Two sites in Gansu were shortlisted for the 2021 National Top Ten New Archaeological Discoveries Preliminary Evaluation Candidate Project

The reporter learned from the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology that on February 8, the preliminary evaluation of the 2021 National Top Ten Archaeological New Discoveries was launched. Gansu Zhangjiachuan Yuanquan Chuan Ruins, Gansu Wuwei Tang Dynasty Tuguhun Royal Family Tomb Group shortlisted for preliminary evaluation of candidates.

It is reported that in 2021, more than 1,700 archaeological excavations have been approved nationwide. The candidate projects were all voluntarily declared by each excavation qualification unit, and after review by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, 32 entries were finally determined. Next, the Selection Office will organize voting recommendations to produce 20 final evaluations.

The Tuguhun Royal Family Tomb Group of the Wuwei Tang Dynasty in Gansu Province is located in the southwest of Wuwei City, Gansu Province, at the northern foot of qilian Mountain, mainly distributed in the south of the Nanying Reservoir in the Nanshan District of Wuwei, on the hill on the north bank of the middle and lower reaches of the Binggou River and the Dashui River. It is a tang dynasty Tuguhun royal family tomb group. Among them, the tomb of Murong Zhi, the xiwang king, is the only well-preserved tomb of the Tuguhun royal family found at present, and the laboratory archaeology has cleaned up and protected more than 800 pieces of various burial items such as textiles, painted pottery figurines, lacquered wood, etc., of which the wooden bed, the large bed, the six-curved screen, the model of the Lieji house, the complete set of armaments based on iron armor, pen, ink and paper, etc., are the first or rare discoveries of similar cultural relics in China in the same period, and the excavated Murong Zhi's epitaph mentions the existence of Tuguhun's "Great Khan's Mausoleum" for the first time. Machangtan M1, M2 and Changling M1 are all single-room brick chamber tombs of the long slope tomb, and the burial custom of the whole horse was found in the tomb road, and the "Tombstone of Mrs. Dang of Feng Yi County" was unearthed to record that the tomb group was the Tugu Hun Pengzi family cemetery. The tombs all have the basic characteristics of the tombs of high-ranking nobles in the Central Plains in the early and middle Period of the Tang Dynasty, and at the same time have the characteristics of Tuguhun culture, Tubo culture and northern grassland culture, which shows the historical process of exchanges and exchanges between various ethnic groups along the ancient Silk Road on the mainland, and is an important empirical evidence of the pattern of pluralism and integration of the Chinese nation.

Gansu Zhangjiachuan Ruins are located in Dayang Town, Zhangjiachuan Hui Autonomous County, at the confluence of the South River and the Songshu River, a tributary of the Wei River, about 15 kilometers west of the Ruins of Dadiwan. In 2021, more than 950 relics of the Yangshao, Qijia, Han, Song and Ming dynasties were cleaned up, including 88 tombs, 598 ash pits, 83 housing sites, 60 stoves, 12 ditches, 3 ring trenches, 6 kilns, 70 moving surfaces, and 29 cellars. This is one of the most complete and connotative early settlements of Yangshao culture found in the Yellow River Basin. It is another important archaeological discovery on the Loess Plateau in Longxi after the Site of Dadiwan, representing a key period in the development of Yangshao culture, and confirming that this area is another center of Yangshao culture like Guanzhong and the Central Plains, and has an extremely important position in the origin of Chinese civilization. Historian-type large granaries and preserved millet remains provide physical data for the study of agricultural planting, crop processing and storage technology, and human life economy in the early yangshao population, and are of great significance for exploring the establishment of millet agriculture after the domestication of millet crops in northern China.

Hua Jing, an all-media reporter of Lanzhou Daily

Editor 丨 Zhang Yajun