" Erlitou site What does it mean to discover more roads and walls on both sides"
The earliest dynasty cities have "grid-based" layout
Guangming Daily reporter Wang Shengxi Guangming Daily correspondent Liu Jiayi Liang Xiaoyu
Recently, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage held an important progress work meeting on the major project of "Archaeology China" and announced a number of important new discoveries. Among them, the statements such as "detecting more roads and walls on both sides" at the Erlitou site in Yanshi, Henan, seem ordinary, but in fact they are of great significance - these new discoveries further confirm that the earliest dynasty cities in China have used the concept of "gridization" to plan and manage.
"Discover more roads and walls on both sides" means that there may be more than "nine grids" in Erlitou City
"grid-based" management, which is a common word in recent years. For example, there are "grids" in the community, and each "grid" also has grid workers, grid heads, etc.
At the Erlitou site, archaeologists also discovered similar "grid" layout and concepts, and discovered China's earliest "well"-shaped main road system in the central area of the Erlitou site. This kind of road network not only connects traffic, but also divides different functional areas to form a grand pattern of "nine grids".
At the important progress work meeting of the major project " Archaeology China", Zhao Haitao, leader of the Erlitou work team of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, described the new discovery with "discovering more roads and walls on both sides". These statements are actually closely related to the "grid" of the Erlitou site.
Zhao Haitao introduced that since 2021, they have successively excavated many urban roads and rammed earth walls on both sides of the road, and found that the rammed earth wall on the road on the west side of the palace city extends more than 200 meters northward. Based on this, it is speculated that there is at least one partition west of the workshop area, palace area, and sacrificial area.
Photo by Zhang Yixi, the area west of the sacrificial area of Erlitou site/Guangming picture
"This means that there may be more than 'nine grids' in the Erlitou site, but composed of more 'grids'." Zhao Haitao said that Erlitou Metropolis is planned by roads and walls as multiple square and regular functional areas, forming a grand pattern of "multi-net format" and establishing the basic framework of the planning and layout of the Metropolis: the three most important areas, the sacrificial area, the palace area and the official workshop area, happen to be in the middle road, the palace area is in the center, and the important remains are guarded around the palace area. This is completely in line with the characteristics of the capital planning of "a country is established in the world, a palace is established in the country, and a temple is established in the palace." This rigorous and regular planning layout shows that the social structure of Erlitou culture is clear, the hierarchy is obvious, and the ruling pattern is orderly, which is the most important symbol of entering the dynasty country.
In fact, in the history of ancient Chinese capital construction, "grid" planning and design are common. For example, Northern Wei Luoyang City , there are 320 lifangs neatly distributed on both sides of the central axis of the capital; and in Chang'an City of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, East City , West City and 110 lifangs symmetrically distributed on both sides of the central axis. Sui and Tang Dynasties Luoyang City , which is also a basically consistent layout.
At present, many experts believe that Lifang in ancient Chinese capitals and the "grid" of Erlitou Metropolis have a consistent planning and design concept. The "grid" layout of Erlitou City set a precedent for the Lifang system in later generations.
found rich handicraft heritage, filling the gap in Erlitou urban layout and handicraft archaeology
"Determining the production location of handicraft products can not only restore the handicraft production process and technology, but also helps to conduct research on issues such as industrial layout and production organization." Zhao Haitao said that at present, copper casting workshops, bone making workshops, turquoise processing workshops and some pottery kilns have been found in Erlitou site. In recent years, staff have discovered a large number of remains that may be related to lacquerware processing in the northwest of Erlitou site. This area may be an important area for exploring lacquer workshops.
At the same time, in the newly discovered bone and horn tool processing workshop of nearly 100 square meters at the Erlitou site, most of the unearthed pottery pieces belong to the late stage of the Fourth Phase of the Erlitou culture, that is, the latest stage of the Erlitou culture.These remains not only provide valuable physical information for the handicraft archaeological research of Erlitou site, but also help discuss important issues such as the rise and fall of the regime at the latest stage of Erlitou culture.
"Handshop industry is an important foundation for social operation." Zhao Haitao said that Erlitou City has existed for more than 200 years and has a strong economic foundation. In addition to agricultural production, handicraft industry also plays an important role.
research shows that some handicraft product categories may have achieved professional and large-scale production during the Erlitou period. For example, the copper casting workshop and turquoise processing workshop in the Erlitou site have complete facilities, numerous processes and superb technical level. They have been repeatedly used for a long time, indicating that the bronze casting and turquoise production during this period have been professionalized and scaled. Among them, turquoise products from the Erlitou cultural period reached the most prosperous and developed stage in Chinese history.
rammed earth wall ruins photo by Zhang Yixi/Guangming Picture
Zhao Haitao said that after the second phase of Erlitou Culture, copper casting activities began to concentrate on the special copper casting workshop in Weiyuan Workshop. As a high-end and complex handicraft technology, copper casting workshop is located adjacent to the palace city area, which is obviously to facilitate the control and supervision of royal nobles, reflecting the obvious official nature. In addition, the research results show that there are multiple pottery workshops with independent mineral sources in each period of the Erlitou site, which may be small workshop-style production with family or family as the basic unit. This shows that the Erlitou period may have differentiated the two forms of handicraft production organization methods, including independent and dependent forms.
At the same time, a certain form of handicraft product trade may have been born during the Erlitou period. History School of Zhengzhou University Deputy Dean and Professor Gao Xiangping said that the transaction of handicraft products has appeared very early, but it is difficult to determine the scale and form of handicraft trade in the Erlitou period. Some important production categories, such as bronzes, jades, white pottery, etc., should be controlled by nobles or even royal families, and some may be distributed in the form of tribute and rewards; while products such as pottery and stones may be produced and traded by private sources. Some scholars believe that , , had developed trade in the Shang Dynasty, and precious objects, including bronzes, are possible as commodities. Based on this, it is inferred that there was no trade in bronze and its raw materials during the Erlitou period.
"Integration of Residence and Burial" reflects the leading role of Erlitou culture
At the meeting, Zhao Haitao also announced another important discovery - the Erlitou cultural aristocratic settlement area with "Integration of Residence and Burial".
Zhao Haitao introduced that in the grid west of the sacrificial area divided by the "well"-shaped road of the Erlitou site, they found the housing of Erlitou cultural aristocrats and the high-standard tombs in the courtyards, forming a pattern of "integration of residence and burial". Among them, the tomb owners of many tombs showed signs of amputation or beheading. In addition, there is a joint tomb with multiple people buried in mass, which have been rarely discovered in previous archaeological work.
"The layout structure of 'integration of residence and burial' is rare in the Longshan culture of the Central Plains and has been strengthened and improved at this time. Similar discoveries have been found in Yanshi Mall, Zhengzhou Mall, especially the Yin Ruins of Anyang and the Yin people in Zhouyuan, indicating that this system was inherited by Shang Dynasty , reflecting the leading role of Erlitou in the overall process of Chinese civilization." Zhao Haitao said that these discoveries provide important support for understanding the distribution of remains in the area and identifying that the area is for the residence and burial areas of aristocrats, and also provide an important basis for understanding the layout and diachronic changes of the area, and social relations at that time. They are important materials for comprehensively studying the planning ideas, social structure and relationships, etiquette systems, and ruling systems of Xia Dynasty .
"Guangming Daily" (September 22, 2022 Edition 09)
Source: Guangming.com-Guangming Daily
