Wushan Daxi Cultural Site

　　    The Daxi Cultural Site is situated in Daxi Town at the eastern entrance of the Qutang Gorge, on the bank of the wide valley of the Daning River. It is one of the birthplaces of ancient civilization in China’s Yangtze River basin and an important relic of the matrilineal society during China's Neolithic Age. Guo Moruo named it the "Daxi Culture." The site belongs to Daxi Town in Wushan County, where a stream called the Daixi flows west of the town into the Yangtze River. Due to its dark blue-green water, it was named the Daixi (Black Creek), and also known as the Daxi (Big Stream) because of its powerful flow during flood season. This cultural site dates back approximately five to six thousand years and belongs to the late stage of the matrilineal clan society and the early budding phase of the patrilineal clan society. It is one of China’s renowned ancient cultural sites from primitive society.

　　     From 1959 to 1975, a joint archaeological team comprising the Sichuan Museum and other institutions conducted three excavations at the site, uncovering a total area of 570 square meters. They cleared 208 tombs and unearthed more than 1,250 cultural relics. These mainly included production tools such as stone axes, stone adzes, stone pestles, stone sickles, spinning wheels, bone needles, clam sickles, and net sinkers. Pottery was predominantly red pottery, followed by black and gray pottery, with very few three-legged vessels. Painted pottery patterns and stamp impressions were quite distinctive. The vessel forms included dou (food containers), curved-body cups, bowls, jars, plates, bottles, basins, and bowls. Among them, cylindrical bottles, high-ring-foot deep-body dou, and curved-body cups were representative artifacts of the Daxi Culture. Adornments were made from jade, stone, bone, ivory, and animal teeth, mainly categorized into earrings, necklaces, and armbands. There were also artworks such as hollow stone balls and relief carvings of human faces used as pendants. In the tombs at the Daxi site, the deceased were all buried in communal clan cemeteries, generally facing due south. Early burials were primarily supine and extended, though there were also prone and lateral burials. The vast majority of graves contained burial objects, with those of females generally richer than those of males, some holding over 30 items. Some stone bracelets and inlaid-tooth bracelets were found still worn on the arm bones of the deceased. In several graves, whole fish skeletons and tortoise shells were also discovered. The practice of burying fish with the dead is relatively rare among China’s Neolithic cultures.

　　     In addition, dogs were also used as sacrificial offerings. The social characteristics reflected in the early and late-period tombs at the Daxi site show significant variation. The early Daxi Culture represents the flourishing stage of a matrilineal clan commune, while the late period marks the budding stage of a patrilineal clan commune. The Daxi Culture and the Yangshao Culture of the Central Plains were both important and distinct types of cultural remains from the Neolithic period, and there is evidence of mutual influence and exchange between them. Currently, the academic community generally believes that the Daxi Culture and the Qujialing Culture are two different developmental stages of the same cultural type, with the Qujialing Culture evolving from the foundation of the Daxi Culture.

　　    In mid-May 2007, the Daxi Cultural Site was discovered for the first time in southeastern Chongqing. Valuable relics and remains, including typical mid-period Daxi Culture double burials, were unearthed. This Daxi Culture site is located in the reservoir area of the Youchou Hydropower Station project in Youyang County, Chongqing, where tombs and architectural remains such as postholes were cleared.