Introduction to the Beiyangping Site in Lingbao, Henan

The western Henan region is the heartland of the Yangshao culture and the cradle of Chinese civilization. The Beiyangping cluster of sites is the largest known site group in this region. Located around the Huangdi Zhudingyuan (Tripod vessel site of the Yellow Emperor) in Lingbao City and the Shahe River Valley, it covers a total area of 4.36 square kilometers. Dating from 6000 BC to 2000 BC and spanning the middle to late Neolithic period and the Chalcolithic period (Copper-Stone Age), it is an important large-scale prehistoric settlement site cluster in the middle reaches of the Yellow River in China. The cluster is mainly distributed across 33 locations within four townships of Lingbao: Jiaocun, Xiyan, Yangping, and Hanguguan.

The Beiyangping site sits on a loess plateau about 1.5 kilometers west of Yangping Town. It is about 2,000 meters long from north to south and 350 to 500 meters wide from east to west. Guanzigou lies to its west, Yangping River to its east, Jinlugou to its north, and the lowland north of Qiaoying Village forms its southern boundary. Large house foundations, ash pits, and cultural layers are visible in its natural cross-sections.  Artifacts found there include pottery, mainly red clay pottery, along with red, yellow, and brown sand-tempered pottery, gray clay or sand-tempered pottery, and black clay pottery; vessel forms include jars, basins, urns, small-mouthed pointed-bottom bottles, fu (a type of cauldron), stoves, ding (tripod cauldron) legs, spinning wheels, rings, and round pottery fragments. Covering an area of one million square meters, it is the largest central settlement in the core area of the Miaodigou type of the Yangshao culture.

The Xipo site is located between Nanjian Village and Xipo Village in Yangping Town. The Anzi River flows to its east, and the Kuafuyu River to its west, with the two rivers converging at the northern end of the site. The site slopes gently from south to north and covers an area of about 400,000 square meters. From 2000 to 2013, a joint archaeological team composed of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology, the Sanmenxia Municipal Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology, and the Lingbao Municipal Cultural Management Office conducted eight excavations there. They discovered a primitive reservoir, a clay-settling pool, and an extra-large house foundation of 516 square meters with a surrounding corridor. The cemetery of this site was also discovered, with unearthed artifacts including complete sets of burial objects such as jade shovels, stone axes, bone hairpins, bone hair bundles, and red clay stoves, basins, cauldrons, and bottles. A clear social hierarchy is evident in these relics, indicating this is a secondary settlement of the Beiyangpo site.  

In 2001, the Beiyangping site was listed in the State Council‘s fifth batch of key historical and cultural sites under national-level protection. In 2005, the Xipo site of the Beiyangping site was included in the six priority sites for the project to trace the origins of Chinese civilization. It is also one of the 100 major sites nationwide funded by the state during the 11th Five-year Plan period and was included in the list of 150 major sites for protection during the 12th and 13th Five-year Plan periods. The archaeological findings from the Xipo cemetery were among the "Top Ten Archaeological Discoveries in China" in 2006.