Archaeology solves the mystery of "Xintian, the capital of Jin"

　　Tian Jianwen

　　Archaeology is a science that uses physical data to study human history. It has the functions of confirming and falsifying the history recorded in documents.

Counting from the prelude of Jin State archaeology in 1952, Jin State archaeology has been practicing these two functions for 70 years.

A typical example of this is the confirmation process of Xintian, the capital of Jin.

　　In 585 BC, Duke Jing of Jin abandoned the old capital Jiang and moved the capital to Xintian.

In the more than 200 years of Xintian, a series of major events affecting the social process of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, such as the reform of the law, the reconciliation of the Dirong, and the princes of the alliance, occurred.

Duke Ping of Jin also built the Xiqi Palace here, which is comparable to the Zhanghua Palace of the Chu State.

　　However, for such an important place, there are many differences in the records of different eras.

The "Notes on the Classic of Water" written by Li Daoyuan of the Northern Wei Dynasty said that the Hui River flows from east to west in the south of "Jiang County", which is the "Xintian" where Jin Jinggong moved the capital.

And "Jiang County" was Jiangyi County in the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Wei Dynasty of the Three Kingdoms, and was abandoned during the "Yongjia Rebellion".

Until the Ming Dynasty, "Jiajing Quwo County Chronicle" still believed that Quwo County was "north of the ancient city of Jiangyi".

During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Fang, the magistrate of Quwo County, had doubts about this when he edited the "Newly Revised Quwo County Chronicle" and pointed out that Xintian was located in Houmayi, west of Quwo County.

　　It can be seen that in order to establish the true location of Xintian, the capital of Jin, it is not enough to rely on documents alone, and both archaeology and textual research are required.

　　In 1952, archaeologists discovered the ancient ruins of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in Houma. In the following years, they discovered three ancient cities of Fengcheng, Niucun and Pingwang.

From 1960 to 1964, the archaeological team excavated the ruins of a large copper casting workshop in Houma for many times.

A large number of pottery models have been unearthed here, with many shapes and rich decorations, and some models have texts on them.

Scholars refer to the products of the Houma Copper Casting Workshop as "Jin-style bronzes".

Its excavation sites are all over Shanxi, and appear in the Jin state and Han, Zhao, Wei San Jin tombs in Henan, Hebei and other places.

Dozens of museums at home and abroad have collected thousands of "Jin-style bronzes".

In 1961, this site was named "Homa Jin Kingdom Site" and was included in the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

　　In November 1965, in order to cooperate with the infrastructure project of Houma Power Plant, within a range of 70 meters long from east to west and 55 meters wide from north to south, archaeologists excavated 326 sacrificial pits, of which 42 pits unearthed jade for writing Zhushu League words. There are more than 1500 pieces, this is the famous "Homa League Book" at home and abroad.

This is another major discovery of early Chinese characters since the oracle bone inscriptions at Yin Ruins in Anyang, Henan, bronze inscriptions in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and bamboo slips from the Warring States Period to the Han Dynasty.

The main content of most of the oaths of the alliance is to prevent the enemy from "returning to the land of Jin State", one of which is written "in the Jin State", that is, the capital of Jin State.

　　Other archaeological finds are also helping to solve the mystery of "Xintian".

In Houma, a lot of sites from the Neolithic period and the early and middle period of Xia and Shang have been discovered, but there are not many sites in the late Shang Dynasty and the early and middle stages of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Small tombs.

For more than 500 years, it was deserted here.

According to the reclamation system of the Western Zhou Dynasty, it took three years for a piece of land to be reclaimed successfully.

At the beginning of the first year of reclamation, "Sadata", that is, burning grass and ash fertile fields.

In the second year, the land was flattened and flattened to become "new fields".

The old fields that have been cultivated in the third year are called "Shetian".

As the land reclaimed increases, new villages need to be built, which are located on a "Xintian", which is the origin of the name "Xintian".

　　So why did people mistake "Jiangxian" as Xintian for a long period of time?

　　At the beginning of the 21st century, when the archaeological team verified the southern end of the east wall of the ancient city of Niucun excavated in 1957, they found a tomb in the late Spring and Autumn Period pressed against the wall.

After research, the two ancient cities of Niu Village and Pingwang were abandoned around 470 BC.

This means that at that time, Xintian has begun to enter the stage of decline or even abandonment.

Before the three families were divided into Jin, the Duke of Jin had left the "pin"-shaped palace city composed of the three ancient cities of Niucun, Pingwang and Taishen, and moved into the ancient city of Fengcheng.

　　This ancient city is the "Jiangxian" or "Jiangyi" in the "Shui Jing Zhu". In 1956, the archaeological survey found that it was also called "the ancient city of Quwo".

The ancient city is divided into the outer city and the inner city, both of which are nearly square, and the southern part has been washed away by the Hui River.

The archaeological report pointed out at the time: This is an ancient city that emerged when the ruins of Houma Jin Kingdom were about to decline.

　　Looking at the Houma Jin Kingdom site, it can be found that this site is mainly composed of two groups of relics: east and west.

The West Group is the main content of Xintian, the capital of Jin, including the "pin"-shaped palace city, Xiqi Palace, 11 sacrificial sites, etc. There are 8 Jin Gongs including Jing Gong active here.

The east group is Fengcheng Ancient City, Baidian Copper Casting Site, Liuquan Cemetery, Qiao Village Cemetery, etc. 6 Jin Gongs once worked here.

That is to say, during the period of Xintian, the capital of Jin, the Duke of Jin moved once, and moved from the "pin"-shaped palace city to the ancient city of Fengcheng.

Since the two places are very close to each other, it does not matter whether the capital is moved or not, and it is not surprising that the literature is missing.

This helps us to understand the reason why the ancient city of Fengcheng has been mistakenly regarded as "Xintian" since Li Daoyuan in the Northern Wei Dynasty.

　　The site of Houma Jin Kingdom has witnessed the function of archaeological confirmation and falsification.

This is only the primary stage of archaeology, and there is still a long way to go before "extending the historical axis, enhancing historical reliability, enriching historical connotation, and activating historical scenes".

　　(Author: Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology)