Yuchisi site of Mengcheng, Anhui Province, belonging to late phase of Dawenkou Culture, is a large-scaled prehistoric site found in 1980s. Excavations of 9 seasons, gain datum to fills up the vacancy on Dawenkou settlement research. Within the enclosed trench and on the area of 5000 square meters, there distributed rows and groups of more than 40 rooms. Some of two rooms serve a group while several form a big room, thus consisting of the separated or united groups, and reflecting its social organization in which individual family worked as a basic unit. Yuchisi is a typical representative of Dawenkou Culture in North Anhui. Archaeological investigation shows that around it there locates more than ten sites in different size. Yuchisi site is the biggest and occupies a dominantly central position. The material of Yuchisi site is quite important for studying on origin of early civilization.
To explore the whole layout of the Yuchisi settlement, the Anhui Archaeological Team, IA,CASS, and the Mengcheng County Bureau of Culture carried out the 13^th excavation on the site in the autumn of 2003, which resulted in the obtainment of unexpected achievements. The excavation was made in the central area of the site, covering an area of 1,000 sq m. Among the Dawenkou Culture remains three groups of burnt clay buildings were found to he in two rows. Moreover, a row of burnt clay house-foundations similar to their counterparts in the Dawenkou culture was revealed in the Longshan Culture layer. This made up a gap in the previous some dozen excavations on the site. In addition, a group of peculiar seven-legged perforated objects was yielded from the burnt clay house-foundations of Longshan culture. It is the first time such objects have been unearthed form the Yuchisi site. These discoveries provided new material for the study of architectural form and ideological problems in the period of Longshan culture.
