A bronze ding excavated from the Hokyo site in 2016.
Orthographic image of the sacrificial pit.
Researcher Yue Lianjian (left) with paleontologists cleaning animal bones in sacrificial pits. This edition of the photos was provided by the interviewee
When introducing Xi'an, I believe that everyone will mention the "ancient capital of the Thirteen Dynasties", but do you know that the first dynasty of the "Thirteen Dynasties" was the Western Zhou?
Do you know what kind of capital city the Capital of the Western Zhou Dynasty was? Where is the palace? Where is Jongmyo Temple? Where is the workshop area? If we were to draw a map of Hokyo today, would it be possible?
Archaeology is inseparable from understanding history. On January 9, the reporter interviewed Yue Lianjian, a researcher at the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute and the person in charge of the cultural relics exploration and excavation project at the Ho-Jing site, and listened to how archaeologists "drew" a map of the capital city dating back about 3,000 years.
When it comes to the nearly 40 years of archaeological excavations at the Ho-Kyung site, Yue Lianjian is like a number of family treasures, which year began to explore, which year was officially excavated, which year was there any important discovery... These materials seemed to be imprinted in his mind.
"The ruins of Hojing are the core area of Hojing, the capital of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Together, Fengyi and Hokyo make up the ruins of Fenghao that we are familiar with. The Ho-Jing Archaeological Team of the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute began to investigate and explore the Ho-Kyo site in 1983, and officially began excavations in 1984..." With Yue Lianjian's narration, the palace, temple, and handicraft workshop of this "imperial capital" dating back about 3,000 years gradually became clear.
●The total existing area of the Hokyo ruins is 9.2 square kilometers
●A large number of important relics of the Western Zhou Dynasty, such as housing sites, ash pits, tombs, wells, and pottery kilns, have been found in the site
● The carbonized wheat particles excavated from ash pit H270 are the first Western Zhou wheat found in Shaanxi Province
●There may be a Jongmyo Temple in the Hokage Castle, and it is a Jongmyo temple of the Tianzi level
"Gong" glyph shaped Room 5
According to historical records, after King Wen of Zhou destroyed the Shang Dynasty's vassal state of Chonghou, he moved the capital from Qixia (Zhou Yuan) to Fengyi. After King Wu of Zhou ascended the throne, he built a pickaxe capital on the east bank of the Feng River.
The Hojing ruins are located in the Xixian New District Fengdong New Town Doumen Subdistrict Office. The total area of the site is 9.2 square kilometers, mainly distributed in Garden Village, Baijiazhuang, Guanzhuang, Pudu Village, Shangquan Village, Falling Water Village and other villages.
In 1983, the Hokyo archaeological team began to conduct systematic archaeological investigation, exploration and excavation of the Hokyo site. By the end of 1990, a total of 11 large building sites had been found at the Hokyo site. The most important and largest building site is The House 5. Yue Lianjian introduced.
The base site of the No. 5 palace building is located in the northeast of hualouzi terrace, about 50 meters from the base site of the no. 4 building, which was built during the period of King Yi of Zhou and King Xiao of Zhou, and destroyed during the period of King Li of Zhou or King You of Zhou. The building site is larger, with a total area of 3,393 square meters of rammed earth platforms and a total construction area of 2,891 square meters. The main building of the palace is centered and has an area of 1357 square meters.
Palace No. 5 sits northwest to southeast, the plane is in the shape of a "worker", the middle is the main building of the palace, and the two ends are symmetrical annexes, and a total of 28 remnant walls have been found in the outbuildings. Thousands of tiles have been excavated from the base site of the building, including plate tiles, cylinder tiles, groove tiles, and the attached tile nails include column nails, milk nails, etc.
When talking about the importance of Palace No. 5, Yue Lianjian introduced: "The No. 5 Palace of the Hojing Ruins is the first large-scale excavation and comprehensive disclosure of the foundation site of the Western Zhou Dynasty, which provides valuable physical materials for the study of the palace system in the Western Zhou Period. ”
Archaeological achievements "great harvest"
From 2012 to 2018, it was a few years of "great harvest" of archaeological achievements at the Hokyo site.
