Caoxie Hill Site is located in Lingnan and Lingbei Villages of Weiting Town in the Industrial Park of Suzhou. It was listed as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level by the State Council of China in 2013.
From September to November 2009, the Archaeological Institute of Suzhou City carried out a rescue excavation to the tomb groups found during the broadening of the river course within the scope of the site. A total number of 15 tombs of the late Songze Culture which is 5500 years ago were cleaned. Hundreds of funerary objects, mainly pottery wares, were unearthed in the excavation. In addition to tripods, pots, kettles, pottery stem cups, bowls, basins, and plates, there are even disc-like and ladle-like wares which are rare to see and some of them are painted with mysterious symbolic patterns. Some fine stone tomahawks (a large, axe-shaped weapon in ancient times), axes and semi-annular jade pendants are also found. At the same time, a comprehensive archaeological investigation to Caoxie Hill Site was implemented, with 450 holes and a total of about 500,000 square meters are drilled. It was finally agreed that the scope of the site was expanded to the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway on the south, 300 meters from Yangcheng Lake on the north, the West Port River on the west and the eastern Yiling Road on the east, covering a total area of about 1000,000 square meters.