[General_Zhaoyun]

Major archaeology discovery of a large tomb of Western Zhou dynasty was found.

http://english.peopl...528_144686.html

Source: China Daily..
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A new discovery has created a great stir in Chinese archaeological circles, raising questions that will require further excavations before any kind of definitive answer might be given.

After two months of sleuthing, a group of Chinese archaeologists have found what they believe to be a large group of tombs of China's Western Zhou Dynasty (1046-771 BC) in Qishan County, in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

But are these actually tombs of the kings of the Western Zhou Dynasty?

Finding the answer to this question is a great challenge and attraction for Chinese archaeologists and historians. Existing at a time when the power and splendour of China's slave society was at its height, the Western Zhou Dynasty had a series of more than 10 kings, but their tombs have, so far, never been found.

And historical records and documents offer only a paucity of information on the history of the Western Zhou Dynasty, which lasted some 300 years, while a similar paucity of unearthed relics, ruins and tombs further augments the mystery.

Over the past decades, Chinese archaeologists have been trying hard to find ancient tombs and building ruins of the Western Zhou Dynasty's kings and lords, but there has been little in the way of revealing discoveries.

In December 2003, while conducting archaeological investigations near the Zhougong (a king of the Western Zhou Dynasty) Temple in Qishan County, teachers and students of the Archaeology and Culture College of Peking University found two pieces of tortoise shell with Chinese characters inscribed on them believed to be from the Western Zhou, and these shells drew attention to the ruins of this cemetery, said Wang Zhankui, head of the archaeological team conducting excavations at the site.

According to Wang, who is also deputy director of the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeology Research Institute, the excavation team for the cemetery, comprised of archaeologists from his institute and Peking University, was established in February 2004, with the approval of State and Shaanxi archaeology authorities.

"Over the past two months, we have carried out large-scale investigations and excavations of the ruins of the cemetery and have made some progress," Wang said.

At present, the team has learned that the ruins cover an area of about 10 square kilometres with a number of ancient ruins and relics including ashes pits, building foundations and pottery shards.

"From the unearthed relics and ruins, we have deduced that the ruins are of large scale and rich in cultural relics from the periods of the Yangshao Culture (6,000 years ago), Longshan Culture (4,000 years ago) and pre-Zhou to Western Zhou (3,100 to 2,770 years ago). And the relics from the Western Zhou Dynasty are generally the more important and more significant ones," Wang said.

The discovered tortoise shells inscribed with pictographs dating to the Western Zhou Dynasty, a large-scale group of tombs with four tunnels and the rammed earth walls around the tombs indicate that the site must have been a high-ranking cemetery for royal families in Western Zhou Dynasty, Wang said.

"However, we cannot be sure that they are the tombs of Western Zhou kings, We only know that they are the highest ranking tombs of Western Zhou Dynasty to be discovered so far. Further excavation is needed to ascertain whose tombs they were," Wang said.

As of Wednesday, the team had surveyed some 80,000 square metres of the ancient site and found 12 ancient tombs, of which seven were built with four tunnels. Also, seven pits with chariots and horses have been unearthed in the cemetery.

"Ancient documents mention tombs with four tunnels in the Western Zhou Dynasty but no such tombs have ever been found before, and these tombs make us believe that there were, indeed, tombs with four tunnels in the Western Zhou Dynasty. This is an important discovery," said Lei Xingshan, an associate professor from Peking University, who is a member of the excavation team.

Among the seven large tombs with four tunnels, the one numbered M1 is the largest: the north tunnel is 30.29 metres long; the south, 29.3 metres; the west, 19.45 metres; and the east, 22.91 metres. It is far larger than any other known Western Zhou tomb, Wang said.

It is much to be regretted that archaeologists found a number of holes indicating that the cemetery has been looted. In M1 tomb alone, there are six such holes, one of which is 17 metres deep. Experts say the latest looting took place less than a year ago.

Although the tombs have been robbed, archaeologists still hope that rare cultural relics can be found inside and around the tombs.

"If we can find well-preserved pieces of bronze ware, parts of chariots and their harnesses, ritual objects and sacrificial utensils with long inscriptions, it will be great for academic research," Wang said.

"So, we plan to open the tombs after careful investigation and a large-scale survey of the entire cemetery, but the plan must be approved by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage," the team head said.

The archaeological team also unearthed three groups of ancient building ruins with a floor area of some 500 square metres in the cemetery, and around the building ruins there are a number of ancient hollow bricks, long narrow bricks and flat tiles.

"The hollow bricks, which were considered high-class building materials, are rarely mentioned, even in the records of Zhouyuan and Fenghao, two capital cities of the Western Zhou. This shows that the buildings in the cemetery were for people of high rank," Wang said.

Chinese archaeologists carried out recovery excavations in the places where pieces of oracle bones and tortoise shell were unearthed, and after a 67-day operation had netted some 700 pieces of tortoise shell, 80 of which were inscribed with characters, Wang said.

"Because the pit which contains the oracle bones and tortoise shells was found by a local farmer named Shi Haoshan, it was named Haoshan Pit to acknowledge the farmer's part in the discovery," Wang said.

