The picture shows the archaeological area of the ruins of Wanzhou Tiansheng City. Courtesy of Chongqing Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Chongqing, January 24 (Reporter Zhong Yi) reporters learned from the Chongqing Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology on the 24th that in the archaeological work of the TianshengCheng Ruins in Wanzhou, Chongqing in 2021, a number of neolithic relics from the Shang zhou period, the Han to the Six Dynasties period, the Song Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China were newly discovered. Among them, the remains of the Han to Six Dynasties are the first to be discovered, further expanding the historical evolution of the site.
The ruins of Tianshengcheng are located in the hinterland of the Three Gorges Reservoir Area - Tianshengcheng Community, Zhoujiaba Street, Wanzhou District, Chongqing City, located on the north bank of the Yangtze River, the city site is built according to the mountainous terrain, and the cliffs are soaring, which was an important part of the defense system of the Song and Meng (Yuan) Wars in southwest China. In 2013, it was announced by the State Council as the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units.
Tang Yong, a librarian of the Chongqing Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said that the archaeological work was carried out by combining point-like trench test excavation and overall excavation in key areas, with a total excavation area of more than 3,100 square meters. For the first time in archaeology, a small number of remains of the Han to Six Dynasties have been found, and several artifact fragments unearthed include grid-patterned clay clay clay pots, blue-glazed porcelain bowls, etc., which further expands the historical evolution of Tiansheng City and confirms the long history of Tiansheng City ruins.
According to reports, this archaeology has once again found the remains of the pre-Qin period, and the newly discovered accumulation distribution range is wider and the relics are more abundant, which further confirms that Tiansheng City was already a human living site as early as the pre-Qin period. This discovery is obviously different from the situation that the remains of the Shang and Zhou dynasties in the Xia River area are usually distributed in the Linjiang terrace or low altitude areas, which provides a new thinking direction for the study of the choice of site environment in the pre-Qin period of the Three Gorges region, is an important supplement to the study of the relationship between man and land in the pre-Qin period, and has important historical value for the study of related archaeological cultures in the Shang and Zhou dynasties.
In terms of relics of the Song Dynasty, most of the relics were excavated from the formation, including porcelain bowls, porcelain cups, porcelain incense burners, porcelain bottles, copper coins, brick stones, cylinder tiles, etc. The archaeological team also excavated and cleaned up a large-scale building site of the Song Dynasty, which confirmed the historical facts of Tiansheng City as an important part of the Song and Meng (Yuan) Mountain City Ruins Group.
The picture shows the remains of the Han to Six Dynasties excavated this time. Courtesy of Chongqing Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
For the first time, this excavation has found a clear Ming Dynasty stratigraphic accumulation, and at the same time found a number of Ming Dynasty relics. According to the 2017 survey and oral history materials, the functional division of the inner city of Tiansheng in the Qing Dynasty can be roughly divided into three areas according to the height difference of the terrain: the highest terrain in the central part is the residential area of landlords and gentry, and the edge of the city wall is the residential area of ordinary civilians, small craftsmen and traders, and between the two is the secondary landlord residential area in the city. This discovery shows that since the Ming Dynasty, the functional divisions of the inner city of Tiansheng have remained basically the same.
In addition, the archaeology also found that there are architectural relics of the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, such as housing sites, wells, ash pits, ash ditches, etc., as well as porcelain, pottery, stone, copper, glass and other Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China artifacts.
It is reported that during the Song-Mongol (Yuan) War, the ruins of Tiansheng City were incorporated into the mountain city defense system in Chongqing with its important strategic location and superior geographical conditions, and it took more than 30 years from its inception to be conquered by the Yuan army, during which the Wanzhou Administrative Office was also moved to Tiansheng City and became the political and military center of Wanzhou. (End)