In 1980, the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Management Committee, the Sichuan Provincial Museum and the Guanghan County Cultural Center formed a joint excavation team, and found 18 houses on the east side of the Sanxingdui site, which is the first phase of the Sanxingdui site.
In 1986, the No. 1 and No. 2 sacrificial pits of Sanxingdui site "woke up and shocked the world", and a large number of bronze, gold and jade artifacts were unearthed, and their cultural sources attracted great attention from the academic community. Is the "oldest" house in Sanxingdui related to this? Where did the Sanxingdui culture, represented by the relics of the sacrificial pit, come from? The archaeological discovery of the ancient city of Baodun in Xinjin has brought hope for the study of origins.
The excavation of the ancient city of Baodun: set off a new upsurge in the exploration of the ancient Shu civilization
Baodun Ancient City Unveiled: The largest prehistoric ancient city in Southwest China
In 1995, the Chengdu Cultural Relics and Archaeology Task Force (Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology) obtained the qualification of national archaeological group leader, and a group of young scholars always thought of a wish: to establish a complete pre-Qin cultural sequence in the Chengdu Plain.
In September of that year, Jiang Zhanghua of the Chengdu Cultural Relics and Archaeology Team, Ma Jixian, Lu Ding and other teachers from Sichuan University came to Longma Township, Xinping Town, Xinjin County (now Baodun Village, Baodun Town, Xinjin District) to investigate the legendary "Menghucheng" (also known as "Longma Ancient City") during the Three Kingdoms period. In December, Jiang Zhanghua and Lu Ding led a team to conduct dissection and test excavation of the local mound called "Baodun". In just a few days, the undisturbed pottery shards were found in the upper part of the mound, which is consistent with the cultural excavations of the Sanxingdui site, when the anatomical exploration ditch extends downward, the characteristics of artificial ramming are revealed, "I basically judged that this is the artificial ramming city wall in the late Neolithic Age, which is much earlier than the city wall of the Sanxingdui Shang period, and there is no place to find the iron shoes, and it may be the earliest city site in the Chengdu Plain under our feet." Jiang Zhanghua recalled.
Baodun ancient city "Baodun" site city wall according to Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Section of the city wall of the ancient city of Baodun According to the Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Baodun Ancient City Unveiled: The largest prehistoric ancient city in Southwest China
Baodun Ancient City Unveiled: The largest prehistoric ancient city in Southwest China
The excavation of the ancient city of Baodun, which has lasted for many years, has brought to the public the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, which is also the largest prehistoric city site ever discovered in southwest China. In 1995, archaeologists estimated that the city site was more than 250,000 square meters based on the remains of the city wall on the surface. After 1996, the dissection and excavation of many sections such as the leech pier, Li Ganzi, and Yu Ganzi were carried out, and the area of the city site was confirmed to reach more than 60 million square meters. In 2009, the dissection and excavation of the stone ridge and other sites confirmed that there were many sections of the outer city wall and moat, and the city site area reached 2.76 million square meters. At that time, this scale was second only to the ancient city of Liangzhu in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River (the ancient city of Shiyuan in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River had not yet been discovered), and it could be called "the first city in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River".
The city wall on the north side of the ancient city of Baodun is based on the Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Carbonized rice unearthed in the ancient city of Baodun according to the Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
The research shows that the ancient city of Baodun is composed of two inner and outer city walls, which is an important empirical evidence of the urban circle pattern in early China. There are also many groups of large-scale architectural remains found in the ancient city of Baodun, there are more than 40 large pillar holes of 1 meter square at the No. 1 base site located in the inner city, the building is in the shape of "product", there is an accessory building on both sides, the area reaches 210 square meters, it is the largest architectural remains found in the ancient city of Baodun, the age is about 4500 years ago, and it is also the "oldest" high-grade "big house" found in the Chengdu Plain so far.
Aerial photograph of the foundation site of the No. 1 building in the ancient city of Baodun, according to the Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Floor plan of the foundation site of the No. 1 building of Baodun Ancient City According to the Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
The ancient city of Baodun also found the remains of wooden (bamboo) bone mud wall buildings similar to the first phase of the Sanxingdui site, which was a popular ordinary ground building at that time. With the continuous progress of the archaeology of the ancient city of Baodun, the "bull's nose" of the early city site civilization research in the Chengdu Plain has been brought out.
The remains of the wooden (bamboo) bone mud wall house building in the ancient city of Baodun according to the Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Floor plan of the remains of wooden (bamboo) bone mud wall houses in the ancient city of Baodun, according to the Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Baodun cultural age: the same period as the first phase of Sanxingdui site
Baodun Ancient City Unveiled: The largest prehistoric ancient city in Southwest China
The discovery of the ancient city of Baodun kicked off the search for prehistoric city sites on the Chengdu Plain, "We were often in a state of excitement in those years, and we would meet every weekend to check the ancient city recorded in the chronicles and documents one by one, and the results were astonishing," Jiang said.
A large number of young scholars joined the team, Yan Jinsong, Li Mingbin, Zhang Qing, He Kunyu and others have led the team in the ancient city of Pidu District, the ancient city of Yuyu in Wenjiang District, Mangcheng in Dujiangyan City, Shuanghe Ancient City and Zizhu Ancient City in Chongzhou City, the ancient city of Gaoshan in Dayi County, the ancient city of Yandian for archaeological survey and excavation, the excavation results prove that these ancient cities are all the remains of the same cultural stage without exception, the area of the city site ranges from more than 30 million square meters to 100,000 square meters, the shape is square, irregular, and the unearthed pottery shape mainly has a trumpet mouth high-necked jar, pot, Wide-rim flat-bottomed jars, neck-mouth jars, Jomon lace-mouth jars, open-rim foot-zuns, handicap ring-necked foot-zuns, beans, etc., are dated from about 4,500 to 3,700 years ago. Among these sites, the Baodun city site is the largest, the earliest discovery, the most typical, so the academic community named this culture "Baodun culture", and the Sanxingdui site belongs to the same culture, which provides important information for us to deeply understand the formation of Sanxingdui civilization and understand the foundation of the establishment of the huge capital city of Sanxingdui.
Some typical artifacts unearthed in the ancient city of Baodun are based on the Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
In fact, the discovery of ancient cities such as Baodun and the significance of the naming of Baodun culture are far more than that.
Since the 80s of the 20th century, a number of important ancient city sites have been found in the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins in the late Neolithic period, "the emergence of these ancient cities shows that great changes have taken place in the vast land of the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins, and the social, economic and cultural development has been unprecedentedly frequent, and the interaction of people is unprecedentedly frequent, which is an important period for the formation of a pluralistic and integrated pattern of Chinese civilization." The discovery of Baodun and other city sites undoubtedly included the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in this civilization evolution system. These new discoveries are hard-won and precious, and provide important evidence for us to re-understand the development process of the Chengdu Plain as the origin center of civilization in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Professor Sun Hua of Peking University said.
Aerial photo of the ancient city of Baodun according to the Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Floor plan of the ancient city of Baodun, according to the Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Source: China Internet Joint Rumor Refutation Platform, Sichuan Internet Joint Rumor Refutation Platform, Cover News (Reporter Liu Kexin)