Pottery beats, pottery mats, round pottery, spinning wheels, stone knives, mussel knives... More than 400 small artifacts related to pottery have been excavated by archaeologists. On March 11, the Fenghao Team of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences announced that after several years of continuous archaeology, the ruins of a large pottery workshop located in the fengjing ruins of the capital of the Western Zhou Dynasty were presented to people.
"The ruins of the pottery workshop with an area of about 60,000 square meters specialize in the production of a kind of cooker, the sand-filled brown pottery crotch knot (lì), which not only shows that its level of pottery specialization is very high, but also proves that the Fengjing site is the ruins of the Western Zhou capital city." On March 11, Fu Zhongyang, an associate researcher at the Fenghao team of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told reporters.
From March 2017
Excavations were carried out for 5 consecutive years
Fu Zhongyang introduced that the Fengjing ruins are one of the ruins of the capital city of The Western Zhou Dynasty, distributed in the west bank of the Feng River, Keshengzhuang, Mawang Village, Zhangjiapo Village, Caozhai Village, Xinwang Village, Dayuan Village and Feng Village and other natural villages, with a total existing area of about 8.62 square kilometers. Most of them are located in the jurisdiction of Fengxi New Town in Xixian New Area, and a small part belongs to the jurisdiction of Xi'an High-tech Zone. Among them, the pottery site of Ohara Village is located on the southwest terrace of Ohara Village, southwest of the Fengjing site.
In the summer of 2012, the Fenghao team of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences discovered a concentrated distribution of 29 pottery kilns during archaeological exploration in the southwest of Dayuan Village, which is a typical pottery workshop site. With the approval of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, from March 2017 to December 2021, the Fenghao team of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences conducted archaeological excavations on the site for five consecutive years.
The excavation area is nearly 2300 square meters, and 18 pottery kilns, 126 ash pits, 29 tombs, 3 wells and 3 stoves in the Western Zhou Dynasty were found, and more than 400 small utensils related to pottery making, such as pottery beats, pottery mats, circular pottery, spinning wheels, stone knives, and mussel knives, were unearthed.
Fu Zhongyang introduced that the pottery kilns found at the site have two types: vertical flame kilns and horizontal semi-inverted flame kilns. However, each type of pottery kiln is not concentrated distribution, but has a variety of combinations, of which the phenomenon of vertical flame kilns and horizontal semi-inverted flame kilns sharing the same operating pit is the first discovery. Among them, Y9 is the largest ceramic kiln, which is a vertical flame-raising kiln, which is composed of five parts: fire door, fire chamber, kiln grate, kiln chamber and operation room.
The pottery kilns found in the site should belong to the late Western Zhou Dynasty, but not at the same time firing pottery, but there is a relative relationship between morning and evening.
In the ash pit accumulation found, it is more common to find blue-gray pottery blanks, a large number of small stones that may be related to the processing of sand-filled pottery admixtures, as well as pottery beats, pottery mats, circular pottery, spinning wheels, stone knives, mussel knives, pottery pills and other relics related to pottery.
Billet making areas and living quarters are also found
Tombs of the same age as the pottery site
"In the area between the densely distributed areas in the east and west of the pottery kiln, there are relics closely related to billet making and the remains of cellar and cave life, so this area may be a billet making area and living area." The site may have been partitioned into billets and fired pottery. For example, the remains of wells and ash pits closely related to billet making have been found in two of the exploration parties, and there are also pocket-shaped cellars nearby. ”
Fu Zhongyang introduced that in addition, tombs of the same age as pottery sites have been found in this area. The burial style is all stooped and straight-limbed burial, and the tomb direction is east-west or north-south. In individual tombs, sand-filled brown pottery knots have also been unearthed.
Two groups of tombs were found in one of the expeditions, and due to poor preservation of human bones or serious theft, four tombs are unknown, but one of the tombs has artifacts suspected of being buried on the feet of the owner of the tomb. "It is speculated that the owner of the tomb may be a nobleman or potter who manages the pottery."
In addition, in some exploration parties and ash pits, a complete human skeleton was found, and no burial tools were seen, but were simply repaired and buried. "Whether the owners of these bones are potters or not needs to be further studied."
Pottery workshop products single
The degree of specialization is very high
In the area between the dense distribution areas in the east and west of the pottery kiln, there are relics closely related to the blank making and the remains of the cellar dwelling, and archaeologists deduce that this area may be a billet making area and a living area, and the site may be partitioned for billet making and firing pottery.
"According to the stratigraphic relationship and the typological analysis of excavated artifacts, the age of the pottery workshop site in Dayuan Village is in the early stage of the late Western Zhou Dynasty. Judging from the pottery system, the number of recognizable shapes, the number of pottery billets and the number of pottery vessels excavated from various units of the site, the site is specially fired with sand brown pottery knots. Judging from the excavations, both types of pottery kilns fired sand-filled brown pottery knots. Judging from the measurement data of the caliber of the excavated brown pottery knot, its shape is large and small. Archaeologists said that the products of the ruins of the pottery workshop in Dayuan Village are single and the degree of specialization is very high, and it is also the largest pottery site found in the current Fenghao site (the fenghao site of the capital of the Western Zhou Dynasty is located on both sides of the Fenghe River, Fengjing is in the west, and Hojing is in the east, with a total area of about 17 square kilometers).
Through the archaeological excavations in the past five years, the distribution range, age, nature and settlement layout of the pottery workshop site in Dayuan Village were basically understood, which not only provided important information for archaeologists to study the pottery process and pottery firing technology of the Western Zhou Dynasty, but also helped to deeply study the organization and management of handicraft production, social form, functional partitioning and even the settlement layout of the Fenghao site.
(Comprehensive: China Business Network, Sanqin Metropolis Daily)
Source: Western Net