On January 24, under the guidance of the Shaanxi Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics and the Shaanxi Provincial Federation of Social Sciences, the results of the second Shaanxi Important Archaeological New Discoveries Selection And Selection sponsored by the Shaanxi Archaeological Society were officially announced. After the selection of the expert group, six archaeological projects, including the Xi'an Taiping Ruins, the Zhou Dynasty Original Zhou Architecture and the Western Zhou City Site, the East Gate Ruins of the Outer City of the Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum, the Western Han Emperor Mausoleum - Baling Ruins, the Xianyang Hongduyuan Tomb Group, and the Xi'an Xinxiaozhai Yuan Dynasty Zhao Family Cemetery were finally selected.
Excavation panorama of the ruins of the East Gate of the Outer City of the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin. Courtesy of Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute
At the press conference, three shortlisted projects were also announced, including the Sui and Tang Dynasty Cemetery of Xi'an Yuedengge, the Cast Iron Ruins of Xi'an Ducheng, and the Ruins of Zhaolun Zhongguan Coinage in Han Chang'an City. It is understood that unlike the "first six important archaeological discoveries in Shaanxi", in addition to increasing the number of shortlisted awards this year, most of the selected archaeological projects are located around Xi'an-Xianyang, covering prehistoric, Shangzhou, Qin and Han, Sui and Tang dynasties and Song and Yuan dynasties, of which the Qin and Han dynasties and Sui and Tang dynasties account for the highest proportion.
Taiping Site: Excavated relics indicate that there was a social class division at that time
Located in Dongtaizhuang, Doumen Street, Fengdong New Town, Xixian New District, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, the Taiping Ruins are ancient ruins newly discovered during the construction of the Doumen Reservoir Project, about 15 kilometers northeast of the main city of Xi'an. It is located on a river terrace in the northern foothills of the Qinling Mountains extending towards the Wei River Valley, and the terrain is open and flat.
A combination of pottery excavated from the Taiping site. Courtesy of Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute
In 2021, the excavation area of the Xi'an Taiping Site in Shaanxi Province was divided into three places, which were located in the west, east and north of the site, with an excavation area of 3900 square meters, a total of more than 300 various relics were cleaned up, and a large number of stone tools, pottery, bone horn tools and other relics were excavated. In the process of excavation, more than 100 pieces of jade with transparent texture and exquisite processing were also found, the main types of utensils were bi, huang, zhen, arm, pendant, etc., as well as a small number of jade with wire cutting marks, jade cores, rough blanks, etc. In addition, a number of bones have been unearthed, as well as a pottery bell reflecting the ancient ritual music system and a pottery plaque with exquisite patterns.
According to Wang Xiaoqing, a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the person in charge of the project, this year's archaeological work has preliminarily shown that the Taiping site is a large-scale central settlement of the second phase of the Culture of The Province of Zhuang, dating back to about 4150-3700 years ago. The relatively dense distribution of large bag-shaped ash pits indirectly indicates that the agricultural productivity at that time was more developed and the material wealth was abundant, so that storage became a necessary link in social redistribution, creating a material basis for the emergence of social power and social differentiation.
Jade artifacts were unearthed at the Taiping site. Courtesy of Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute
Wang Xiaoqing believes that the large number of exquisitely made white-gray floor fragments found indicates that there should be a number of elaborately decorated high-grade settlements inside the settlement, suggesting that there may have been a social class differentiation at that time. The excavated material evidence of a basically complete set of operational chains suggests that the interior of the settlement at that time probably already had a jade handicraft production system with a certain degree of specialization. The combination of jade ceremonial artifacts such as Yu Bi and Yu Huang, together with relics such as Tao Ling and Bu Bone, also preliminarily shows that the prehistoric society represented by the Taiping sites has emerged with the characteristics of early civilization with the ritual system as the core.
He said that the current excavation of the Taiping site is only the tip of the iceberg, but the existence of jade processing and production, bone bones, pottery plaques and pottery bells shows that the Taiping site has the basic elements of a high-grade central settlement site, and is an important site to understand the origin of Chinese civilization and the center area of early human development. The Taiping ruins bring together the cultural factors of the surrounding eastern, southern, western and northern regions, and are the spokes of cultural exchanges between the four sides, laying the prehistoric foundation for the capital culture represented by the Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang dynasties in the middle of the Guanzhong Basin.
