The Taitung rift valley is a huge fault and itswestside belongs to the Eurasian Plate, where the Central Mountain Range have numerous high mountains. Its east side belongs to the Philippine Sea Plate, whose geology is completely different fromthe Eurasian Plateand consistsmainly of submarine volcanoes,coralreefs, and seabed sediments. The Beinan Mountain conglomerate andthe Lijimudstoneregion at the south end of the Coastal Mountain Range face each other across the Beinan River. Geologically, the two stratums are strong evidence oftectonic plate movements in Taiwan.

The Beinan Mountain stands 411 meters above sea level and contains many sedimentary outcrops of Beinan conglomerate rock—the result of tectonic plate movements during which the Central Mountain Range was elevated following river erosion and the rapid accumulation of flowing sediments. Orogenesis,or the uplifting of tectonic plates, formed the Beinan tableland. 

The area also contains Lijimudstone, which ismade from deepsea sediments from the fore-arc basin. Theolistostromewas formed by sediments from a collapsed continental slope after tectonic plate movements. Therefore, Lijimudstone contains a lot offoreign rock types.

Both the Beinan conglomerate outcrops and Lichimudstones belong to the East Rift Valley terrain, which is characterized by unique badlands that developed because of the region’s geological formation. Both have become important landscape resourcesin the East Rift Valley National Scenic Area.

People of the Beinan culture settled  at foothills beside a stream in an area backed by the Beinan Mountain and fronted by the Beinan River. To its south lies the Taitung alluvial delta plain with abundant water and grass. In the Beinan burial area, more than 1,500 slate coffins are laid from north to north-northeast and south-southwest to south. Judging from the zonal distribution of these slate coffins and the architectural layout of the excavated buildings, the house doors  in the Beinansettlementmay have been constructed to face east-southeast, where the Beinan River flows toward the Pacific Ocean.

The BeinanRiverflows southward fromChishangTownship along the Taitung rift valley, and converges with tributary streams from eastern slopes of the Central Mountain Range. Its amount of flow and erosion increases after joining the LuyeRiver around Jiafeng in LuyeTownship. Since the Liji rock formation on its east side is soft and prone to erosion,the river has continuously eroded eastward to create the spectacular Liji badlands.

Looking northward from the settlement is DulanMountain, the highest mountain south of HsinkangMountain of the Coastal Mountain Range. Dulan Mountain is formed from agglomerate rockof hard texturethat was created by accumulations of large blocks of volcanic materials resulting from undersea volcanic eruptions. The originalbroadleaf forestsstill thriveon the mountain and provide a good natural environment.The region is also  famous for producing sapphires.

When it came togardening considerations for the Beinan Cultural Park, the organizers chose to replant the park using native species with seasonal characteristics and the ability to attract birds and butterflies.Today, the scene of flying birds and dancing butterflies can be seen throughout the four seasons.  The sight of large flocks of birds is another major feature of the park.

Noisy Greytreepies (Dendrocitta formosae), elegant Japanese white-eyes (Zosterops japonicus) that sings melodiously, and such endemic species as the Formosan bulbul (Pycnonotus taivanus), crested serpent eagle (Spilornis cheela), ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis), Oriental skylark (Alauda gulgula), and Taiwan barbet (Psilopogon nuchalis)with colorful feathers all inhabit the park. The Malayan night heron (Gorsachius melanolophus), a rare speciesthat visits the park every year to breed, is an especiallydelightful sight.

Starting from September, large flocks of brown shrikes (Lanius cristatus) kick off the arrival of winter migratory birds. The scene of Chinese sparrow-hawks (Accipiter soloensis) and grey-faced buzzards (Butastur indicus) migrating southward may be glimpsed by visitors who gaze into the skies.In addition to birds, Formosan rock macaques (Macaca cyclopis) can be seen occasionally foraging in a nearby custard apple orchard. The condition of the animal habitat and foraging behaviordemonstrate that the ecological environment of the park has been accepted by animals.

