Matou Site

Matou Site is located on the east side of South Street, Matou Market Town, 25 kilometres southwest of Xiayi County. The site is roughly square, with each side measuring about 200 metres and covering an area of approximately 40,000 square metres. Its highest point originally rose 6 metres above the ground. A large-scale temple named Chongjue Temple was built here during the Ming Dynasty.

Since 1958, local villagers have dug soil here for farm fertilizer, forming a huge pit over 100 metres long from north to south, around 80 metres wide from east to west, and 4 to 5 metres deep. The pit was preserved because residential areas lie on both sides. From 1974 to 1978, three surveys were conducted by the Henan Provincial Museum and the Second Henan Archaeological Team of the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, which confirmed it as a Henan Longshan Culture site.

The site boasts a large area, thick cultural deposits and abundant relics. The upper stratum contains porcelain shards from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Archaeologists unearthed a small bronze mirror of the Song Dynasty, one Wangmang period coin, and a large Warring States pottery urn with a diameter of 70 centimetres. The urn is highly polished with a glossy black surface, decorated with a band of fringe patterns around the shoulder, showing exquisite craftsmanship.

The second layer belongs to the Shang and Zhou cultures. The relics are mostly pottery shards, including identifiable forms such as li cauldrons, gui tripods, zun wine vessels, basins, steamers, bowls, stemmed dishes and ding cauldrons.

The third layer is the Yueshi Culture stratum, where a crescent-shaped double-hole stone knife and a number of pottery fragments were found.

The fourth layer features Henan Longshan Culture, whose characteristics are similar to those of the Qingliangshan Site six kilometres to the south.

Seven pottery wells were discovered at the southern end of the site. Notably, a drainage ditch stretching 100 metres north to south, 2 metres wide and 1 metre deep was found in the lower middle section. These remains prove that Matou Site had already developed into the scale of an ancient city