Site of the Bronze Age in north China

Location: Chifeng, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

Period: The date of the lower layer is 2,000-1,500 BC, while the date of the upper layer is 1,000-300 BC

Excavated in 1960

Significance: The lower and upper layer of Xiajiadian Culture is named after the site. The site has offered important materials for the study of the bronze civilization in north China.

 Introduction

Xiajiadian Site is the ruins of the early era of the Bronze Age in north China. Xiajiadian Culture includes the Lower Xiajiadian and the Upper Xiajiadian. Large quantities of relics including stone wares, pottery, bronze wares, jade and bone wares were unearthed, among which the bronze ware discovered in the Lower Xiajiadian enjoys the same technical level with the Central Plain of the same period. 

Pottery li (a kind of cauldron), the upper layer of the Xiajiadian culture: cooking vessel (right-up, height 37 cm); Bronze dagger, the upper layer of the Xiajiadian culture: weapon (mid, length 33.6 cm); Pottery ding (a three-legged or four-legged cauldron), the upper layer of the Xiajiadian culture: cooking vessel (height 13.7 cm)

Lower Xiajiadian (2,200-1,600 BC)

The largest single Lower Xiajiadian Site covers several groupings of large sites. These site groupings tend to be very densely occupied areas on the low bluffs overlooking the prime agricultural lands of the valley floors with a very few sites in the bottomland. They are at least loosely associated with hilltop-fortified sites well back in the upland zone between river valleys. These hilltop-fortified sites tend to be much smaller in area and to have extremely low densities of surface ceramics despite ideal surface collecting conditions. 

Their cultural relics tend to be shallow, but the architectural remains (often quite visible on the surface) include the stone foundations of circular structures, large terraces, and massive walls and gateways, representing a major investment in construction. Such features are altogether lacking from earlier sites.

 Upper Xiajiadian (1,000-600 BC)

The Upper Xiajiadian represents a transformation no less dramatic than the Lower Xiajiadian. A local bronze industry flourished during this time and burial practices became very elaborate. 

In comparison to the richest Lower Xiajiadian graves which contained no more than twenty ceramic vessels, a few bone and stone artifacts, bones of sacrificed animals (usually pigs and dogs), and an occasional small bronze artifact, the richest Upper Xiajiadian graves contained over a thousand artifacts including more than ninety large bronze artifacts along with imported Chinese bronze vessels. 

The total area of Upper Xiajiadian Site of 7.57 square kilometers, including large clusters often found in the valleys between mountains, exceeds that of the Lower Xiajiadian which is of 7.03 square meters.