The Beinan Cultural Park is the first archaeological parkin Taiwan that is built on site. In the early planning stage of the park, Professor Lee Ruey-tsung was commissioned to survey native plants near Beinan Mountain and select appropriate Taiwanese plants to restore as much as possiblethe site’s original vegetation, so as to simulate the natural ecology of the prehistoric settlement and reconstruct the vegetation style of Beinan culture at the time. 

The park also serves as a display of ethnic medicinal plants by growing plant species that were once frequently used by the Austronesian peoples.

The aforementioned planning principles show that the tree and vegetation selection in the Beinan Cultural Park was decided based on environmental, archaeological, and anthropological factors. At present, low-altitude native plants,including ferns, gymnosperms, dicotyledons, and monocotyledonsof 62 families and 139 species,can be seen all around the park. These native plantshave been planted in succession on the archaeological site at each stage of the park planning to show the diversity of native plants in Taiwan.

The earliest records of the Beinan Archaelogial Site were made by anthropologist Ryuzo Torii in the early period of Japanese colonial rule. During his fourvisits to Taiwan for anthropological surveys, he took two photos of protruding stone pillars at the Beinansite circa 1896.

Tadao Kano was the first scholar who studied the Beinan site as an archaeological site. He wrote in an article published in 1930 that there were numerous slate pillars erected on the ground, and he presumed according to Beinan legends that an ancient tribe once existed there and those pillars were remnants of their buildings. 

During the 50years of Japanese colonial rule,scholars focused on the visible pillars above the ground. Pottery shards and building remnants buried underground werefound in 1945 when Kanaseki Takeo and NaoichiKokubu carried out the first excavation around the largest erected stone pillar.

After World War II, manylocal scholars came to survey the BeinanArchaeological Site, but no excavations were conducted. In 1975, the Taitung County Government listed the site as a local historical monument. In 1979, it was upgraded to a Grade III monument in Taiwan, but no concrete measures were taken to preserve the site.

In 1980, construction workers unearthed a large quantity of architecturalremnants and relics that had been buried underground for thousands of years when building today’s Taitung Station of Taiwan Railway South-LinkLine. The site sustained heavy damage, stirring great concern and discussion from the public.

The Taitung County Government then commissioned ProfessorSongWen-hsun and Professor Lien Chao-mei of the National Taiwan University’s Department of Anthropology to carry out an archaeological rescue. Their rescue mission, which was conducted in 13 phases over the course of nine years, achieved stunningresults.

Both the size of the excavation area and the quantity of unearthed slate coffins and relics set an unprecedented record in Taiwan’s archaeological history. The large quantity of finejade items, in particular, amazed the public. The BeinanArchaeological Site is undoubtedly one of the most iconic prehistoric sites in Taiwan. At present, the site has been designated as a national heritage site and is being preserved as the Beinan Cultural Park, the first archaeologicalpark in Taiwan.

Criterion III

Slate coffins, jade artifacts, and relics of a massive ancient settlement unearthed at the Beinan site are notonly  an exceptional find in Taiwan, but also a rarityin the world. From an academic viewpoint, the Beinan Archaeological Site, which represents prehistoric culture, bears some similarities with those on Taiwan’s west coast and may even be related to the Austronesian cultures. It played a crucial part in the overall development of Taiwan’s prehistory, which meets the third criterion for inclusion on the list of World Heritage Sites.

Criterion VI

The  Beinan Archaeological Site is valuable to a wide range of fields. The site offers both tangible artifacts such as architectural remnants, unearthed cultural relics, and biological specimens, and intangible cultural heritage, thereby meeting the sixth criterion for inclusion.

Excavation of the Beinan site in the past ten years

5-1. The site’s landscape in 1993:

Prior to the establishmentthe National Museum of Prehistory, trial excavation had been conducted within the park area to see whether the addition of new park facilities will affect the archaeological site. However, since more than 80 percentof the land of the Beinan site is private property, some farmers dug up their land in 1993 and unearthed several slate coffins and other relics. The Ministry ofthe Interior commissioned the museum to deal with the problem.

In 1996, the museum gained permission from the Taitung County Government for temporary usage of a stretch of land expropriated for road construction. The land was next to the Beinan Cultural Park, and the museum set up scaffolds to carry out an archaeological excavation and welcomedvisitors to understand the process of archaeological work and witness the unearthed structures and relics. 

