Dadiwan Site

Dadiwan Site lies in Zhangshaodian Village and to the northeast of Qinan County, Tianshui City. With an area of 320,000 sq. meters, it is a Neolithic site belonging showing the relics of the Yangshao Culture. The Gansu archaeological team carried out a six-year excavation project at the site from 1978 to the end of 1983, having unearthed over 200 house sites, 30 kilns and 8,000 pieces of cultural relics. The site reflects how the Chinese ancestors made a living about 4,800 to 7,800 years ago. Its excavation work has shocked Chinese people due to its large scale and rich connotation.

The houses of the early period in Dadiwan Site are mainly half-crypt that assume a round shape with a Dadiwan Sitediameter of 2-3 meters and a fire pit in the middle of the room. The houses in the middle period mainly remained half-crypt structures with enlarged areas. However, people began to build houses on the ground. Processed stones are used to pave the ground, and cement was used to fill in the gaps between the stones. The late-period houses were mainly built on the ground, and there appeared high and grand palaces then.

The unearthed 238 sites of houses are in a large and complicated construction. One house site of the late Yaoshao Culture Period covers an area of 323 square yards. Its floor was painted with patterns of human and animals, which provided very important information of the study of China ancient painting history. The restituted house has a four-framed roof and three doors, and its wooden frame and mud wall structure reflect the development of architectural technology and improvement of productivity.

The Dadiwan Site is rich in cultural relics and its layering of various cultures is clear and long-lasting. It is among the few Neolithic sites with a systemic chronicle sequence in east Gansu and the upper reaches of the Wei River, which plays a key role in archaeological study. In addition, Dadiwan Site also unearthed a large amount of art treasures and implements of production such as stone wares, earthen wares, mussel decorations, stone knives, stone axes and potteries and kilns used for storing articles, which has lead scientists to believe that people in that remote period had already lived a settled life with farming as their major production activity.

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