In June-September 1996, the Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and other units carried out a rescuing excavation at the Beiyangtai site, in an area of 2,478 sq m, which led to the discovery of predynastic and late Shang culture remains, including more than 200 cultural relics. In the predynastic Shang deposits, the remains include mainly round, oval, rectangular and irregular ash-pits;the objects are largely pottery, and stone tools, bone artifacts, oracle bones and shell articles occur in a smaller number. They belong to the Zhanghe type of predynastic Shang culture and go back roughly to the period directly prior to Cheng Tang conquering the Xia. As for late Shang cultural remains, there is only a shallow ditch with li tripod, dou stemmed vessel and other shards. Their date must not have been later than the Miaopu I period, i.e. corresponding to the Wu Ding reign.
