China News Service Yinchuan, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- How can the ancient kingdom re-enter history?
Interview with Ma Qiang, deputy director of the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
China News Service reporter Yang Di.
As the site of the capital of the country, the site of the Western Zhou Dynasty of Yaohe Plateau continued from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the early Spring and Autumn Period. How was the mysterious "Acquisition of the Kingdom", which had disappeared for thousands of years, discovered? What kind of relationship does it show between the Zhou Dynasty and the northwestern frontier region? What kind of empirical evidence does it provide for the Western Zhou Dynasty sub-feudal system? Recently, China News Service's "East and West Question" interviewed Ma Qiang, deputy director and researcher of the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, for an explanation.
The transcript of the interview is summarized below
China News Service: How was the site of the Western Zhou City discovered and excavated in Yaoheyuan? How was it determined to be the site of the capital of the Western Zhou Dynasty?
Ma Qiang: The Yaohe Plateau site is located in the north of Yaohe Village, Xinji Township, Pengyang County, Guyuan City, Ningxia, in the upper reaches of the Jingshui Basin at the eastern foot of Liupan Mountain (Longshan), and on the triangular plateau cut by the confluence of the Li'er River, the Xiaohe River and the Big River at the source of its tributary Red River.
Aerial photography of the excavation area of the Yaohe Plateau site. Courtesy of the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
In April 2017, the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region discovered a large number of pottery shards from the Western Zhou Dynasty in the process of carrying out the "Regional Systematic Archaeological Survey of the Red River Basin", and immediately reported to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage for approval to carry out special investigations, archaeological exploration and rescue archaeological excavations.
Since May 2017, the archaeological exploration of the Western Zhou city site in Yaohe Plateau has been carried out. After archaeological exploration and excavation, it is confirmed that the city site covers an area of more than 920,000 square meters, the layout is complete, the era continues to the early Spring and Autumn Period, and the relics such as high-grade burial areas, horse pits, chariot and horse pits, sacrificial pits, walls, copper casting workshops, roads, ash pits, etc., have been explored and found moats, large building foundations, roads, water networks, pottery kilns and other relics, and unearthed relics, such as pottery, primitive porcelain, bronze, pottery, jade, lacquered wood, bones, horns, teeth, mussels, etc.
In the Western Zhou Dynasty, people at the level of princes and kings could only use high-level tombs with burial passages after death, such as the Yaoheyuan Jiazig-shaped tombs (that is, there was a burial passage). In addition, the discovery of walls, moats, copper casting workshops, large rammed earth building foundations and other relics also prove that the site is the site of the feudal capital. At the same time, through the interpretation of the unearthed oracle bone inscriptions, archaeologists confirmed that the city site was "Won Guo", which was the capital of the Western Zhou Dynasty princes that was not recorded in historical records.
Clay pots unearthed from the Yaoheyuan site. Courtesy of the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
China News Service: What kind of relationship does the culturally rich Yaoheyuan site show between the Zhou Dynasty and the northwest frontier region?
Ma Qiang: The site of the Western Zhou City of Yaohe Plateau is located on the east side of Liupan Mountain (Longshan), which is in the northern agricultural and pastoral intersection, and is an area where Huarong attacked and integrated in history.
Judging from the current archaeological discoveries, there were at least five kinds of people living in the site of the Western Zhou Dynasty in Yaoheyuan, including the Zhou people, the Yin relics, the Rong people, the Siwa people, and the northern people.
In fact, the discovery of the site of the Western Zhou city on the Yaohe Plateau filled in the Western Zhou Dynasty's mode of controlling operations in the northwest region. The military attributes of the Western Zhou city site of Yaohe Plateau are clear, and it is like a military bridgehead, helping the Zhou royal family to control the entire Longdong region.
At the same time, the site of the Western Zhou city on the Yaohe Plateau also reflects the strategy of the Western Zhou Dynasty in the process of passing through the northwest. There are signs of population integration and ethnic hybridization in the Western Zhou city site of Yaohe Plateau, and it also has superb bronze casting technology and a network of exchange and acquisition of luxury goods such as ivory, porcelain, jade, and turquoise. All this shows that the farming people and the nomadic people living here are tolerant and communicative with each other to a certain extent.
The ivory cup with animal face pattern unearthed from the Yaohe Plateau site. Courtesy of the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
China News Service: What kind of empirical evidence does the site of the Western Zhou Dynasty in Yaoheyuan provide for the Western Zhou Dynasty's feudal system?
