China News Service, Shijiazhuang, January 26 (Reporter Li Xiaowei) According to news from the Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology on the 26th, through a comprehensive archaeological survey and exploration in 2023, combined with archaeological work and documentary materials over the years, the urban basics of Dongyuan Ancient City have been initially ascertained. The shape, spatial layout, understanding of the scale, scale and elements of the ancient city confirmed that Dongyuan Ancient City was one of the highest-level central cities in the central and southern Hebei region at the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain during the Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties, especially during the Han Dynasty.
Aerial photography of the mid-year archaeological excavation site of the Dongyuan Ancient City Site in May 2023. (Photo courtesy of Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology)
The Dongyuan Ancient City ruins are located in the piedmont plain at the eastern foot of the Taihang Mountains, in the north of Chang'an District, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, on the south bank of the Hutuo River. The ruins cover an area of 2.76 square kilometers and are among the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units. During the Warring States Period, Dongyuan was one of the "Four Zhongshan Cities"; after the Qin unified the six kingdoms, Hengshan County was established, and the county governed Dongyuan; in the early Western Han Dynasty, Hengshan Kingdom was established, and the capital governed Dongyuan.
The archaeological work at the Dongyuan Ancient City Site in 2023 includes archaeological exploration of the Dongyuan Ancient City Site and archaeological excavation in the Dongyuan Ancient City Site Museum construction area.
In 2023, archaeological exploration of approximately 2 million square meters of the Dongyuan Ancient City ruins will be completed. A total of 337 relics were discovered, including 4 official base areas, 8 rammed earth building foundations, 2 rammed earth walls, 1 rammed earth city wall, 2 city gates, 1 moat, 27 roads, and 11 water systems. , 6 residential sites, 31 handicraft workshops, 20 wells, 216 ash pits, 8 tombs, and the remains are rich and diverse.
The excavation area of the Dongyuan Ancient City Ruins Museum construction area is 1,680 square meters. More than 200 relics of various types were cleaned up, mainly including ash pits, roads, house sites, smelting furnaces, stove sites, tombs, wells and other Han Dynasty relics. 258 pieces of recoverable cultural relics were unearthed, mainly including pottery, bronze, iron, bone, stone, etc.
The "Changle Weiyang" tiles unearthed from the Dongyuan Ancient City ruins were photographed in April 2023. (Photo courtesy of Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology)
According to Chen Wei, a researcher at the Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology, the ancient city of Dongyuan went through many major constructions, expansions, and reconstructions from the Warring States Period to the Han Dynasty, and the Wei and Jin Dynasties, with the main part dating from the Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty was also the most prosperous period for the ancient city of Dongyuan, and it gradually declined after the Wei and Jin Dynasties.
At the same time, through this comprehensive archaeological survey and exploration, it was discovered that the underground remains of the Dongyuan Ancient City site are very rich, especially those that reflect the main functions of the city's operation, including city gates, city walls, road networks, large government building bases, and handicraft workshop areas. Relics have been discovered, which refreshed the academic community's understanding of the Han Dynasty's prefecture-state and city system.
"This archaeological work is the largest and most abundant urban site archaeological work discovered in Shijiazhuang during the pre-Qin and Han dynasties in recent years, and it provides new physical data for the archeology of cities in central and southern Hebei," said Chen Wei. (over)