Introduction:

The 16th Niuheliang Site is located in the southwest corner of the Niuheliang Hongshan Cultural Site Group, and is northeast of the "Goddess Temple", the first place of worship in the center of the site group. About 4,500 meters, the east direction corresponds to the large earth and stone building site at the 13th location and the stone cairn at the 14th location, and is equally spaced in a straight line. Excavations at the site revealed stone burial sites of the Hongshan Culture in the late Neolithic Age, living remains, and residential sites of the lower Xiajiadian Culture in the Early Bronze Age.

The stone tomb cemetery is the main relic of the Hongshan Culture. The 12 tombs that have been cleared can be divided into 4 groups, and the burial time is early and late. Among them, the late stone tomb M4 located in the center of the site is a major harvest of this excavation. Its construction is different from the earth pit tombs discovered in the past, and also different from the earth tombs dug on the weathered bedrock. Instead, the tomb was dug directly into the rock veins of the hardest granite in the mountain. The cave is 390 meters long from north to south, 310 meters long from east to west, and 468 centimeters deep. The south wall of the cave is steep and deep, while the north wall is slope-shaped and has steps. The tomb was backfilled with hewn rock blocks, and a small polygonal stone "well" was built with stone slabs near the entrance of the tomb. The stone slab was capped and the bottom was paved with stone slabs. There is a rectangular sarcophagus at the bottom of the cave, with 17 layers of stone slabs on the walls. The inner walls are uniform, with stone slabs on the bottom and a strip of stone slabs on the top. Six jade artifacts were buried in the tomb. Among them, jade figures and jade phoenixes are newly discovered types of jade artifacts from the Hongshan Culture. The jade figures are highly realistic and are very important for the study of religious sacrificial activities, human body shape, and physical characteristics. The shape of the jade phoenix is ??simple and vivid, with graceful lines. The unearthed position where it is placed under the head is also thought-provoking. M4 is the largest tomb discovered in the Niuheliang site group and the most labor-intensive to build. Its scale is very different from the surrounding tombs. The amount of rock excavation alone is as much as 30 cubic meters. The excavation has provided rare new information for the comprehensive study of the layout of the stone tombs of the Hongshan Culture, the structure of each tomb and the tombs in the tomb, burial customs, jade assemblage and staging.