Just now, the results of the 2021 Zhejiang Archaeological Important Discovery Selection have been announced——
The four major archaeological projects in Hangzhou, including the Fuyang Xindeng Ancient City Site, Yuhang Tiaotou Site, Pingyao North Village Site, and Jingshan Small Ancient City Site, have been selected as one of the top ten in Zhejiang Province.
In this selection, Hangzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology has a total of seven archaeological projects that have entered the final PK results, each with extraordinary strength and is a dazzling “star”.
Although some were not ultimately selected, these are the archaeological sites around us in Hangzhou. You must be curious to learn more about them.
Now, following the interaction with oranges and persimmons, let’s unveil their mysterious veil and enter history together.
What is history?
Is it a tradition passed down by word of mouth?
Is it a military encounter recorded in historical records?
Is it a fact from the past? Is it a continuation? Is it a record? Is it an explanation?
Legends may be false, and there may be doubts about historical records, but the relics excavated by archaeologists must be true!
In addition to literature and historical materials, archaeology elaborates on the important significance of “seeing is believing” in a more intuitive way. It either leads us to fill in and confirm the development trajectory of history, or leads us to break through the original history and legends, reproduce and discover their significance and value.
The selection of important archaeological discoveries in Zhejiang in 2021 was held in Hangzhou. This ultimate event about the Zhejiang Archaeological Oscar will also take us to appreciate more important discoveries from archaeological work.
Seven projects of cultural relics and archaeology research in Hangzhou have been selected for the ultimate archaeological Oscar PK.
According to the chronological order of archaeological discoveries, take a look at a corner of Hangzhou’s historical development, and understand the historical trajectory of our past, past life, and changes.
Zhujiaqiao Site Area II
The Zhujiaqiao Site is located in Zhujiaqiao Village, Shushan Street, Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou City. The western part of the site is surrounded by Xianghu Lake and Xishan Mountain Range, while the eastern and southern parts surround the Nanmen River basin. From the excavation, it can be seen that the main body of the site is an artificial mound built during the Liangzhu period, covering an area of over 3000 square meters. It is currently the largest known artificial mound built during the Liangzhu period in the area south of the Qiantang River. Such a large area and scale indicate that a certain number of Liangzhu people once gathered and lived here.
This discovery fills the gap in the Liangzhu period ruins of this type in the area south of the Qiantang River. The rich historical relics and a large number of artifacts within the site are also of great significance for understanding and studying the social life and settlement changes of people in different historical periods in the region.
Jumping Head Site
The Tiaotou Site is located 400 meters northeast of Tiaotou Village, Zhongtai Street, Yuhang District, Hangzhou City, at the junction of mountainous and hilly areas and plain areas. The geological strata of the site are divided into ten layers, covering multiple eras such as the Spring and Autumn Period, Western Zhou Dynasty, Late Shang Dynasty, Maqiao Culture, Guangfulin Culture, and Liangzhu Culture. Among them, the Late Shang Dynasty had the clearest settlement structure, better preservation of relics, and the most unearthed relics.For a rich period, multiple well preserved stone models, bronze artifacts, as well as suspected copper ingots, gravel, charcoal, and other relics directly related to copper casting were unearthed. QQ screenshot 20211226121150.During the late Shang Dynasty, when bronze culture was highly prosperous, archaeological work led to the discovery of a relatively clear bronze casting settlement site in Hangzhou, located in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. This is of great significance for exploring the transition from the late Neolithic era to the early Bronze Age in the area around the Taihu Lake Lake, understanding the cultural connotation of the Bronze Age archaeology, settlement and social organization patterns, civilization evolution patterns, the origin and development of early countries, and the interaction and exchange between the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the Central Plains and other regions.