Zhouyuan Ruins: It is confirmed that it is the place where the ancient gonggong father moved to Qi
The site of Zhouyuan is the largest settlement of the pre-Zhou and Western Zhou cultures, and is considered by scholars to be one of the places where the ancient gonggong father moved to Qi and one of the capitals of the Western Zhou. Gu Gong's father was the leader of the Ancient Zhou Clan, the xibo monarch, the grandfather of King Wen of Zhou, and in the history of the development of the Zhou people, he was a key figure in the great cause of Inheriting Hou Ji and Gong Liu, and the prosperity of King Qiwen and King Wu. At this press conference, the first discovery of a large-scale rammed earth building site (number F1) in the Pre-Zhou period was announced, and the discovery of this base site is the key material for determining the nature of the settlement in the Pre-Zhou period of the Zhouyuan site.
Late Warring States urn coffin. Courtesy of Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute
According to reports, the base site of the building is located in the northwest of Wangjiazui Village, Jingdang Town, Qishan County, sitting north and facing south, the overall base site is 38 meters wide from east to west, about 58 meters long from north to south, and the total area is more than 2200 square meters. The overall structure of F1 is a two-entry courtyard-style building in the front hall and the back room, and the southern half has been revealed, and the preliminary judgment is composed of the main hall, the east and west wing rooms, the courtyard, and the annex buildings. Archaeologists judged according to the superimposed breaking relationship that the upper limit of the building age was the late Jingdang-type Shang culture, and the lower limit was no later than the late pre-Zhou culture, and then determined that the building age should be the pre-Zhou period.
Yang Lei, a librarian at the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute and the executive leader of the project, said that during the excavation and archaeology at this stage, archaeologists found a city site from the early Western Zhou Dynasty (inner city) and a large-scale late Western Zhou city site (outer city). The size of the inner city is much larger than the Western Zhou City site in the same period as previously discovered, the city site is located in the northwest of the Zhouyuan site, about 1480 meters from east to west, about 1065 meters from north to south, showing a relatively regular rectangle, with an area of about 1.75 million square meters; the outer city is the largest Western Zhou city site seen so far, the total area of the outer city site is about 5.2 million square meters, the southern wall and the east wall of the outer city are roughly parallel to the southern wall and the east wall of the inner city, and excavations have unearthed fragments of copper ding in the late Western Zhou Dynasty and pottery bristles of the late Western Zhou Dynasty.
Yang Lei said that in addition, they also found a large building site (number F2) from the Warring States period, and basically confirmed the place where the Warring States Meiyang County was located. F2 is located 25 meters west of F1, 41 meters wide from east to west, 30 meters long from north to south, and has an area of 1200 square meters. The building site is divided into 9 long spaces by 10 through wall base grooves, and a large number of column foundation pits are irregularly distributed within the strips. The base site was broken by more than 20 late Warring States urn coffins, and during the dissection, it was found that the rammed earth contained pottery pieces of late Warring States. At the same time, pottery with the character "Gong" was excavated in the abandoned strata of the building, and two cases of "Meiyang" pottery were excavated.
The word "gong" is tao. Courtesy of Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute
The reporter learned that the discovery of large-scale rammed earth buildings in the pre-Zhou period filled the gap of high-grade buildings in the previous ZhouYuan ruins without the pre-Zhou period, and combined with the previous understanding of the scale and cultural nature of the settlement, it can be affirmed that the Zhouyuan ruins are the place where the ancient Gonggong father moved to Qi. The confirmation of the location of Meiyang County during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty can be further proved in conjunction with the literature that the place where the father of the ancient Gonggong moved to Qi was in Zhouyuan.
The discovery of the large-scale and square layout of the Western Zhou city site is also a major progress in exploring the history of city building in the pre-Qin period of the mainland, which provides a reference background for clarifying the structure of the Zhouyuan ruins, the nature of related remains, as well as the process of settlement and social change, and provides a rare example for the establishment of three generations of duyi.
Ruins of the East Gate of the Outer City of the Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum: The destruction of the city gate is related to fire
Located at the northern foot of Lishan Mountain, the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin is large in scale and rich in burial. After 60 years of archaeological work, archaeologists have basically figured out the structure and layout of the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin. In addition, they also found a large number of funerary pits, funerary tombs, and related remains left behind when the mausoleum was built outside the cemetery.
Rough ramming tool imprints. Courtesy of Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute
The ruins of the East Gate of the Outer City of the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum are located about 200 meters east of Fengtu. Since 1962, archaeologists have carried out a large number of archaeological surveys and exploration work, and have a preliminary understanding of the east gate of the outer city of the cemetery. In order to clarify the structure and shape of the east gate of the outer city and promote the archaeological research of the mausoleum of the first emperor of Qin Shi Huang, with the approval of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum Museum excavated the site of the east gate of the outer city in 2021.
According to Shao Wenbin, the person in charge of the archaeological excavation project of the Outer City East Gate Site of the Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum, the stratigraphic relationship of the East Gate Site of the Outer City of the Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum is simple, in addition to 7 natural gutters, 3 modern artificial ditches, 1 modern sewage ditch, 4 modern tombs and 1 modern ash pit, the main discovery of the outer city East Gate rammed earth platform foundation, 1 doorway site, tiles and red boiled earth and other buildings piled up. 5 pieces of stone building materials, 1 piece of ironware, 1 piece of Qianlong Tongbao, and 1 piece of copper coins of the Republic of China were unearthed.
Shao Wenbin said that the excavation clarified the scale, shape and basic structure of the site of the East Gate of the Outer City of the Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum. It was determined that the east gate of the outer city belonged to the rammed earth platform foundation building, which was a gate-by-door city gate structure, and the doorway was leveled with mud plastering and painted remains. There are artificial stone building materials at the edge of the doorway and at the corners of the high platform, and the remains of the pillar holes can be determined that the city gate has an outbuilding in addition to the wall of the city wall.
Grass mud and painted debris at the doorway. Courtesy of Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute
In fact, the excavation also clarified the construction and destruction of the east gate of the outer city of the Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum. Shao Wenbin said that the East Gate site first excavated a large foundation pit, and then carried out fine ramming in the pit; the pit was filled with rough rammed between the thin rammer and the edge of the pit. On top of the rammed earth platform, the walls and outbuildings were built, and the outside of the walls was smeared with grass mixed with mud and even painted. Judging from the presence of braised earth and carbon chips, the destruction of the city gate was related to fire, and then it was destroyed by flowing water to form a natural gully.
It is understood that this excavation provides important information for the scale, grade and layout of the ceremonial buildings of the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin, and even the understanding and research of the ancient Chinese mausoleum system and the history of Chinese architecture.
Western Han Emperor Mausoleum - Baling Ruins: Negating the "Phoenix Mouth" as the traditional understanding of the Han Emperor's Tomb
The third emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Heng, did not seal the tomb because of "no rule, want to be a province, do not bother the people", the specific location is gradually blurred in the long river of history, since the Yuan Dynasty people to the east side of the White Deer Plain phoenix mouth as the Tomb erected monument sacrifice.
Clothed clay figurines were unearthed from a pit outside the Jiangcun Tomb. Courtesy of Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute
Since 2006, the relevant archaeologists have conducted many surveys, explorations and test excavations on the Jiangcun tomb area, and found that the shape of the Jiangcun tomb is "Ya" shaped, the ground is not sealed, the edge of the tomb is 73 meters long, surrounded by 115 outer pits, and the surrounding area is formed by "stone boundary" and gate gate. During this period, a variety of techniques were used to conduct a comprehensive and meticulous exploration of the "Phoenix Mouth" many times, and it was confirmed that there were only 8 stone tablets from the Ming and Qing dynasties here, and no tomb remains were found.
Since 2017, archaeologists have excavated the outer pits of Jiangcun Tomb, the ruins of pottery kilns, and funerary tombs. Eight outer pits were excavated in the Gangchon Tomb, which are between 6.5 and 72 meters long, 3 to 6 meters wide and 6 to 9 meters deep. Most of them are made of vertical cave soil with slopes, and there are wooden rafters at the bottom. Remains of clothed clay figurines (individually worn with torture instruments), pottery, iron, bronze, and lacquered wood (including wooden carriages and horses) have been unearthed. In addition, the copper seals of mingware such as "Instrument House" and "Zhongsikong Seal" were also cleared.