From the characters on the unearthed tortoise shells, experts learned about wars, sacrifices and even records of the dynasty, all important materials for academic research on the Western Zhou.

What has so excited the Chinese researchers is the great importance of the Western Zhou Dynasty in Chinese history. The most important period in the age of slave society, the Western Zhou laid the foundation of ancient China's political, legal and military systems.

And it brought advances in agriculture, with the improvement of farm implements and the development of farming techniques. It also witnessed development in craft industries, especially in the manufacture of bronze wares, pottery and textiles, according to historical records.

The common belief among archaeological and historical circles is that Zhouyuan, one of the two capitals of the Western Zhou Dynasty, was located between present-day Fufeng and Qishan counties in central Shaanxi, covering an area of about 20 square kilometres, and was the birthplace of the Zhou people.

The new discovery of this Western Zhou cemetery in Qishan County has narrowed down the searching sphere, because royal tombs were usually built near capital cities in ancient times.

"If Zhouyuan was really located next to the newly discovered cemetery of Western Zhou Dynasty, it is highly likely that these tombs housed the kings of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Our further work should provide us with a definitive answer to this question," Wang said.

[thirdgumi]

Very nice. I thought Zhou dynasty was the high point of feudalism in China, not slave society.

[Bao Pu]

UPDATE

from http://english.peopl...607_145553.html

Greatest archeological discovery since new China

Of the archeological activities on Western Zhou over the past 70 years, Qishan graveyards may be the only large relics of Zhou population ever found. From the burial sites the walls, oracles and advanced buildings and graves are discovered and the oracles reading "Duke of Zhou (Zhou Gong)" appeared many times there.

After a number of on-site investigations, researches and discussions carried out by many famous archeologists the Western Zhou large burial site has received wide attention and was regarded as belonging quite likely to the family of the Duke of Zhou. This greatest archeological discovery as such ever since the founding of new China proves immeasurably precious to the research on China's civilization and for carrying on and developing China's excellent traditional culture.

The large Western Zhou burial site is located in the ruins of the Duke Zhou Temple in Qishan County of Shaanxi Province. Archeological team composed of Shaanxi Archeology Institute and Peking University, has discovered 19 large graves: nine with four grave tunnels, four with three and two respectively and two with one grave tunnel. There are another 13 funerary pits. Over 700 oracle bone pieces were discovered outside the graves, 420 word oracle identified, four slates with characters reading "Duke of Zhou" ever found, over 1500-meter-long wall and sites of foundations of six large buildings of rammed earth.

After three days of careful investigation Professor Zou Heng from Peking University said, it is the only large community of Zhou people, in which the Western Zhou walls, oracles, advanced buildings were all discovered ever since the archeological activities on the Western Zhou Dynasty were started over 70 years ago. That referring to the Duke of Zhou appeared many times on oracle bones indicates that the site is the feud of Duke Zhou and the burial site belongs to his family. The 78-year-old Zou, dubbed "No.1 archeologist on China's Shang and Zhou dynasties", is the discoverer of the capital ruins of the States of Yan and Jin of the Western Zhou Dynasty and instructor for exploring and excavating Lord Jin's grave of the Western Zhou Dynasty.

Yin Shengping, former curator of Shaanxi History Museum, a noted expert in Western Zhou history, said, king-level graves discovered previously only had one or two tunnels, and it is the first time for us to discover four-grave-tunnel graves in the feud of the Duke Zhou. Duke Zhou was a person honored as King of Zhou and is fully qualified to use the funeral treatment of the highest level. It is no wonder that graves with four tunnels were discovered in his family burial site.

Named Dan and surnamed Ji, Duke Zhou is the founder of Zhou Dynasty, and once assisted King Zhou Wu and afterwards serving as regent for seven years, he gave the power back to King Zhou Cheng. He initiated feudalistic system, and formulated the rites and composed music, thus laid the political and cultural foundation of the Chinese nation. Confucius turned his thought more humanized and worldly, and on the basis he formed the Confucianism which has been passed on for thousands of years, becoming the most fundamental cultural tradition in Chinese society. "Dreaming of Duke Zhou" still remains a catchword nowadays.

Doctor Zhang Tian'en, director of Shang and Zhou Office of Shaanxi Archeology Institute who devoted for years to seeking tombs for kings of the Western Zhou, held that the title of Duke Zhou is hereditary and lasted for five to six hundred years. Although Zhou Gongdan's eldest son was given the State of Lu in the east but Western Zhou practiced the system of returned burial, i.e. one must be buried in the mother town when he died. As descendents of Duke Zhou given provincial enfeoffment must also be buried in the family graveyards, therefore, many graves appeared with four tomb-tunnels.

Researcher Yuan Zhongyi, former curator of Qinshihuang Terracotta and Horses Museum, said, the size of the four-tunnel graves are generally a bit small, so they are not likely to be of the graves for kings but more likely to be graves of the family of Duke Zhou. As to whom they actually belong, that depends on the final determination after excavation.

By People's Daily Online