Wenzhou, March 3 (Reporter Wang title) On March 28, the top ten archaeological new discoveries in the country in 3 were announced, and the site of Wenzhou Shuomen Ancient Port was successfully selected.

As the only selected project in Zhejiang this year, the ruins of Wenzhou Shuomen Ancient Port, ports, docks, ships, and the chain of evidence are complete. Experts believe that this is the most important archaeological discovery of the port sites of the Maritime Silk Road at home and abroad, which has outstanding value in the history of world navigation, and is a classic sample and supporting heritage point of the Maritime Silk Road Application Project.

It is reported that the ruins of Wenzhou Shuomen Ancient Port are located in the east head of Wangjiang East Road, Lucheng District, Wenzhou, outside the north gate of Wenzhou Ancient City, adjacent to the Oujiang River in the north, and echoing the Jiangxinyu Twin Towers across the river.

The site was discovered in October 2021 during the archaeological work of capital construction in conjunction with the Wenzhou Wangjiang Road underpass project.

A shipwreck of the Southern Song Dynasty found at the site of Shuomen Ancient Port in Wenzhou Courtesy of Wenzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology

It is reported that the excavation area of the site is mainly composed of three parts: the Shuimentou area at the eastern end, the port area of the Linjiang River and the Wengcheng area on the south side of the western end. The east and west ends of the excavation area are respectively related to water and land city gates, of which the main body is in an east-west strip, and the remains such as shipwrecks and docks are mostly distributed in the belt area.

Among them, the Shuimentou excavation area is rich in relics, where there are Northern Song River embankments and sloped wharves. Next to them, closer to the Ou River, there are the banks of the Southern Song River, bridges and steep gate gates. Closer to the river than the ruins of the Southern Song Dynasty, are the embankments and step-type yards of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties.

Between Wengcheng and Watergate is a group of relics dominated by 6 piers, including masonry roads, wooden plank roads, wooden structures and masonry building foundations, wells, etc., all dated to the Southern Song Dynasty.

In addition, a large number of ancient relics have been unearthed in the strata and remains of the site, among which the number of porcelain fragments unearthed is extremely large, and the Longquan kiln ware in the Song and Yuan dynasties accounts for more than 90%. There are also Ou kiln brown color porcelain, Jianyao black glaze porcelain and other products, some of which have ink books on the outer sole, such as "surname + straight", "straight", "east", "west", "upper", "gang" and so on.

"Most of these porcelain fragments have no traces of use, and should be consumables of trade porcelain during transportation and transshipment." At the same time, some Wenzhou lacquerware, pounding pellets, brick carvings, building components, shells, plant seeds and other rich relics have also been unearthed in the site. According to Liang Yanhua, director of the Wenzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, these all prove that this wharf once prospered in trade and exchange, and the significance of their excavation is no less than the significance of the excavation of the wharf site.

As the person in charge of the Wenzhou Shuomen Ancient Port Site Project, Liang Yanhua said he has a full understanding of the value and significance of the site.

Longquan kiln porcelain unearthed at the site of Shuomen Ancient Port in Wenzhou, Courtesy of Wenzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology

According to him, before the archaeological excavation of the site, the team began to search for similar archaeological sites in various places to understand the relics and relics they found, and prepare for the archaeological excavation of the site. "Once we come across a similar relic or remains in an archaeological excavation, we can immediately find it or make some judgments faster and more accurately."

The discovery of the Shuomen Ancient Port site in Wenzhou, in Liang Yanhua's view, has three main points of value and significance.

First, the discovery of the ruins of Wenzhou's Shuomen Ancient Port reproduces the grandeur of Wenzhou's "thousand-year-old commercial port".

Wharves, shipwrecks and a large number of commercial relics constitute the core elements of the commercial port, which are in harmony with the ancient city of Wenzhou and the twin towers of Jiangxinyu, one of the world's ancient navigation landmarks, vividly reproducing the scene of "thousands of furniture at the foot of the city, and the twin towers of Jiangxin pressing waves" in the port area of Wenzhou's "Beibu" in the Song and Yuan Dynasties.

Second, the discovery of the ruins of the ancient port of Shuomen in Wenzhou confirms that Wenzhou port is an important port for maritime trade since the Song and Yuan Dynasties.

For example, the two shipwrecks found at the site of Wenzhou's Shuomen Ancient Port are both Fu ships from the Song Dynasty, indicating that Wenzhou had close contacts with external cities at that time, and further proved that this was the location of the dock during the Song Dynasty.

For example, Longquan celadon occupied an extremely important position in overseas trade during the Song and Yuan dynasties. A large number of Longquan celadon fragments were unearthed at the site of Wenzhou Shuomen Ancient Port, which proved that Wenzhou Ancient Port is the starting point and hub port for the export of Longquan celadon.

Third, the site of Wenzhou Shuomen Ancient Port is a complete system of city, port and waterway, which is a complete system of the trinity of city, port and waterway, which can be called an excellent interpretation of the Maritime Silk Road and an irreplaceable and important node of the Maritime Silk Road.

The discovery of the ruins of Shuomen Ancient Port in Wenzhou provides strong evidence for the application of China's Maritime Silk Road. It has become an interpretation of China's style on the Maritime Silk Road and international exchanges, and provides a vivid historical footnote for China's implementation of the "Belt and Road" initiative and the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind. (End)