In the mid-to-late 90s of the 20th century, in order to explore the cultural origin of Sanxingdui, the search for a prehistoric ancient city in the Chengdu Plain set off a boom. The ancient town located in Pidu District, Chengdu City is named after the "city" surrounded by a mound on the northeast side of the town, and the local folk have been circulating the story of Zhuge Liangtun's soldiers raising horses during the Three Kingdoms period. When archaeologists carried out a comprehensive exploration and excavation of it, the truth was revealed, and the "big house" found in the central part of the ancient city attracted great attention, and it has anything to do with the "big house" of Qingguan Mountain at the Sanxingdui site?
Digital Elevation Model (DEM) map of the ancient city of Pixian County
In the autumn of 1995, after the ancient city of Baodun in Longma Township, Xinjin County (now Baodun Village, Baodun Town, Xinjin District) was confirmed as the site of the late Neolithic Age, the academic community attracted great attention, and archaeologists keenly judged that it was necessary to sort out and screen the historical ancient city recorded or legendary in the Chengdu Plain. From 1996 to 1999, the Chengdu archaeological team (now Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology) carried out many explorations and excavations on the ancient city of Pixian. Jiang Cheng, vice president and researcher of the Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, who led the team to participate in the work, said: "We dissected many mounds in the ancient city of Pixian County, and confirmed that the age was about 4,000 years ago about the late Neolithic Age, and the city site was rectangular in plan, northeast and southwest, with a total area of 300,000 square meters. ”
Aerial photo of the ancient city of Pixian County (taken from southeast to northwest)
Floor plan of the ancient city of Pixian
The ancient city wall of Pixian County adopts the same stacking technology as the ancient city wall of Baodun, and the houses have wooden bone mud wall buildings and dry column buildings, which belong to the late stage of Baodun culture through the analysis of strata and unearthed pottery. Dean Yan Jinsong, who was in charge of the excavation in 1997, said: "We have uncovered a 551-square-meter building in the ancient city. Big house' (F5), this special location, located in the middle of the ancient city, the direction of the site is consistent with the direction of the ancient city, is the largest single house building foundation site found so far in the Baodun culture period, its wall foundation construction method is quite similar to the Sanxingdui site found about the largest single building in the Shang period, Qingguanshan No. 1 building foundation site, both are made of pebbles and red clay as the wall base, Sanxingdui wooden bone mud wall building is also similar to the Baodun culture wooden bone mud wall building, indicating that the Sanxingdui site is about the Shang period culture and the Sanxingdui site phase I culture, that is, the late Neolithic Baodun culture in the house construction technology inheritance relationship。 ”
Photo of the building foundation of the big house in the ancient city of Pixian (F5).
Large House Building Foundation (F5) line drawing
Another characteristic of the F5 building foundation site of the ancient city of Pixian is that there are 5 platforms built with pebbles in the house, and the residual wood (bamboo) bone pillar hole around the base has the effect of reinforcing the platform wall, and this special building that sets the foundation is obviously different from the function of the residence or the palace, and may be the function of a public building, which shows that the society has tended to be complicated at that time, and there is a special place for condensing the spirit and will. Jiang Zhanghua, director of the Academic Committee of the Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said. There are also scholars who believe that there is a custom of "Shang Wu" in Shudi, and there are five special buildings on the platform or related to the primitive temple, and it is speculated that there are similar things to Sanxingdui sacrifice objects set up or hung on the platform, but this view has not been confirmed by archaeological results.
Sanxingdui Qingguanshan No. 1 large building relics map
Although the time difference between the "big house" of the ancient city site of Pixian County and the large building of Sanxingdui is hundreds of years, there is a certain inheritance connection, which provides important information for the in-depth study of the foundation of the Sanxingdui bronze civilization.
(Pictures and line drawings provided by Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology)
Source: China Internet Joint Rumor Refutation Platform, Sichuan Internet Joint Rumor Refutation Platform, Cover News (Reporter Liu Kexin)