Since 2012, Yue Lianjian has served as the leader of the Hokyo Archaeological Team of the Provincial Archaeological Research Institute, responsible for the archaeological survey, exploration and excavation projects of the Ho-Kyung site. Archaeologists found a large number of important relics of the Western Zhou Dynasty such as house sites, ash pits, tombs, wells, pottery kilns, etc. in the site, and excavated a large number of pottery, copper, stone, bone, mussels, horns and other material cultural relics, as well as a trench with a length of about 4 kilometers. After research, this trench may have been the southern boundary trench of the capital city during the Western Zhou Dynasty.
Among the ruins, a "suite" of "two bedrooms and one living room" is particularly eye-catching. Yue Lianjian said: "The site is the only three-suite semi-crypt house found at the Fenghao site and even the Western Zhou site in Shaanxi, which fills the gap in the remains of this type in Shaanxi and provides important information for the study of the architectural form and technology of the house in the Western Zhou Period." ”
But what is this uniquely shaped site for? As archaeologists excavate, the answer is looming. "Here, we found bronze tools, pottery molds, pottery cores and pottery kilns related to casting bronzes. Copper casting and the daily lives of craftsmen required a lot of water, and archaeologists found many wells in the site. Therefore, the 'suite' can basically be identified as a copper casting workshop at the hokkyo site. Yue Lianjian said. This discovery provided valuable information for the study of the settlement structure and the distribution of handicraft workshops in the Capital City of Western Zhou, and the project won the 2018 China Important Archaeological Discovery Award.
The people take food as the sky, what kind of food will the craftsmen of these copper casting workshops enjoy after "leaving work"? A large number of field snail shells, animal bones and floating grains, beans and other crops excavated from many ash pits in the site of the copper casting workshop, especially the large number of carbonized wheat particles excavated from ash pit H270, gave archaeologists a surprise. Wheat granules are the first western Zhou wheat found in Shaanxi, which is of great significance for the study of wheat cultivation in the Western Zhou Dynasty, the types of grain crops, and the cultivation history of wheat in the Guanzhong area.
In the investigation and exploration of the Hokyo site, archaeologists also have a big discovery that updates the understanding of the academic community.
In 2012, during a fieldwork, Yue Lianjian found that there was an unusual break in the north of Baijiazhuang that was roughly north-south, with a drop of nearly 2 meters, which was previously thought to be the interior of the Kunming Pond in the Han Dynasty. How can there be such a big gap in the Kunming pool? This aroused Yue Lianjian's curiosity. Later, through archaeological exploration and excavation, archaeologists determined that this was the northwest boundary of the Han Dynasty Kunming Pond, and excavated the shoreline of the pond, updating the academic understanding of the northwest boundary of the Han Dynasty Kunming Pond.
"The determination of the northwest boundary of the Kunming Pond in the Han Dynasty has updated the previous academic view that the Han Dynasty's repair of the Kunming Pond destroyed most or even destroyed the Hojing ruins. According to current archaeological findings, the destruction of the Hokkei site by Kunming Pond is at most one-third of the damage. Yue Lianjian said.
The use of the foundation site of the 14th large building
In the summer of 2018, archaeologists discovered a large rammed earth building site, another important discovery since the discovery of 11 Rammed earth foundation sites in the 1980s at the Hokyo ruins.
In 2019, with the approval of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Ho-Kyung archaeological team began to excavate the base site of the building and achieved important results. In 2020, the Pickaxe-Beijing Archaeological Team reported to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage to expand the excavation area, and archaeologists discovered the large-scale building site of No. 14 of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and the archaeological results were gratifying.
