The top ten new archaeological discoveries in the country in 2023 will be reviewed in Beijing today (21st) and will be announced tomorrow morning.
Currently, 22 projects have entered the final selection.
The Sijiaoping ruins in Gansu are one of the projects that have entered the final evaluation. The discovery of this Qin Dynasty architectural complex has enriched and supplemented the chain of ancient Chinese sacrificial building systems, and is of great significance to the study of my country's early sacrificial systems, architectural systems and craftsmanship.
The "rites" of the Qin Dynasty that have been sealed for thousands of years
In 2012, Lixian Museum staff discovered this site during field surveys. Since it is located at a high point and the middle building has not yet been excavated, the staff made a preliminary judgment on its role.
Zhao Juan, associate researcher at the Lixian County Museum: In 2013, we designated the rammed earth city site of the Qin Dynasty as a city site, not a ruins.
We haven’t seen the south wall yet, so we set it as the city site.
However, during further exploration of Sijiaoping in 2019, it was discovered that the rammed earth foundation beneath the soil layer was large in scale and very regular in layout, which is not the characteristic of ordinary civilian or military buildings.
Starting in 2020, the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology has teamed up with Fudan University, Peking University and others to excavate the site. A large-scale, well-organized Qin Dynasty architectural complex site has gradually appeared in front of archaeologists.
Duan Tao, assistant librarian of the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology: It is a completely symmetrical architectural layout, with the central rammed earth platform as the core. Its long sides correspond to the rectangular annex, the four corners correspond to the curved annex, and the other auxiliary buildings There are also very regular rammed walls connecting them. The central rammed earth platform is surrounded by ancillary buildings. Its layout is very regular.
As the excavation proceeds, archaeologists have more and more doubts, because some features of the Sijiaoping site have never been seen in other parts of the country.
A large-scale and well-organized water sacrificial place
What is so special about this large Qin Empire building complex?
What was it used for back then?
Who ordered the construction?
As archaeological excavations proceed, mysteries are gradually being solved.
The Sijiaoping site is a building base group composed of multiple rammed earth buildings. The building complex has a regular structure, clear hierarchies and order. It is centered on a large rammed earth platform with an area of about 900 square meters. It is clearly connected with the surrounding ancillary buildings. Centrally symmetrical layout and large scale.
Archaeologists have judged that this building complex was built directly by the Qin central government.
Duan Tao, Assistant Librarian of the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology: The scale of this kind of sacrifice should be unprecedented. The top of the mountain was first flattened, and then a wall and a foundation were built on the top of the mountain. So many Transporting construction materials to the mountains may consume a lot of manpower, material and financial resources in the process.
Without the macro-control of a central dynasty or a unified dynasty, it would be difficult for an ordinary county to complete a project of this scale.
But what puzzles the archaeologists is that there is a semi-crypt-like space in the middle of the central rammed earth platform, which has never been seen in other Qin Dynasty sites.
Duan Tao, Assistant Librarian of the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology: It is excavated downwards, which is a relatively unique architectural form.
The floor and (side walls) of this semi-crypt space are paved with bricks, and there is also a plain brick like this hanging on the wall. The plain brick hanging on the wall is inlaid with iron nails.
Archaeologists discovered that the ceramic bricks in this semi-crypt space used advanced joint filling technology to achieve a sealing effect.
There are also ceramic water pipes buried under the floor tiles, which are connected to a drainage facility on the north side of the rammed earth platform.
The evidence that has been discovered can prove that the semi-crypt structure in the middle is used to hold water, so where does the water in it come from?
Archaeologists further discovered that there were many broken tiles in this semi-crypt space.
Duan Tao, assistant librarian of the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology: The top of the semi-crypt space should be open-air, with eaves, and should be a patio-type structure.
We now believe that its function is to receive rainwater from the sky and then discharge it outside the central rammed earth platform.
As for the function of the Sijiaoping site, experts have initially determined that it may be an ancestral temple building, or it may be sacrificial water.
Duan Tao, assistant librarian of the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology: Many places in the Sijiaoping site show a strong and close relationship with water. For example, digging down in the middle of the central rammed earth platform is a very rare architectural form. .
Combined with tiling, caulking, and drainage pipes, we believe that many places on the Sijiaoping site can show a close connection with water, so it is possible that they were used to worship water.
Based on the craftsmanship of the tiles, hollow bricks and other items found at the Sijiaoping site, it is preliminarily inferred that they are the remains of the Qin Dynasty after it unified the six kingdoms and established the unified Qin Empire.
So who is such a large-scale building complex prepared for?
Duan Tao, assistant librarian of the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology: Looking at "Historical Records: The Chronicles of Qin Shihuang", the original text is: In the 27th year, the First Emperor visited Longxi and Beidi, namely Longxi County and Beidi County.
Li County is the birthplace of the Qin people, and it was a part of Longxi County at that time.
Coupled with the large scale and strict layout of Sijiaoping (site), we now speculate that it is very possible that it was a place prepared for the king to offer sacrifices.
This year, the archaeological team plans to conduct extended excavations on the site based on the first courtyard of the Sijiaoping site, and at the same time find more details to answer the doubts of the archaeological team.
Duan Tao, assistant librarian of the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology: How did the bricks and tiles of such a large-scale building complex come from?
Where do construction workers live?
What is the route of his sacrifice?
To solve these key issues, it is possible to find some archaeological evidence related to them. This is the focus of the next excavation.
(CCTV News Client)