Niuheliang Site

　　The ruins are distributed across more than ten locations within an area of 50 square kilometers. They were discovered during a 1981 cultural relics survey and include a Goddess Temple and a cluster of stone burial mounds used for ritual purposes. The site dates back approximately 5,000 years and belongs to the Hongshan Culture of the Neolithic Age.

　　The discovered Goddess Temple consists of two groups of structures: a multi-room section and a single-room section. The multi-room part is over 18 meters long from north to south and about 7 meters wide from east to west; the single-room part is over 2 meters long from north to south and over 6 meters wide from east to west. It is a timber-and-earth structure, with walls framed by logs, woven with bound straw bundles, coated with mud, and smoothed on the surface, then painted with alternating reddish-brown and yellowish-white geometric patterns such as triangles and interlocking motifs. The Goddess Temple is filled with statues of goddesses and animals. Although only a small part of the site has been excavated, numerous fragments have been unearthed, including heads, shoulders, breasts, and hands of human figures, as well as dozens of jade pig-dragon sculptures and large bird statues. The human figure fragments belong to at least five or six different individuals, all female, varying in size—some life-sized, others several times larger. One ear alone measures 12 centimeters in length. The surfaces of the statues are painted red. These sculptures demonstrate a high level of modeling skill. Among them, a nearly life-sized painted clay goddess head stands out, 22.5 centimeters tall and 16.5 centimeters wide, with long round ears, a low nasal bridge, circular jade pieces inset as eyes, prominent cheekbones, a wide mouth, and painted red facial features that remained vivid when excavated. A number of ritual pottery items were also found in the Goddess Temple, indicating that significant sacrificial activities once took place there.

　　The stone burial mounds were generally constructed using large stones, roughly hewn to dimensions of 30 cm in height, 40 cm in length, and over 20 cm in width, and come in square and circular shapes. Each mound covers a considerable area, typically three to four hundred square meters, with the largest exceeding 1,000 square meters, and an average stacked stone height of over 1 meter. Each mound typically contains dozens of individuals buried in “coffins” made of stone. They may have been placed in stone coffins of varying sizes according to their social status. The largest stone coffin discovered (located at the center of a tomb) measures 3.5 meters in both length and width, while ordinary stone coffins are only about 1.5 meters long and 0.5 meters wide.

　　These large stone burial mounds contain numerous exquisitely crafted jade artifacts, totaling dozens of pieces. The jades were usually placed beneath the heads, on the chests, or beside the bodies of the deceased. Types include jade pig-dragons associated with primitive religious beliefs, paired and triple-jade bi disks worn around the neck, cloud-shaped pendants, flat round jade rings, cylindrical jade hoops, as well as jade artworks such as birds, pigeons, turtles, fish, and beasts. The craftsmanship is exquisite, with stylized representations that emphasize spirit over form, showcasing a unique style. Among them, jade artifacts represented by the jade pig-dragon have become iconic objects of the Hongshan Culture. (National Cultural Heritage Administration)

Niuheliang