On May 15, Xinhua News Agency’s “Half Moon Talk” published an article entitled “The Millennium Ancient Port Recreates the Prosperity of the “Maritime Silk Road””, focusing on the ruins of the ancient port of Shuomen in Wenzhou, and the ruins of the ancient port of the Song and Yuan dynasties show their true face, which proves the prosperity and survival of the ancient “Maritime Silk Road” and fills a big gap in related research.
Photo by Yang Bingjie
Today’s Wenzhou is full of vitality. Not long ago, a new archaeological discovery revealed that thousands of years ago, this was a thriving place that could connect the whole world. An ancient port that has seen the light of day – the ruins of Shuomen Ancient Port in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, is telling the story of this important starting point of the “Maritime Silk Road” with rich physical remains.
The overall appearance of the site is revealed
Wangjiang Road in Wenzhou City, which is close to the south bank of the Oujiang River, faces the local scenic spot Jiangxinyu across the water, and a ruins of an ancient port of the Song and Yuan dynasties are here to show the true face to the world. “After more than a year of archaeological work, the overall appearance of the site, including elements such as the ancient urn city, the ancient wharf, and the ancient shipwreck, has gradually emerged.” Following in the footsteps of Liu Tuanhui, deputy director of the Wenzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the Banyuetan reporter saw the clearly distributed relics at the archaeological site.
Liang Yanhua, director of the Wenzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, recalled: “In 2004, the ruins of Shuomen, the north gate of the ancient city of Wenzhou, were discovered in this area. ”
In March 2021, Wenzhou Lucheng District launched the Wangjiang Road underpass tunnel project. In October of that year, some ancient stone strips were found during the excavation of the road ground, and the cultural relics department investigated the nearby area according to these clues, confirmed the existence of an ancient port in the area, and the project was immediately stopped. Subsequently, the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Wenzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology jointly entered the site for exploration and excavation.
Archaeologists are reading the ceramics unearthed at the site of Shuomen Ancient Port, photographed by Weng Xinyang
Due to its close proximity to the south bank of the Oujiang River estuary, the tide brings great challenges to archaeological excavations. The reporter noticed that the archaeological site was surrounded by cement waterstop piles. It is understood that there are more than 2,000 of these water-stopping piles, which were originally laid by the construction unit to prevent the infiltration of river water, creating favorable conditions for the excavation work.
Recreate the prosperity of thousands of years of fireworks
At present, the most striking cultural relics unearthed from the site of Shuomen Ancient Port are porcelain waist drums, porcelain bowls, porcelain vases and other porcelain. “These porcelains come from Longquan kilns and Ou kilns around Wenzhou, as well as from Dingyao and Cizhou kilns in the north, mainly Longquan celadon.” Wu Xianjun, a researcher at the Wenzhou Museum, said that up to now, about 10 tons of porcelain fragments have been unearthed at the site, and more than 3,000 cultural relics can be restored.
According to historical records, Longquan celadon in the Song and Yuan dynasties was the “main force” of Chinese porcelain exports. Shuomen Ancient Port unearthed a late Northern Song Dynasty Longquan kiln blue glaze grate lotus folding fan pattern porcelain bowl, open, arc belly, circle foot, the whole body carved swirl group pattern, entwined branch lotus pattern, folding fan pattern and other forms of different forms of ornamentation, the exquisite production process is amazing.
Chuiwan is one of the ancient Chinese Han ball games, slightly close to today’s hockey. During the Song and Yuan dynasties, the movement of pounding pills was very popular, and two pieces with a diameter of 2 were unearthed in the ancient port of Shuomen.The pottery ball, which is about 5 centimeters, is small and delicate, and it is speculated that it may be a children’s play ball.
Through the restored cultural relics, we can not only get a glimpse of the life of the ancients, but also get a glimpse of the magnificent scenery of the Maritime Silk Road. “During the archaeological excavations, we found five groups of dry-column buildings.” Following the direction of Liu Tuanhui’s finger, the Banyuetan reporter could vaguely identify the location of the wooden stakes, “They are like stilt houses on the water, which may be used as wine shops, docks, etc.”
Demonstration of the Maritime Silk Road
“The tower lights are shadowy, and the dragon shines at night”, the towering twin towers on Jiangxinyu Island were built in the Tang and Song dynasties, and are famous ancient navigation beacons in China and even in the world. The ancients built such magnificent two navigation beacons precisely because there was a prosperous port nearby.
Xiang Ming, director of the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said that the ruins of Shuomen Ancient Port are large-scale, complete in ruins, clear in age, rich in connotation, and have both ancient cities and ancient ports, as well as ancient shipwrecks and ancient ships, which is an excellent interpretation of the “Maritime Silk Road”.
“The regret of the archaeological work of the Maritime Silk Road in the past is that there are few port sites, but the core of the Maritime Silk Road should be the port.” Liu Qingzhu, a member of the Faculty of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and former director of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the Shuomen Ancient Port site is the most complete structure and the clearest port site found in China, which is of far-reaching significance for deepening the research on the Maritime Silk Road.
Looking at the world’s famous harbor sites, Wenzhou Shuomen Ancient Port can also be regarded as “unique”. Jiang Bo, vice president of ICOMOS and distinguished professor at Shandong University, said that other important harbor sites around the world lack the strong support of port archaeological achievements, and the Shuomen ancient port site is a rare “filler” that has made an important contribution to reimagining the history of human maritime civilization.