Jimu news reporter Cheng Yuxun
Correspondents Du Peiqing, Wang Yulin, and Pan Xiao
After 6 days of field archaeology, the second and third national cultural relics census data were fully integrated, and the joint archaeological team composed of the School of History of Wuhan University, the Xianning Museum, the Chongyang County Museum, the Tongcheng County Museum and other units made new discoveries.
Group photo of the archaeologists
On January 18, the reporter learned from the Municipal Museum that from January 10 to 16, the joint archaeological team carried out archaeological investigation work in the Chongyang Tiancheng area around the Western Zhou Dayong Bell excavated in Wangjiazui, Tiancheng Town, Chongyang County, and finally confirmed the two important sites of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties in Wangjiazui and Screwding, which had great research value.
An important site of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the research value is huge
The Wangjiazui site was excavated in 1996 with a height of 75 centimeters of the Western Zhou Dynasty Yong Bell, and the initial estimate of the site area is about 200,000 square meters. The excavation of the screw top site with pottery pieces decorated with bronze ornaments, barrel-shaped copper fragments, and ortholites indicates that there is a possibility of discovering cast copper remains, and the estimated area of the site is about 130,000 square meters.
The two sites are distributed next to each other across the water, about 3 kilometers apart, and the archaeological and cultural features represented by pottery are close to the same, and there should undoubtedly be a close connection between them. Unfortunately, due to engineering construction and other reasons, both sites have been seriously damaged and urgently need to be rescued.
Copper Yong bells were excavated from Chongyang, Tongshan and Tongcheng counties in Xianning City
It is understood that in the Xianning area, the number of bronze heavy objects excavated in the Shang Zhou period was relatively large, and some of the artifacts were of extremely high specifications, and they were densely distributed in the three counties of Tongshan, Chongyang and Tongcheng in the south of Xianning City. Since 1962, at least 11 batches of 13 bronzes from the late Shang to the Spring and Autumn period have been found in this area, mainly ceremonial instruments and bells and drums. Among them, the copper drum found in Chongyang County in 1977 is the earliest Known Copper Drum of the Shang Dynasty in mainland China, and is now one of the top ten "treasures of the town hall" of the Hubei Provincial Museum.
An important bronze civilization that is different from the Western Zhou civilization in the Central Plains
Including the Wang Jiazui copper Yong Bell of this survey, the 9 batches of Western Zhou copper Yong Bells previously found in the "South Three Counties" of Xianning are all "Yue's Bells", and their shape and ornamental characteristics are different from similar instruments in the Central Plains, which is a widely popular cultural factor in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The pottery culture related to the bronze bell is also very different from the Western Zhou culture, which is manifested in the pottery color, ornamentation and vessel composition.
All this shows that there is an important bronze civilization in the Xianning region that is different from the Western Zhou civilization in the Central Plains. If we look at it from a larger time and space range, according to the distribution of Yue's clocks and the specifications of artifacts currently found on the mainland, the three counties in the south of Xianning and the neighboring areas should be a central area of the bronze civilization in the two-week period of the Yangtze River Basin, and its research value is huge.
Photographs of investigative work
It is reported that the archaeological survey work in the two areas of Chongyang Baini and Tongshan Nanlin Bridge will also be launched soon, when the joint archaeological team will depict a clearer distribution pattern of the Shangzhou settlement in the key areas of the three counties of Xianning South, find a more clear settlement and population carrier for the bronze heavy tools unearthed in the past, sort out the historical context of the development of civilization in the Shang and Zhou periods in the region, and help the yangtze River civilization exploration.