 to the west, and approximately 2 kilometers from Mount Yishan to the east. Designated as a Shandong Provincial Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit in 1977, the ruins occupy a high terrain suitable for farming and foraging, making it an ideal settlement and living area for prehistoric people during the Neolithic Age. The site stretches approximately 800 meters from north to south and about 700 meters from east to west, covering a total area of 560,000 square meters.

　　Radiocarbon dating (C14) indicates that the Wild Store Ruins date back between 4,640 and 6,170 years ago, spanning approximately 1,500 years. With rich cultural content and well-preserved remains, the site holds significant value for the study of China’s ancient civilization. Initially discovered in 1965, the site was excavated by Shandong provincial cultural relics archaeology authorities in 1972, uncovering a stratigraphic area of 1,660 square meters. The excavation revealed over 100 Dawenkou culture tombs, 17 ash pits, 6 house foundations, and 2 pottery kilns; as well as 1 Longshan culture house foundation and 6 ash pits. A total of 1,017 funerary artifacts were excavated, including many stone tools such as stone axes, stone shovels, and stone knives, reflecting the importance of agriculture in daily life at the time.

　　The unearthed pottery items for daily use featured a wide variety, broad usage, and exquisite craftsmanship. Many pieces were made using techniques such as openwork carving, incised patterns, and stamped designs. Colored pottery was adorned with white, ochre, red, and black mineral pigments, forming net-like, star-shaped, circular, and plant motifs, showcasing considerable artistic value. Adornments included jade hairpins, jade rings, jade huangs, and ivory combs, all finely carved, indicating a developed aesthetic sense among the inhabitants. The house foundations came in both square and circular forms, all semi-subterranean structures, evidencing that the early settlers had transitioned to a stable, settled lifestyle. The discovered tombs were all vertical earthen pit types, predominantly single burials of females, with only 10% being joint burials of couples. Children were buried in urn coffins. The quantity of burial goods varied, showing signs of burial differentiation based on wealth, which reflects an emerging disparity in affluence within the clan.