China - Sites of Hongshan Culture: The Niuheliang Archaeological Site, the Hongshanhou Archaeological Site, and Weijiawopu Archaeological Site

The Niuheliang Archaeological Site: N 41°16′15″ , E 119°27′9″

The Hongshanhou Archaeological Site: N 42° 19′ 19″ , E 118° 59 ′29″

The Weijiawopu Archaeological Site: N 42 °08′ 24.6″ , E 118° 57′ 41.3″

The Niuheliang, Hongshanhou and Weijiawopu Archaeological Sites, which could date back to 6,000 – 5,000 years ago, are important representative sites of the Hongshan culture. The Niuheliang Archaeological Site dating back to 5,500-5,000 years ago was a burial and sacrificial center in the late Hongshan period. Compared with other late Hongshan sites so far known, it boasts the greatest scale, the best preservation, the richest varieties of remains, and the largest number of unearthed cultural relics. In addition, the Hongshanhou and Weijiawopu Archaeological Sites, dating back to 6,000-5,500 years ago, were both residential settlements. While the Weijiawopu is a site with the largest number of discovered residential structures, the Hongshanhou Site is the place after which the Hongshan culture was named. In spite of different functions and types of the three sites, they have internal and reciprocal relationships, with which people’s production, lifestyle, burial and sacrificial activities of the Hongshan culture period are explicitly represented. These characteristics of the Hongshan culture also provide the basis for the exploration of the Chinese civilization.