The Niuheliang site of northeast China's Hongshan culture, an important prehistoric archaeological culture dating back approximately 5,000 to 6,000 years, has kept surprising researchers with new discoveries, since it was first excavated in 1983.

The Hongshan culture has been recognized as one of the earliest origins of Chinese civilization, and the Niuheliang site is the largest known sacrificial site and tomb group of the Hongshan culture.
The Hongshan culture is mainly distributed in the western part of northeast China's Rehe region, covering a vast area of 200,000 square kilometers. Among them, the Niuheliang site in Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province, belongs to the late period of the Hongshan culture, which is 5,000 to 5,500 years old.
The Niuheliang site has been under continuous archaeological excavation for over 40 years since its discovery in 1981.
In recent years, nine large platform foundations have been discovered successively at the site, covering a total area of over 60,000 square meters. Archaeologists speculate that there was once a magnificent building complex here, and this area could be an important ritual area for the Hongshan ancestors.
During this year's excavation, the unearthed artifacts were mainly on the southern side of the No. 7 platform foundation. Although buried underground for over 5,000 years, the patterns on the pottery shards are still clearly visible. Archaeologists preliminarily determined these pottery pieces were used for ritual purposes.
Besides the pottery, multiple circular pits on its northern side are among the new discoveries. These pits, about one meter in diameter and 50 centimeters in depth, vary in size and shape, marking the first such discovery in the ritual area.
Currently, there are 16 numbered relic sites at Niuheliang, including the goddess temple, the altar and the stone mound, which cover approximately 8 square kilometers and which is the core protection zone of the Niuheliang site.
Through the unearthed jade wares, pottery, stone tools and bone artifacts, it has been proven that by the late period of Hongshan culture some 5,000 years ago, civilization had developed into a primitive stage, which has significant implications for the study of ancient China regarding society, traditional cultures, architecture and art.