Department of Cultural Affairs

Yuanshan Prehistoric Site

The Yuanshan Prehistoric Site includes an area bounded by Zhongshan N. Rd. Section 3, Yumen St., Jiuquan St. and the Keelung River. The Taipei basin was once a lake, with the hills of Yuanshan an island rising from within it. Excavations have revealed prehistoric human activity at this location. Archaeologists have discovered an extensive mound of shells, including those of black clams, oysters, trochuses and freshwater spiral mollusks, indicating that prehistoric people discarded the shells here after eating their contents.
Further excavations have unearthed implements of clay, stone, bone and horn in an upper stratum of the site, remains of what has been named the “Yuanshan Culture.” In a lower stratum, rope-patterned pottery reveals the presence of the “Dabenkeng Culture,” also known as the “Rope-Pattern Terracotta Culture,” one of Taiwan’s earliest known Neolithic peoples..