It is understood that this archaeological work negates the traditional understanding that the "Phoenix Mouth" is the tomb of the Han Emperor, determines the accurate location of the Tomb of the Han Emperor, and solves the problem of the name of the Eleventh Tomb of the Western Han Dynasty. The basic grasp of the scale, shape, layout and connotation of the Western Han Dynasty Imperial Tombs, including the Baling Tombs, provides detailed archaeological data for the study of the formation, development and evolution of the Western Han Imperial Tomb System, and lays the foundation for the in-depth study of the Ancient Chinese Imperial Tomb System.
Some bronze artifacts were excavated from the pit outside the Jiangcun Tomb. Courtesy of Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute
The double mausoleum of Baling, the center of the imperial tomb, and the layout of the outer pit around the imperial tomb symbolizing the official office are the earliest appearances in the western Han emperor's mausoleum, indicating the initial establishment of the political concept of the Western Han Empire in which the emperor is exclusive and centralized. Among the large number of precious cultural relics unearthed from Baling, seals, sealed mud and other cultural relics with characters, etc., also confirm the construction concept of "Mausoleum Ruoduyi" and Imperial Tomb "imitating the real Western Han Empire". The large number of gold and silver vessels with grassland style in the Outer Tibetan Pit of Nanling is a direct evidence of the cultural exchange and integration of agriculture and animal husbandry in the pre-Qin and Han dynasties, and witnessed the historical development trend of Chinese civilization from "pluralism" to "integration".
Xianyang Hongduyuan Tomb Group: A total of more than 16,000 cultural relics were excavated (group)
Xianyang Hongduyuan is the most densely distributed area of large and medium-sized ancient tombs in Shaanxi Province, and archaeological excavations have been carried out for nearly 70 years. The continuous appearance of tombs of historical celebrities such as the tomb of Shangguan Wan'er, the tomb of Xue Shao, the tomb of Sui Wangshao Family, the tomb of the Northern Zhou Douluen Family, and the tomb of Emperor Wu of northern Zhou has made this place name disappear for a thousand years, because archaeological discoveries are once again well known to the public.
Hongduyuan Tomb Xijiang Cemetery M4064 Sixteen Kingdoms Tomb excavated glazed pottery horse. Courtesy of Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute
From 2020 to 2021, the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute excavated more than 3,800 ancient tombs from the Warring States to the Ming and Qing dynasties in Hongduyuan, Weicheng District, Xianyang City. During the 18 months of excavation, archaeologists found a total of 1 late Warring States tomb (queen mausoleum) and its funerary cemetery, 1 early Western Han Dynasty cemetery, 12 Eastern Han family cemeteries, 3 Western Jin family cemeteries, 3 sixteen national ethnic cemeteries, 1 public cemetery from the Sixteen Kingdoms to the Sui Dynasty, 81 Sui and Tang tombs of the Northern Dynasty and a large number of Song, Jin, Ming, and Qing civilian tombs, and unearthed a total of more than 16,000 pieces (groups), and achieved a series of important archaeological gains.
Li Ming, a researcher at the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute and the person in charge of the project, introduced that the Xianyang Hongduyuan Tomb Group is a super-large historical period cemetery, and the tomb owner is the resident of qin xianyang city, Han to northern dynasty Chang'an city, Sui and Tang Dynasty Chang'an city, which are the capitals of the most prosperous dynasties in Chinese history. The discovery of ancient tombs at the same site that lasted so long, in so many numbers, on such a large scale, and whose era and type were basically free of rings, is unprecedented in the history of archaeology.
He mentioned that the information obtained from the excavation can be used to establish a complete sequence of ancient Chinese tombs from the late Warring States period to the Ming and Qing dynasties, which lasted for more than 2200 years. Due to its location in Gyeonggi, the owner of the Hongduyuan tomb is generally high and representative, which is an excellent specimen for studying the tomb system of the middle and ancient times, and has great positive significance for the construction of the archaeological system framework of ancient Chinese tombs.
Mural on the west wall of the tomb of Tang Kang Shanda: Hu Ren Taming Horse. Courtesy of Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute
This excavation has found the complete development trajectory of the Sui and Tang family cemeteries in the Northern Dynasty, which has made the Weigou Zhaoyu of the Sui and Tang high-grade tombs of the Northern Dynasty form a sequence for the first time, which reflects the hierarchical concept and funerary consciousness of the Middle Ages, as well as the deep social background. For example, the excavated cemetery, characterized by the Weigou Zhaoyu, is neatly planned and does not affect each other, from a single tomb, a couple burial or a couple with a cave to a son and father, until the grandchildren are buried in the ancestral tomb, and the use of the cemetery even spans the historical dynasty and continues for hundreds of years. This continuation and change of the funeral system is the materialized embodiment of the concept of the medieval door valve, and it is also the continuation of a series of traditional Chinese cultural concepts such as filial piety, local thought, and legal system.
