The remains of the foundation site of the Warring States period and the Han Dynasty found at the Jizhong site in Shaoxing, Zhejiang.
Excavation area of Banzha Town, Huai'an, Jiangsu Province (data photo).
The Han Dynasty ink book wooden thorn unearthed from the Jizhong site in Shaoxing, Zhejiang.
Salt-making related relics of the Houbei Tuan site in Yancheng, Jiangsu.
Distribution map of the main relics of the Northern Song Dynasty at the Jinglongmen site in Kaifeng, Henan.
What are the important archaeological discoveries of Lianghan County? At present, archaeological discoveries have found where are the ruins of the largest and highest capital gate in the Northern Song Dynasty...... A few days ago, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage held a working meeting on the important progress of the major project of "Archaeological China", focusing on the important achievements of urban archaeology, and releasing the latest archaeological progress of four archaeological projects, including the Jizhong site in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, the salt industry archaeology in Yancheng, Jiangsu, the Longmen site of the Northern Song Dynasty in Kaifeng, Henan, and the urban archaeology in Huai'an, Jiangsu.
Ruins of Jizhong in Shaoxing, Zhejiang
It provides important clues for exploring the capital of Yueguo
Located in Yuecheng District, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province, the site of Jizhong is a high-level architectural site in the Warring States and Han dynasties. In order to cooperate with the construction of local cities, with the approval of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Shaoxing Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology will carry out archaeological excavations in 2024. With the advancement of archaeological excavations, the appearance of the site gradually emerged.
According to Li Longbin, a research librarian at the Shaoxing Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the relics of the Warring States period include a group of large building foundations and a well. The foundation site of the building is distributed in a range of about 48 meters long from east to west and about 36 meters wide from north to south, and two different forms of foundation construction can be observed: one is composed of square columns, rectangular backing plates and logs under the backing boards; One is a raft-like foundation made of multiple logs stacked horizontally and vertically. "The well is a wooden wall, which has been tested by carbon 14 and is about 2,500 years old. According to the literature, it is presumed to be a relic of the Yue Kingdom".
The relics of the Han Dynasty are mainly building foundation sites, wells and horse pits, among which the most important discovery is to confirm the foundation sites of 4 groups of buildings, of which the remaining areas of group A and group B buildings are about 387 and 317 square meters, and the buildings of groups C and D have not been fully revealed. Li Longbin said that the archaeological excavation was the first to discover the Han Dynasty wooden thorn containing the place names of "Huiji" and "Shanyin" in the ink script, as well as the pottery fragment of the Han Dynasty ink script "Ru Lu Lingli", which is of great significance for the study of the changes of the county in Huiji County.
In Li Longbin's view, the volume of the Yue building in the Jizhong site is larger, especially the large backing plate on the ground of its vertical and horizontal stacking 2-4 layers, and the mortise and tenon column on the backing plate, the ground is dense and in rows, which is very spectacular, which is an effective construction method created by the Yue people in the wetland environment to prevent building settlement.
Experts believe that the Jizhong site confirmed the existence of Yue architecture in the ancient city of Shaoxing for the first time, providing important clues for exploring the capital of Yue Kingdom. The discovery of the high-level official buildings of the Lianghan Dynasty and the unearthing of ink script characters such as "Huiji" and "Shanyin" are important discoveries in the archaeology of Lianghan County and County.
Archaeology of salt industry in Yancheng, Jiangsu
Further clarify the development of the salt industry in the eastern part of the Yangtze River
Since the "14th Five-Year Plan", focusing on the topic of "Jiangsu Salt Industry Archaeology", Jiangsu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, together with Yancheng Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology and other units, has made a series of new discoveries and research results in salt industry archaeology related work. At the important progress work meeting of the "Archaeological China" major project, the relevant results were released - the Shajingtou site is speculated to be the location of Yandu County in the Western Han Dynasty, and the Miaohang and Houbeituan sites are confirmed to be salt-making settlements in the Tang Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty to the Ming and Qing dynasties, respectively.