Yuhang Jingshan Ancient Tomb Burial
The ancient tomb group is located in Xishan Village, Jingshan Town, Yuhang District, Hangzhou City. During this excavation work, a total of 76 tombs from different periods were discovered and cleared. Among them, the discovered Eastern Han brick chamber tomb M28 is the most grand, with a unique structure of front hall, double back chamber, and double tomb passage, which is the largest and most complex Eastern Han brick chamber tomb discovered in Hangzhou and even Zhejiang region so far; The copper belt hook unearthed from M61, holding a knife in the right hand and a shield in the left hand, exudes the majesty and nobility of the war god Chi You.
The ancient tombs in this area have a large number and diverse types, dating from the late Warring States period to modern times without any gaps. They are important materials for studying the staging and type evolution of tombs in the Hangzhou area; Not only that, the discovered “Taisui Jiawu Zhenguan Eight Year” chronological bricks, along with other tombs around them, formed a group of Tang dynasty family tombs, which is also a rare chronological data of Tang dynasty tombs in Zhejiang.
Jingci Temple Site
Jingci Temple, located at the foot of Huiri Peak in Nanping Mountain, is an important part of Nanping Evening Bell, one of the national key cultural relics protection units “Ten Views of the West Lake”, and an important heritage element of West Lake Cultural Landscape in Hangzhou.
In the archaeological excavation in 2021, a group of large-scale architectural relics from the Five Dynasties to the Song Dynasty were discovered, with a grand scale, clear structure, and good preservation condition. The reorganized relics mainly consist of octagonal rammed earth foundation, courtyard, corridor, steps, scattered water, drainage ditch, etc.
This excavation provides detailed archaeological data for understanding the characteristics, construction techniques, scale, and form of the main buildings of Jingci Temple in different periods, and has important historical significance and academic value for studying ancient temple architecture and the five mountains and ten temples.
Fuyang Xindeng Ancient City Site
Xindeng Ancient City is located in Xindeng Town, Fuyang District, Hangzhou City. Through archaeological excavations, the Tang, Song, and Ming and Qing period relics discovered in the ancient city of Xindeng have clear structures, obvious stacking relationships, and good preservation. This also indicates that since the Tang Dynasty, the geographical location of the ancient city has hardly changed much.
The results of this excavation have confirmed the historical authenticity and inheritance of Xindeng Ancient City, confirmed the uniqueness of the ancient city’s surrounding mountains and single sided city walls, laid an important foundation for the restoration, display, and later application for cultural heritage protection of the ancient city, and also provided important materials for the study of the structure and construction technology of city walls and gates since the Tang Dynasty.
Lin’an Tianmu Kiln Site – Xiejia No.1 Kiln Site
The Tianmu Kiln Site Group is located in Lin’an District, Hangzhou City.Yuqian Town and Tianmushan Town are one of the important porcelain kiln sites during the Song and Yuan dynasties in the western Zhejiang region. At present, more than 30 archaeological sites have been discovered, mainly distributed on the north bank of Dongguan Creek and the south bank of Fengling Creek in the upper reaches of Tianmu Creek, with a total area of about 6 square kilometers.
The investigation and excavation work provide new information for understanding the development of the porcelain handicraft industry in the Tianmu Mountain area and the exchange mode of porcelain industry between western Zhejiang and surrounding areas during the same period, further enriching the cultural connotation of ancient kiln sites in Zhejiang and even the Song and Yuan dynasties throughout the country.
With the disclosure of the overall appearance of the kiln industry, it has brought positive significance to the study of the development of tea Zen culture in the Song and Yuan dynasties in the Tianmu Mountain area, and also provided a broader database for the identification of the origin of porcelain unearthed from other types of sites at home and abroad, thereby broadening the research ideas for the Eastern Maritime Silk Road.
The ancient seawall site in Niujiao Village, Linping, Hangzhou.5 kilometers.
After excavation, the site is the largest ancient seawall archaeological discovery in history. The overall structure of the stone and Chai ponds discovered is well preserved, especially the remains of the Fentan. This provides a unique physical material for studying the structure, masonry methods, and ancient water conservancy technology history of Hangzhou’s ancient seawall, and its value is extremely precious.
Reporter Pan Zhuoying, Correspondent Zhu Hui, and Wang Pingping provided a picture by the Hangzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology