Ruins at Dahe Village

In the northeast suburb of Zhengzhou City lies the Ruins of the Dahe Village, a primitive village in the New Stone Age. 2.5 kilometers to its north is the Jialu River, 12 kilometers to its south the developed area of Zhengzhou City proper and 14 kilometers to its west the ancient Bianshui River. The ruins of house foundations, dating back five thousand years, show separate inner and outer rooms - indicating that group marriage probably no longer existed and that families in which young couples lived separately from their parents had appeared.

With more than 700 meters in length and about 600 meters in width, the ruins cover an area of more than 40 millions square meters. Its cultural layer is 4-12.05 meters in depth; the remaining cultural relics represent four historical periods of cultural development of 3300 years: the Yangshao Culture, Longshan Culture, Erlitou Culture and Shang Dynasty Culture.

Discovered in 1964 and first unearthed in 1972, the ruins have been dug for 21 times, uncovering a total area of 5000 square meters, cleaning up 47 blouse foundations in different periods, 290 pits, 184 adult graves and 170 urns and coffins, unearthing 3500 pieces of tools made of pottery, stone, bone, jade and some other materials.

The Yangshao Culture of the ruins can be divided into 7 periods: the first is 6800-6500 years from now, the early period of the Yangshao culture; the second about 6500-5000 years from now, the period of Miaoligou Culture; the third, 5000-4700 years from now, a period of Qinwangzhai Culture type; the fourth, 4700-4500 years from now, a period of transition from the Yangshao Culture to the Longshan Culture, which can be subdivided into three periods of the early, the middle and the late.

The Yangshao Culture is followed by Henan Longshan Culture, the Xia Culture, and the Shang Dynasty Culture.The Ruins of Dahe Village is rare in all the ancient ruins unearthed in the Central Plains for its large area, rich relics, extensive culture contents and the time span, so it has become a key historical relic under the state protection.

Location: Jinshui District, Zhengzhou.
Entrance Fee: RMB 10
Opening Hours: 8:30-12:00, 14:30-17:30
Transportation: Take Bus No.263, 308 or 118.