In the years 2003 through 2004, Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and other institutions excavated the remains of the Bailong Temple in Linqu County, by which one Buddhist temple foundation and two pottery kilns were recovered and large amounts of sculpture fragments, shards of pottery and porcelain wares and architectural parts were unearthed. The Buddhist temple foundation was composed of the rectangular platform and the tiled-roofed building on it in the south, the ramps on the east and west sides of the platform, the drainage ditches beneath the ramps, the sunken courtyard in Π-shaped plan surrounding the platform, the high terraces outside the sunken courtyard, the tiled-roofed architecture on the terrace to the north of the courtyard and the small kitchen in the northwestern corner. This Buddhist temple was built at the end of the Northern Wei or the Eastern Wei Dynasty and continued to be used down to the mid or the late Northern Song Dynasty, but its flourishing period was just in the Northern Dynasties. The sculpture fragments unearthed from this site were in large amount and represent diversified categories and rich motifs, which provided important materials for the researches on the Buddhist sculptures.
