The Wangjiabang cemetery of the Chenghe site of the Neolithic Age in Shayang County, Hubei Province

Abstract

From March 2018 to January 2019, the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and other institutions excavated the Wangjiabang cemetery outside the north moat of the Chenghe ancient city site. They recovered 112 burials and three pottery ware pits and unearthed large numbers of artifacts, including pottery wares, jade and stone yue-battle-axes, ivory objects, bamboo-woven wares, lacquer wares, pig mandibles, and so on. These burials all belonged to the Qujialing culture, the large-scale ones mostly double- or triple-chamber burials in the same graves, and many burials were furnished with tree trunk coffins. Some pottery assemblages in the grave goods also had unique features. This discovery has filled a gap of the prehistoric burials in the middle reach of the Yangtze River, and provided valuable materials for further understanding the funeral customs and social structure of the Qujialing culture.