Hefei, March 10 (Reporter Ma Rongrui)

Recently, the "2022-2023 Anhui Important New Archaeological Discovery and Excellent Field Archaeological Site Selection Meeting" was held in Hefei, Anhui.

Six sites, including the Ming Zhongdu Palace Courtyard and Water System Remains in Fengyang County, Chuzhou City, the Mopanshan Site in Langxi County, Xuancheng City, and the Lingjiatan Site in Hanshan County, Ma'anshan City, were rated as important new archaeological discoveries in Anhui in 2022-2023.

　　The Ming Zhongdu Site is located in Fengyang County, Chuzhou City, Anhui Province. It is the site of the capital city built by Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, in his hometown.

The city site is composed of three layers of city walls, covering an area of ​​50 square kilometers. It is a huge group of capital ruins composed of city walls, palaces, temples, central government offices, military facilities, as well as road networks, water systems and other remains.

　　In March 2022, the Fengyang Mingzhongdu site in Anhui was selected as one of the top ten new archaeological discoveries in the country in 2021.

According to reports, the excavation work from 2022 to 2023 will focus on the former palace courtyard of the Ming Zhongdu site, aiming to gradually and completely reveal its architectural layout, structure and construction process; at the same time, combined with the construction of the National Archaeological Site Park of the Ming Zhongdu Imperial City , and continue to provide scientific basis for the protection, display and utilization of the central axis of the site, as well as the water facilities and water system protection and display projects within the palace.

　　From 2022 to 2023, archaeologists will mainly excavate the remains of palace courtyards and water systems in the palace city.

After excavating the I-shaped main hall in the Qianchao District, archaeologists also explored the west side of the "Gong"-shaped main hall in the Qianchao District of the Ming Dynasty and unearthed a building foundation. After research, it was judged that it might be the Duodian next to the main hall. architecture.

The Duodian building is located on an independent rammed earth platform, with a residual height of about 1.1 meters, and is surrounded by bricks and stones.

There are 8 stone piers on the platform base. The column network of the palace body forms a layout of five in front and four in front, with Baoxia on the south side.

Archaeological experts cleared a treadway directly south of the platform, on the front of the east and west sides, and on the west side of the lowest platform of the main hall in the front area, adding key evidence for the restoration of the original height of the corresponding platform.

After excavation and dissection, archaeologists also revealed the connection relationship and construction sequence between the main hall, the Duo Hall and the platform base of the west corridor of the Duo Hall.

　　In addition, archaeologists cleared out a square corner building similar to a Chonglou in the southwest corner of the former palace courtyard, as well as door sites and corridors, all located on a base of rammed earth inside and bricks outside.

Archaeologists also discovered a building that may be the site of a gate on the south side of the corner building.

This discovery provides important clues for clarifying the specific direction of the horizontal road between Donghua Gate and Xihua Gate in the palace city of Zhongdu in the Ming Dynasty.

　　The excavation of the water system is one of the important archaeological tasks in Zhongdu in the Ming Dynasty from 2022 to 2023.

In the past two years, researchers have revealed facilities such as the west bridge of the inner Jinshui Bridge in the Ming Dynasty, the covered bridge on the west side of the central axis that crosses the inner Jinshui River, and the southeast outlet of the inner Jinshui River crossing the south wall of the palace city.

Research has found that the west bridge and covered bridge of Jinshui Bridge in Zhongdu in the Ming Dynasty are both single-hole arch bridges, with the main body built of blue bricks. Only the face stones are used on both sides of the soffit of the bridge. The bridge adopts the "three coupons and three volts" construction method. It is consistent with the previously excavated Waijinshuiqiao.

However, the foundation treatment, grooving, and masonry processes of each bridge are different, reflecting the diversity of craftsmanship.

　　In addition, archaeological excavations have shown that the outlet of Neijinshui River in the southeast of the palace city of Zhongdu in the Ming Dynasty is a brick vaulted water gate that runs from the bottom of the city wall from north to south and is composed of a culvert and a gate.

Among them, the culvert is 1.8 meters wide. Before construction, a bucket-shaped trench was excavated and then bricks were laid from bottom to top.

Archaeologists also discovered scattered gate stone components with grooves or mortises at the northern end of the culvert. It is speculated that the gate should be at the northern end of the culvert.

　　"For a long time, the picture of the palace city of the Ming Zhongdu based on literature research, site investigation and exploration has been relatively rough. The archaeological discoveries at the Ming Zhongdu site from 2022 to 2023 have greatly enriched, supplemented and rewritten the picture of the middle road in the palace city of the Ming Zhongdu. Understanding the architectural layout." Wang Zhi, associate research librarian of the Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology and leader of the archaeological excavation of the Zhongdu site in the Ming Dynasty, introduced that the discovery of the Duo Hall next to the main palace palace in the former dynasty area has revealed the layout of the former dynasty palace courtyard in the Ming Zhongdu Palace City. The layout of the main palace site and its connection with the adjacent corridors and verandas are complete. The revelation of the combination of corridors and verandas in the southern part of the palace courtyard of the former dynasty confirms the existence of a corridor between the palace courtyard and the Meridian Gate of the former dynasty. It also corrects and enriches the middle road buildings in the palace city. Configuration.

The excavation of key nodes in the water system also further enhanced researchers' understanding of the location, scale and basic shape of the Jinshui River channel and bridge site in the palace.

　　"The archaeological work in the Ming Zhongdu from 2022 to 2023 was carried out carefully in terms of field excavation, data collection and collection, and later cultural relic protection. The excavation results clarified the relationship between the architectural layout of the palaces and courtyards in the former dynasty area, which is important for understanding and comparing the Ming Zhongdu and the The similarities and differences in the layout of the Forbidden City in Beijing and Nanjing have important reference significance." Yang Lixin, former deputy director of the Anhui Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics and researcher at the Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology, said that the recent excavations in the Ming and Zhongdu have provided important insights into the evolution of the ancient capital system since the Tang and Song Dynasties. The research adds important information and also provides scientific basis for the protection and utilization of the site.

　　He Yun'ao, professor of the Department of History at Nanjing University and director of the Institute of Cultural and Natural Heritage of Nanjing University, believes that the archaeological excavations in the palace area of ​​the imperial city of the Ming Dynasty are of great value for studying the institutional evolution of the central building area of ​​the imperial city in my country since the Tang Dynasty.

Recent archaeological results in the Ming and Zhongdu have clearly revealed the architectural layout on the west side of the palace area of ​​the former dynasty. Among them, the discovery of Duodian is very important, and its use function needs further research and exploration.

The archaeologically discovered Neijinshuiqiao bridge site and river system are important architectural functional areas of the palace city. Their academic value goes beyond the general urban water supply and drainage system function, and provides important clues for exploring the Neijinshuiqiao system in the palace city during the Song and Yuan Dynasties.

He Yun'ao suggested that in order to fully protect, utilize and display the rich cultural relics unearthed from the Ming Zhongdu Imperial City, the Ming Zhongdu Imperial City Museum construction plan should be put on the agenda as soon as possible.

(Source: Guangming Daily)