Located in the Shajingtou site in Tinghu District, Yancheng City, Jiangsu, experts speculate that it is the seat of Yandu County in the Western Han Dynasty. The site is located in the eastern part of the Jianghuai coastal area on the ancient sand gang, archaeological findings of regular Han Dynasty roads, densely distributed wells, into scale, multiple types of drainage facilities and important relics such as housing sites, unearthed a large number of tiles, tiles and other building components and daily pottery. At the same time, more than 10 Han Dynasty architectural ruins and cemeteries have been found around the site. "Combined with the records of the Geographical Chronicles of the · of the Han Dynasty, it is preliminarily speculated that the area where the Shajingtou site is located is the location of Yandu County in the Western Han Dynasty, and the various architectural relics of the Shajingtou site may be the nature of the Yandu County government office." Chen Gang, a research librarian at the Jiangsu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said that this provides archaeological support for understanding the unified management of salt production in the Jianghuai region in the Western Han Dynasty, and also provides empirical materials for understanding the importance of salt industry in Western Han society.
The Miaohang site is located in Dongtai City, Yancheng City, and archaeological discoveries have found relics related to the process of water diversion and storage, stalls, and brine leaching in the salt production of the Tang Dynasty, which proves that the site is a salt-making settlement in the Tang Dynasty.
In an interview with the media, Chen Gang pointed out that no salt stoves and other salt decoction facilities were found in the excavation area of the Miaohang site, and no signs of salt stoves were found in the process of systematic drilling of the site, which may indicate that the Miaohang site only made brine in the Tang and Song dynasties, and the brine needed to be transferred to other places to fry salt.
Decoction into salt is a key step in the production of salt by the ancients. Archaeologists found salt making relics such as salt stoves and brine pits from the Southern Song Dynasty to the Ming and Qing dynasties at the Houbeituan site, which is 40 kilometers away from the Miaohang site.
These archaeological discoveries show that the Houbeituan site was a salt-making settlement that lasted from the Southern Song Dynasty to the Ming and Qing dynasties. In addition, archaeological surveys have found more than 100 sites in Yancheng that reflect different types of salt production, transportation management, etc., and have initially constructed a salt production system in previous dynasties. Chen Gang said.
Experts believe that the archaeological discoveries of salt industry sites in different periods such as Shajingtou have further clarified the historical development of salt production in the eastern part of the Yangtze River and Huai River in the mainland, and are of great value for studying the management of salt industry in coastal areas by the central government since the Western Han Dynasty, as well as the technical inheritance and development of salt production technology in different periods.
Henan Kaifeng Northern Song Dynasty Tokyo City View Longmen Ruins
At present, archaeological discoveries have found the ruins of the capital gate with the highest specifications in the Northern Song Dynasty
The Jinglongmen site is located in Longting District, Kaifeng City, Henan Province, and is the ruins of the city gate in the middle of the north wall of the Northern Song Dynasty Tokyo City. From 2023 to 2024, the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Kaifeng Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology will carry out a comprehensive excavation of the Jinglongmen site in cooperation with urban construction.
"Kaifeng is the ancient capital of the Eight Dynasties, and people often use the image of 'city stacked city' to metaphor its rich underground remains. During the excavation of the Jinglongmen site, it was found that the city walls were relatively concentrated. We really didn't expect to find so many stacked, intertwined walls on such a limited scale, which is a particularly big bonus. Wang Sanying, a research librarian at the Kaifeng Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said.
According to the literature, the Northern Song Dynasty Tokyo City Jinglongmen followed the Liang Xinghe Gate after the five dynasties, and was rebuilt in the late period, and the existing ruins broke the north wall of the old Bianzhou City in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, which was abandoned in the Jin and Yuan dynasties, and then was superimposed by the Zhou Wangfu of the Ming Dynasty.
According to Wang Sanying, the overall structure of the city gate is a three-way gate, which is composed of a doorway, a partition wall and piers on both sides. The gate is about 60 meters wide and 19.3 meters deep. The doorway is about 5.6 meters wide, and it is a cross-beam structure with rows of forked columns, and the foundation of the ground is retained on both sides, and the broken tiles and ash are rammed alternately. The partition walls are about 4.7 meters wide and are built of plain earth. The piers on both sides are about 16.7 meters wide, and the piers are clad with bricks layer by layer. It was found that there is the north wall of the Imperial City of Nanjing, the width of the wall is 8 to 10 meters, and the residual height is about 2 meters, breaking the ground in the late Northern Song Dynasty and the brick-clad rammed earth platform foundation in the late Northern Song Dynasty.
