The site of the Datuotou culture double ring trench settlement was discovered for the first time in Beijing

Beijing, May 5 (Zhongxin Net) -- The State Administration of Cultural Heritage held a work meeting on the important progress of the "Archaeological China" major project in Beijing on 31 May to report the latest progress and research results of four recent Shang Dynasty archaeology, including an important Datuotou cultural site discovered in Beijing's Fengtai New Palace. This is the first double-ring trench settlement of the Datuotou culture (Xia Shang period) found in Beijing, which lasts for a long time and is rich in relics.

Today, the reporter learned from the Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Relics that the site of the new palace is located in Nanyuan Street, Fengtai District, Beijing, in the alluvial fan plain of the ancient Yongding River basin at the southern foot of Yanshan Mountain. In order to cooperate with the capital construction, with the approval of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Beijing Institute of Archaeology has carried out archaeological excavations on the sites discovered by exploration, and the excavation has revealed an area of about 8000,300 square meters and found more than <> relics units of different periods. The cultural connotation of the site mainly includes settlements and cemeteries during the Xia Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and there are relics from different periods such as the tombs of the Two Han Dynasties, the Liaojin Road, the Ming and Qing Dynasty stove sites and roads.

The picture shows the M75 funeral products of the Datuotou culture. Photo courtesy of Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Relics

According to reports, the site has the richest remains from the late Xia Dynasty to the early Shang period, belonging to the Datuotou culture, consisting of settlement areas and burial areas.

The settlement is formed by a double ring moat inside and outside. The outer ring trench is 8~12 meters wide, about 4 meters deep, 142~155 meters in diameter, and the enclosed area is about 1,7 square meters. The inner ring trench is 18 meters wide, about 3 meters deep, about 70~72 meters in diameter, and the enclosure area is about 4000 square meters. Ash pits, cellars, and house sites were found in the inner ring trench. The site is semi-crypt with a stove inside and pillar holes around it. The ash pits are densely distributed, with various shapes and regular pit walls. Pottery pieces, stone tools, animal bones, etc. were unearthed, and pottery ware included beards, basins, pots, zuns, urns, etc. The inner and outer moats are 8~30 meters apart, and the remains of houses, ash pits, ash ditches, cellars and other relics have been found in the area between them, and there are pottery pieces, pottery spinning wheels, animal bones and other relics unearthed.

The picture shows the boot-shaped foot painted pottery statue unearthed from the Datuotou culture M75. Photo courtesy of Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Relics

The burial area is located in the southeast outside the outer ring moat, and 27 vertical pit tombs have been found, with regular layout and consistent direction, and the burial products are mainly pottery, mostly plain folded shoulders, wide-edged belly basins, bowls, etc., and important relics such as jade jue, turquoise necklaces, red agate beads, etc., especially the button-pin-shaped winged flared gold earrings unearthed by M77 and the boot-shaped foot faience unearthed by M75 are particularly exquisite and rare. The site also found ash pits, cellars, gray ditches, house sites and tombs from the late Shang and Western Zhou periods, and the scope was expanded compared with the previous period.

The picture shows the ornaments unearthed by the Datuotou culture M77. Photo courtesy of Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Relics

The site of Fengtai Xingong in Beijing is the first settlement of the double ring moat of the Datuotou culture (Xia Shang period) discovered in the Beijing area, with a long duration and rich relics. The Datuotou cultural tombs in the site unearthed painted pottery, jade jue, gold earrings, turquoise necklaces and other burial objects that combine the cultural factors of the Central Plains and the northern regions, vividly reproducing the history of cultural exchanges and blending between the north and south of the Yanshan Mountains and the northern steppe in the Bronze Age. (End)