China News Service, Yinchuan, March 30 (Reporter Yang Di) "The Yaoheyuan site is the first large-scale Western Zhou prince's capital city site discovered in southern Ningxia and the upper reaches of Jingshui." When interviewed by a reporter from China News Service on the 30th, Ningxia Ma Qiang, deputy researcher of the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and leader of the archaeological team at the Yaoheyuan site, said that the excavation of the Yaoheyuan site has expanded the traditional perception of the Western Zhou territory.
Recently, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences announced the "New Discoveries of Chinese Archaeology in 2020", and 6 projects including the Western Zhou Site in Yaoheyuan, Pengyang County, Ningxia were selected.
"In the past, academics believed that the territory to the northwest of the Western Zhou Dynasty was only in the area of Lingtai County and Chongxin County, Gansu Province, and beyond was controlled by Dog Rong." Ma Qiang introduced that the Yaoheyuan site is the most located among the Western Zhou sites that have been discovered so far. In the northwest, the traditional cognition of the Western Zhou Dynasty has been extended to southern Ningxia and the upper reaches of Jingshui River.
In 2017, the Ningxia Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology organized the first regional systematic survey. The survey found many historical relics. The Yaoheyuan Western Zhou Relic is the most important discovery.
The site of the Western Zhou Dynasty of Yaohe Plain is located in the north of Yaohe Village, Xinji Township, Pengyang County, Guyuan City, Ningxia. The site is currently confirmed to have an area of 920,000 square meters and an area of about 4,000 square meters has been excavated.
"The Yaoheyuan site is a site with all five internal organs. The palace area, tomb area, pottery workshop area, copper casting workshop area, city wall, moat, and oracle bone inscriptions are all available, which is extremely rare among the discovered sites of the Western Zhou Dynasty. "Ma Qiang said that the Yaoheyuan site is of great significance in the study of Western Zhou history.
"The Yaoheyuan site is the most northwestern frontier where the oracle bone inscriptions are currently known." Ma Qiang introduced that the oracle bone inscriptions found at the Yaoheyuan site total more than 150 characters, which is the longest continuous inscription in the oracle bone inscriptions discovered in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Involving the country and the battle with the Rong people, it is an important historical material and new discovery of Zhou Rong's relationship.
According to Zhu Cunshi, director of the Ningxia Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and research librarian, the copper casting workshop excavated at the Yaoheyuan site is currently the most northwestern known copper casting workshop and the first copper casting workshop site discovered in the northwest region. At present, the comparative study between the center and the edge of the copper casting industry in the Western Zhou Dynasty has provided precious information, which will help the in-depth study of the copper casting technology system and the copper casting industry in the Western Zhou Dynasty.
"The Yaoheyuan ruins are the same in nature as the vassal kingdoms of the Central Plains, which shows that the Western Zhou Dynasty managed the western territories just like the eastern regions, and adopted the model of'separate vassals and feudal princes'." Zhu Cunshi said of the Yaoheyuan site. Archaeological excavations have provided valuable new information for understanding the political structure of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the relationship between the Zhou Dynasty and the northwestern frontier regions, and will greatly expand the comprehensive research of China's early civilization. (Finish)