According to the literature, Jinglongmen was rebuilt by Li Jie during the Chongning period of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the ramming of the city gate and the brick wall masonry were consistent with the moat and brick system of the "Construction of the French Style", which can be regarded as a model of official architecture in the late Northern Song Dynasty.
"Jinglongmen is a very important ceremonial building near the imperial city of Tokyo in the late Northern Song Dynasty." Wang Sanying said that the determination of its location is of great significance for the restoration of Tokyo City in the Northern Song Dynasty.
In addition, archaeological discoveries have preserved the remains of the Zhou Dynasty palace in the Ming Dynasty, including the Beixiao wall, farmland, wells, roads, ancestral temples, courtyards, etc., a total of 3 pieces of farmland have been found, the plane is approximately square, and some ridges are still clearly identifiable; The courtyard is stacked on the east gate road and the east pier platform of Jinglongmen, sitting in the north and facing south, and the main building includes the hall, the ear room, the Yong Road, the wing room, the square pavilion, etc., vividly show the life picture of the vassal king of the Ming Dynasty.
Experts said that the Jinglongmen site is the largest and highest standard capital gate site in the Northern Song Dynasty, which provides important evidence for understanding the structural layout and architectural system of Tokyo City in the Northern Song Dynasty, and is also another vivid case of the inheritance of ancient and modern urban context. For the first time, it was found that the north wall of the inner city of the Song Dynasty did not overlap with the north wall of the imperial city of Nanjing, which provided a new understanding for the study of the rebuilding of Nanjing City in the Jin Dynasty.
Urban archaeology in Huai'an, Jiangsu
It reproduces the prosperity along the Grand Canal during the Ming and Qing dynasties
Since 2021, in order to cooperate with the local urban construction, with the approval of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Huai'an Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology has carried out archaeological excavations at the three sites of Qingchengmen, Xinlu and Banzha Town, and has made important gains.
According to Zhao Libo, deputy research librarian of Huai'an Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology, Qingcheng Gate is the west gate of the old city of Huai'an, and it was found that there are 2 city gates, 1 city platform and 1 urn city in the Ming and Qing dynasties, which completely reveals the overall pattern of the main city gate, urn city and drainage system of Qingcheng Gate. To the east of the main city gate, there are also found continuous strata accumulation and architectural remains from the Six Dynasties to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which completely reflects the evolution and development history of Huai'an City.
"During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Hexia, Banzha and Qingjiangpu Town were the three major market towns outside Huai'an. Xinlu is part of Hexia Town, which was abandoned during the Apocalypse at the end of the Ming Dynasty due to flooding. Archaeological excavations have revealed a well-preserved and well-defined street site. Zhao Libo said, "One of the most important discoveries is the 75-meter-long, 4-meter-wide road, the inside is made of sand, the outside is covered with bricks, the section is slightly arched, and the drainage ditches and auxiliary roads distributed on both sides together form the main road system of the site area, according to the literature records are speculated to be the Ming Wanli Huaiguan envoy built 'Chen Gongxin Road'." ”
Banzha Town is a town site in the Ming and Qing dynasties, destroyed in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty due to the flooding of the Yellow River, archaeological findings such as courtyard foundation sites, roads, ditches, ancient rivers and tombs, etc., unearthed more than 3,000 pieces of various utensils, most of them are complete. The layout of the site is regular and the structure is distinct, with two main roads intersecting and two parallel trunk ditches as the axis, and the whole is distributed in a northwest-southeast direction. The unearthed utensils are mainly catering and kitchenware, which contain a strong atmosphere of life and market fashion.
Experts said that the three sites of Qingchengmen, Xinlu and Banzha Town reproduce the prosperity along the Grand Canal in the Ming and Qing dynasties, reflect the development of towns along the Grand Canal, the evolution of human-land relations and river governance and changes, and are important material materials for studying the issues of canal transportation, salt transportation and customs taxation. (Reporter Zhao Xiaoxia, the pictures in this article are all issued by Xinhua News Agency)
Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition