Shijia Site

The Shijia Site sits on a high mound southwest of Shijia Village, Tianzhuang Town, Huantai County. Its southern section is overlain by residential buildings of Shijia and Gaolou Villages, while its northern part was damaged by a brickworks. The site covers roughly 250,000 square meters, with its core zone spanning approximately 50,000 to 60,000 square meters.

Over successive years, a wealth of cultural relic specimens including pottery, stone implements, bone artifacts and bronze wares have been unearthed here, dating from the Longshan Culture through the Han Dynasty. The site sustained severe damage due to infrastructure construction projects. In the spring of 1996, an archaeological team jointly organized by Zibo Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics, Zibo Museum and Huantai Museum carried out emergency salvage excavation and geophysical survey work at the site, covering an excavated area of more than 1,400 square meters. Excavation and survey results confirmed that this is a moated settlement site occupied during the Longshan, Yueshi, Shang and Zhou periods.

The site boasts rich cultural deposits and significant archaeological features, with exceptionally precious unearthed artifacts. A moat runs through the southwest portion of the site, taking an oval shape in plan view. The surviving segment in the southwest stretches over 60 meters, the northwest segment about 160 meters, and the reconstructed length of the western moat is around 200 meters; archaeologists estimate the full original length exceeded 800 meters. The moat enclosed an area of 40,000 to 50,000 square meters. Its upper opening measures roughly 8 meters wide, the base 4 meters wide, and the depth reaches about 3 meters. Hard compacted layers resembling rammed earth were identified in some sections of the moat.

Within the moat, archaeologists uncovered a large timber-framed sacrificial artifact pit of the Yueshi Culture, alongside major Shang Dynasty features including house foundations, sacrificial pits and water wells. A Shang cemetery is located north of the moat.

In 1996, a total of 356 cultural relics dating to the Yueshi period were recovered during excavation of the timber-framed sacrificial pit. Two oracle bones found at the bottom of the pit bear artificially carved inscriptions. Expert research confirmed these are the earliest oracle bone writings discovered in China to date, more than 300 years older than the Shang oracle bones from Yinxu.

Furthermore, dozens of Shang bronze vessels unearthed from the site over the years are inscribed with texts, clan emblems and merchant marks. This makes the site of extraordinary significance for the study of Dongyi Culture and the cultural landscape of northern Shandong during the Shang Dynasty. Its excavation outcomes constitute a major breakthrough in China’s archaeological history.

In 1997, the People’s Government of Zibo City designated the Shijia Site a Municipal Key Cultural Relic Protection Unit. In December 2006, the People’s Government of Shandong Province listed it as a Provincial Key Cultural Relic Protection Unit.