5-2. New findings at the Beinan site:

Carbon-14 dating determined that three cultural layers existed at the Beinan site about 2,000 to 5,000 years ago. Prehistoric residents had lived on the site for a long time from the Neolithic Ageto the Iron Age.

The relicsunearthed at theBeinan site belonged to the Jomon pottery culture from 5,000 to 3,500 years ago and the Beinan culture from 3,500 to 2,000 years ago.Both cultures are classified as Neolithic.

Recently, researchers at the National Museum of Prehistory have confirmed that in the final prehistoric stage at the Beinansite, stoneware was infrequently used, the style of pottery had changed, and burial customs had changed from using slate coffins to going without coffins. Meanwhile, the fact that ironware was unearthed here indicates that the prehistoric culture entered the Iron Age about 1,700 years ago. This particular archeological layer is likely related to the ancestors of Taiwan aborigines.

5-3. Slate coffins unearthed at the Beinan site:

There are several largeclusters of slate coffins at the Beinan site and more than 1,600 slate coffins have been excavated. The coffins, which were made of slate slabs, were generally buried in the northeast-southwest directionfacing Dulan Mountain. Adults, children, and even newborn babies were all buried in slate coffins.

Slate coffins reflected the burial customs and values at that time. Although not every slate coffin contained mortuary objects, a large quantity of such objects were found inside most of the unearthed coffins. Mortuary objects included tools used in daily lifeand an abundance of jade ornaments Rich people were often buried with a lot of jade or ceramic items, and exquisite relics unearthed at theBeinan site were mostly found inslate coffins. Therefore, slate coffins have become the most important excavated relics thus far and serve to highlight the importance of the Beinan site.
 

5-4. Jade objects found at the Beinan site:Human- and animal-shapedearrings

Most jade items unearthed from the Beinan site were mortuary objects found in slate coffins.The mortuary objects fell mainly into two categories —ornaments and ritualistic objectsthat were made in the shape of daily tools. Ornaments included headdresses, earrings, necklaces, and armbands. Earrings were the most common item and the notched circular earring was the main type. There were also earrings in other shapes, including one that showed two men carrying an animal. That unique imagery has become the museum logo.

There were alsotool-shaped jade items such as spears, arrowheads, axes, hoes, hatchets, and chisels. Although they lookedlike daily tools, these Taiwan jade burial gifts were often very sharp, showing that they were specifically made for use as ritualisticobjects, rather than for any practical purpose.

5-5. Ceramics found at the Beinan site: Pottery pots with single handles

Ceramics unearthed at the Beinan site can be divided into those that belong to the Neolithic Age and those that belong to the Iron Age.According to different archaeological layers,Neolithic ceramics includedJomon pottery at the early stage and Beinan pottery at the late stage. There were not many Jomon pottery items unearthed, and the most well-preserved ceramics from that era were two round-bottomed pottery pots of the Dapenkeng culture. Most of the well-preserved plain potterypieces were mortuary objects found in slate coffins,  which were typically round-bottomed pots with two vertical handles. 

The Iron Age ceramics were more varied in shape and size. The bodies of such vessels were either conical or rounded, and they generally were equipped with smaller round bottoms. The handles were triangularin shape, and the exterior of the vessels was decorated with many different images and themes. Remnants of red paint were found on the surface of such vessels as well.

5-6. Architectural remnants at the Beinan site: Masonry ring

The BeinanArchaeological Site is a large-scale site of ancient human settlement that offers many architectural remnants.

The main unearthed architectural structure at the site belonged to the late stages of the Beinan culture–a Sanhe-type Beinan settlementabout 2,000 to 1,700 years ago. The architectural structure suggests that general accommodationsat the time were slightly rectangular and arranged consecutively, with the main axis pointing to northeast and the short side facing Dulan Mountain.

Each semi-crypt housewas small in size and had an interior inlaid with slate slabs. The exterior of the house had a slightly elevated outdoor aisle andthe ground was lined with drainage ditches. At the side of each house, there was a semi-crypt type ofstorageroom.Large and heavy stone stairs werepart of basic housing infrastructure.