There are also breakthrough discoveries on the cultural relics excavated from the Hongduyuan Tomb Group in Xianyang. It contains unprecedented archaeological remains such as gold and bronze Buddha statues from the late Eastern Han Dynasty and earthen sculptures of gods in the northern Wei tomb tower. According to reports, the rich information obtained from this excavation, coupled with the comprehensive research results of archaeological data from the tomb of Hongduyuan in the past 70 years, contains a huge amount of information that is enough to continue to write half of China's history.
New Xiaozhai Yuan Dynasty Zhao family cemetery: excavated porcelain is mostly practical utensils
From April to November 2021, the Xi'an Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology found more than 250 relics of various periods within the site of the former Qujiang International Convention and Exhibition Center, of which 9 tombs were a Yuan Dynasty Zhao family cemetery. The Yuan Dynasty family cemetery composed of 9 tombs is clearly arranged and orderly, which is a popular fish burial in the Song and Yuan dynasties, reflecting the burial order under the influence of the Wuyin surname Li theory.
M46 excavation of pottery warehouse, gui, and mound. Courtesy of Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute
A total of more than 500 pieces (groups) of various types of burial utensils and more than 30 pieces of porcelain have been excavated from the 9 tombs. Among them, tao ming ware is the bulk, and there are also types of porcelain, sancai ware, bronze, jade and stone ware. There are three main types of pottery vessels: antique pottery vessels, daily life vessels and terracotta figurines. Porcelain vessel shape is divided into plum bottles, jade pot spring bottles, bowls, cups, plates, etc., with glaze color divided into white glaze, green glaze, white glaze, sauce glaze, etc., to the use of tea utensils, wine utensils and eating utensils, etc., most of which are practical utensils, the use of traces are more obvious.
Zhu Lianhua, deputy research librarian of the Xi'an Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology and the person in charge of the project, introduced that after preliminary identification, these porcelains include Jingdezhen kiln, Longquan kiln and Hutian kiln from the south, Jun kiln and Huozhou kiln from the north and Yaozhou kiln in Shaanxi. In addition, in most tombs, there are five square and five color town tombstones or iron ploughs, iron cattle and other town tombs with burial items.
Zhu Lianhua said that the tombs in this cemetery are neatly arranged, there are three kinds of step-type brick chamber tombs, step tombs, earthen cave tombs, and vertical cave tombs, all of which are southeast-oriented, and the first two are larger in scale, mainly located in the western part of the cemetery, consisting of ladder tombs, caves, patios, brick sealed doors, earthen caves, or brick burial chambers, and the left, right, and back niches.
Porcelain excavated in the southwest of the M40 burial chamber. Courtesy of Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute
According to reports, according to the Zhushu purchase voucher excavated from M45 in the northwest of the cemetery, the owner of the tomb can be read by its Zhushu text, Zhao Bojie, a proton of Zhulu, who was buried in the fourth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1267), and according to the epitaph excavated by M44 in the middle of the cemetery, its inscription is "Yuan Gu Xingping Wei Zhao Cemetery Inscription", according to the epitaph, the tomb owner's name is Zhao Hao, a Xingping County Lieutenant, died in Yanyou Geng Shenxia (1320). The chronological text materials excavated from these two tombs can be determined to be the tomb of the Zhao family in the Yuan Dynasty.
Zhu Lianhua said that these tombs contain a variety of burial customs and a large number of types of burial items, which not only reflect the history of the rise and fall of the Zhao family in Xi'an City in the Yuan Dynasty, but also provide a reliable reference for studying the ideological culture and funerary customs of the middle and lower-level officials in the Guanzhong region of the Yuan Dynasty. In addition, the porcelain excavated from the tomb is rich in varieties, clear in time, and long in duration, which provides physical information for the study of the characteristics of the vessel type of Yuan Dynasty porcelain, the exchange and trade between the Yuan and the Southern Song Dynasty, and so on.
Beijing News reporter Zhang Jianlin
Trainee Editor Chen Jing Proofreader Liu Yue