Ma Qiang: Due to the lack of relevant historical records, before the discovery of the site of the Western Zhou Dynasty in Yaoheyuan, the scholarly circles were not clear about the control and operation of the Western Zhou Dynasty in the northwest region, and there is even a view that the Western Zhou Dynasty did not divide the vassal states in the northwest frontier region, and the western territory was basically occupied by the Xirong people in a broad sense, and the Zhou Dynasty actually "lost control" of the western territory.
However, the discovery of the site of the Western Zhou city in Yaohe Plateau strongly proves the control of the Western Zhou Dynasty over the northwest frontier region. The site has a complex functional structure of the settlement, high-grade tombs with burial tunnels, and a bronze casting workshop with high-skilled craftsmanship, and unearthed bronze, jade, porcelain, ivory, and special cultural products represented by oracle bone inscriptions. These discoveries show that the Western Zhou Dynasty's management of the western frontier was the same as that of the eastern region, and that it also adopted the model of "dividing the princes and vassalizing the royal family".
In fact, the ruins of the Western Zhou city site of Yaohe Plateau survived until the early Spring and Autumn Period, throughout the history of the Western Zhou Dynasty, which further proves that the Zhou people had a strong control over the western territory throughout the Western Zhou Dynasty.
An oracle bone inscription unearthed at the Yaoheyuan site. Courtesy of the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
China News Service: The site of the Western Zhou Dynasty of Yaohe Plateau has been evaluated as one of the "five most northwestern", what kind of research value does it have? Why does the site of the Western Zhou Dynasty of Yaohe Plateau fill the gap in the study of the history of the Western Zhou Dynasty?
Ma Qiang: As one of the major discoveries of Shang and Zhou archaeology in recent years, the archaeology of Yaoheyuan site has been rated as "2017 National Top Ten New Archaeological Discoveries", and the judges and experts gave the northwest the site of the early feudal capital of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the northwesternmost prince-level tombs of the early Western Zhou Dynasty, the northwesternmost oracle bone inscription discovery site, the northwesternmost primitive porcelain land, and the northwesternmost copper casting workshop site of the "five most northwestern" evaluations.
It is said that the site of the Western Zhou Dynasty in Yaohe Plateau has filled the gap in the historical research of the Western Zhou Dynasty to a certain extent, and there are three main reasons:
First, among the Western Zhou city sites that have been discovered so far, the Western Zhou city site of Yaohe Plateau is relatively well preserved, and its connotation is rich and "all five organs are complete", which can be regarded as the epitome of the feudal capital in the heyday of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Through the archaeological research of the Western Zhou city site in Yaohe Plateau, we can understand the layout of the city site and the tomb system of the Western Zhou Dynasty, which can serve as a reference for subsequent archaeological research.
The cover unearthed from the Yaohe Plateau site. Courtesy of the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
Second, the site of the Western Zhou Dynasty is located in the northwestern frontier of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and the material culture left by the mixed settlements of different groups of people found in it provides valuable new information for understanding the political pattern of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the relationship between the Western Zhou Dynasty and the northwest border region, and also provides a new perspective for the study of archaeological chronology and complex social processes in the Longdong region.
Third, the discovery of the site of the Western Zhou Dynasty in Yaohe Plateau fills the gap in the study of the history of the Western Zhou Dynasty, especially in the study of the history of the western territory of the Western Zhou Dynasty. The discovery of the city site corrected the view that "the Western Zhou Dynasty did not divide the western frontier into feudal states", proved the control and strategy of the Western Zhou Dynasty over the western territory, and promoted the in-depth research of Shang and Zhou archaeology.
Interviewee Profile:
Ma Qiang, Ph.D. in Archaeology from Nanjing University, Postdoctoral Fellow in Archaeology from Northwest University, Deputy Director and Researcher of the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, specializing in Shang and Zhou archaeology and northern bronze culture research. The archaeological project of Yaoheyuan site presided over by him won awards such as "Top Ten New Archaeological Discoveries in China in 2017", "Second Prize of Field Archaeology", and "New Archaeological Discoveries in China in 2020". He has presided over the completion of 1 national social science project, participated in 1 national social science project, and published relevant academic articles in core journals such as Journal of Archaeology, Archaeology and Cultural Relics.