The base site of the No. 14 large building is located in the Haowuling Highland on the south bank of the Ancient Road of the Chu River in the central and western parts of the Hojing Ruins, and the distance from the Base Sites of the No. 5 and No. 11 Western Zhou Buildings in Hojing is less than 100 meters, and should be the same group of buildings. The rammed earth foundation site is roughly rectangular in a north-south direction, about 53 meters long, about 34 meters wide, with a total area of more than 1800 square meters, which is a high-grade large-scale building. In addition, in the northwest of the building site, archaeologists also revealed a rammed earth slope (wall) that is more than 40 meters long, about 4 meters wide, and has a drop of about 2 meters.
What is the purpose of such a large and high-profile building? A sacrificial pit in the southeast corner of the foundation site of the 14th large building provides archaeologists with important clues. The sacrificial pit is slightly rectangular in shape, and many animal bones have been unearthed inside. Researcher Hu Songmei, an expert in paleontological research at the Provincial Archaeological Research Institute, identified it as the skulls of cattle, sheep, pigs and deer and a small number of animal limb bones.
The reason why it was judged to be a sacrifice pit, Yue Lianjian also gave his own reasons. First of all, the pit is mainly animal skulls, and no large number of bones from other parts have been found, which is not suitable for animal bones buried after natural death or consumption. Secondly, the three animals of cattle, sheep, and pigs coincided with the types of animals used by Zhou Tianzi to sacrifice heaven and earth, ancestors, and gods, such as the highest level sacrifice "Tai Prison". "The sacrificial pit may have been formed by the Zhou people burying the remaining sacrifices nearby after completing the sacrifices." Yue Lianjian speculated.
"The animal bones unearthed from the sacrificial pit coincide with the animals used in the Zhou Tianzi sacrifice, so it is speculated that there may be a Zongmiao temple here, and it is a Tianzi-level Zongmiao Temple." The largest building to the 14th nearest to the pit is more likely to be the Jongmyo Temple. Yue Lianjian said.
Yue Lianjian introduced that the Zongmiao in the Western Zhou Dynasty had different grades. As a ceremonial building, the Tianzi-level Zongmiao temple is generally in the most important area, and the Zongmiao temple and the palace room are generally not too far apart. If the foundation site of the No. 14 large building or other nearby building sites can be determined to be the location of the Tianzi-level Zongmiao Temple, it will provide very important information for further determining the central location of the Western Zhou capital city of Hojing, as well as the layout and functional partitions of the capital.
The division of the Western Zhou capital
"According to the difference between the settlement layout of the Western Zhou capital City of Hojing and the importance of the found remains, we initially divided the Hokkei ruins into four major blocks, each of which is both independent and related." Yue Lianjian said.
The first block is the Zhou royal palace, ceremonial buildings and aristocratic residences, which are mainly discovered by archaeological surveys, drilling and excavations from 1983 to 1990. These sites are distributed along the direction of the Ho-Woo Ridge on the high ground on the south bank of the Hokari River, and are the best area in the whole city of Ho-Kyoto.
The second block is a civilian living area, mainly distributed in Doumen Town, Baijiazhuang, Huayuan Village East, Pudu Village, Shangquan Village, Xiaquan Village, Falling Water Village and other places. Civilian settlements are the most common and basic component of Ho Kyoto.
The third block is the burial area of nobles and commoners. Judging from the remains of the Western Zhou Dynasty found so far, this area is mainly distributed in the east of Doumen Town, the southwest of Huayuan Village, and the southeast of Pudu Village, such as the tombs of nobles and commoners in Garden Village, and the tombs of nobles and commoners in Pudu Village.
The fourth block is a handicraft production area, which is mainly distributed in the east of Garden Village, the south of Pudu Village, the north of Baijiazhuang, and the village of Falling water. Archaeologists have found sites in these places such as copper casting, pottery (tile), bone making workshops and so on.
In the past 40 years, archaeologists at the Hokyo site have made a series of major archaeological discoveries through unremitting efforts. Today, the "map" of the Hokyo ruins has been slowly rolled out, and the layout and division of the capital city more than 3,000 years ago have gradually become clear. It is expected that archaeologists will have more important discoveries at the Hojing site in the future, making this "map" of the Western Zhou capital more detailed and accurate.