Zhaobaogou
Zhaobaogou Culture Site · Aohan Zhaobaogou
Zhaobaogou 5400–4500 BCE → Hongshan 4700–2900 → Lower Xiajiadian·Zhaobaogou (Liao Neolithic, post-Xinglongwa)·🇨🇳 Inner Mongolia, Chifeng City, Aohan Banner, Zhaobaogou area adjacent to Xinglongwa (Liao River headwaters, Aohan plain north of Xinglongwa hills), China
About
About Zhaobaogou
Type-site for Zhaobaogou culture (c.5400–4500 BCE, post-Xinglongwa) on the Aohan plain adjacent to Xinglongwa near Chifeng — 1.5 ha village with 18 pit houses and rich artistic pottery, excavated 1986 by Inner Mongolia Institute. Zhaobaogou overlies Xinglongwa, famous for elaborate incised and painted pottery with zoomorphic motif relief (deer, birds, geometric, human heads), jade dragons (Pig-dragon earliest precursor to Hongshan pig-dragon 0.5 m jade), and evidence of millet intensification and early pig increase 15% → 40% fauna. Bridge between Xinglongwa ditched village and monumental Hongshan (Niuheliang) two millennia before Liaoxi jade.
Why it mattersBridge to Hongshan pig-dragon — earliest jade pig-dragon and incised deer art linking Xinglongwa ditch to Niuheliang monumental jade two millennia.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Was pig-dragon ancestor worship before Hongshan Goddess Temple?
Theories
- 01Aohan continuous artistic intensification toward Hongshan monumentalism
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.5400 BCE village after Xinglongwa
- Period
- Zhaobaogou 5400–4500 BCE → Hongshan 4700–2900 → Lower Xiajiadian
- Culture
- Zhaobaogou (Liao Neolithic, post-Xinglongwa)
- Builders
- Zhaobaogou millet-pig farmers (Xinglongwa descendants)
- Purpose
- Artistic pottery hamlet linking Xinglongwa ditch to Hongshan jade-pig dragon monumentalism
- Abandoned
- c.4500 BCE (transition to Hongshan culture)
- Rediscovered
- 1986 rescue near Zhaobaogou village; analysis post 1986
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.5400–5000 BCE
18 pit houses with incised zoomorphic pottery and deer motifs
c.5000–4500 BCE
Jade pig-dragon precursor and painted pottery intensification
1986
Inner Mongolia defines Zhaobaogou culture linking Xinglongwa→Hongshan
On the ground
Structures & features
42.4500° N · 119.9500° E · 560 m · 2 mapped features
Village House Cluster
settlement18 pit houses with incised zoomorphic painted pottery on plain
42.4505° N · 119.9505° EJade Pig-Dragon Workshop Area
workshopJade pig-dragon and deer-applique pottery finds concentration at north end
42.4495° N · 119.9495° E
Gallery