Fenghuangshan copper mine site

Dagongshan -- Fenghuangshan copper mine site

synonym

Fenghuangshan copper mine site generally refers to dagongshan Fenghuangshan copper mine site

Dagongshan Fenghuangshan copper mine site is located in Nanling County and Tongling City, Anhui Province, Eastern China. It is a copper mine and smelting site from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Song Dynasty (11th century BC to 1279 AD).

Dagongshan Fenghuangshan copper mine site was discovered in 1984, covering an area of about 600 square kilometers. Nearly 100 smelting and mining sites were found in the site area. In the four sites, a number of copper smelting shaft furnaces in the Western Zhou Dynasty and the spring and Autumn period, underground mining fields in the Han and Tang Dynasties, ore roasting kilns and circular copper smelting furnaces in the Tang and Song dynasties were also found.

In November 1996, the dagongshan copper mine site in Nanling County and the adjacent Fenghuangshan copper mine site in Tongling County were approved by the State Council as the fourth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

Historical evolution

Dagongshan copper mine site covers an area of about 400 square kilometers. From the 11th century B.C. to 1279 A.D., the dagongshan copper mine in Nanling lasted for more than 2000 years from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Southern Song Dynasty, with more than 100000 tons of copper mined and smelted, which can be used to make millions of bronzes. Copper was of great strategic significance in the Warring States period. Nanling copper was of high quality and large quantity. According to historical records, after the destruction of Yue State, Chu set up "Lingyang county" in southern Anhui, and the copper produced was known as "Lingyang gold". Since 1984, Nanling County's cultural management department found a large number of pottery pieces on the surface of dagongshan area in the second national cultural relics survey, even in farmers' vegetable fields. It also found a number of suspected man-made tunnels and traces of ancient people's life and barbecue. Nanling County Office of Cultural Administration reported the discovery level by level, which attracted great attention from Wuhu City and Anhui provincial cultural relics department. In 1986, according to the general survey of cultural relics in Nanling County, experts from Anhui Provincial Institute of cultural relics and Archaeology conducted a special investigation and review of these discoveries in Nanling County, and finally determined that it was an ancient copper smelting site buried underground and sleeping for thousands of years.

Since 1987, the cultural relics department of Tongling City, Anhui Province, has carried out rescue excavation of Fenghuangshan copper mine site for many times. Many ancient mining tunnels and a number of mining production tools have been cleared, and many mining and smelting sites have been found nearby.

Site features

Dagongshan copper mine site includes Talimu copper mine site, jiangmuchong smelting site, liujiajing smelting site and botoushan mining site. Talimu site is located in the northwest of Dagong mountain, 18 kilometers away from the county seat. It is separated from another ancient copper mine site, jiangmuchong site. The Talimu site is adjacent to Tongling City in the west, covering an area of 220000 square meters. It is a mining and smelting site from Han Dynasty to Song Dynasty. The jiangmuchong River, which originates from Dagong mountain, flows through the east side of the site, joins the Huanghu River in Fanchang, and flows into the Yangtze River from Digang.

Cultural relics

From October to December 1991, an archaeological team composed of Anhui Provincial Institute of cultural relics and Archaeology and Nanling County Cultural Relics Management Institute excavated the ancient copper deposit in the west of dagongshan District, Nanling County. Five copper smelting furnaces were found in the spring and Autumn period, of which No. 1 furnace had a clear base structure and well preserved hearth, air channel and slag pit. On the west side of the furnace, there is a stone base, 3 meters long and 4 meters wide, which is used to rest and stack copper smelting equipment. In front of the furnace, there is an open area, which is the operation platform of the foreman. Under the operation platform, there is a big slag Pit 3 meters deep, which is used to store copper smelting slag. On the east side of the operating table, a stone mould for casting bronze tools was found, with clear and smooth cavity and obvious gate. A large number of pottery fragments were found in the ash pit on the east side of No.2 furnace. The recognizable shapes of pottery include basin shaped tripod with sand, high foot tripod, double ear jar with printed pottery, high handle pea with clay pottery, primitive celadon bowl and other living utensils of the spring and Autumn period. During the excavation, copper ore, small copper blocks, small lead blocks, small pieces of copper and stone balls, stone mortar, tower shaped copper slag, charcoal and other raw materials, fuels and tools for copper smelting were also found.

A number of important relics, such as steel-making shaft furnaces of Western Zhou Dynasty and spring and Autumn period, ore roasting kilns of Tang and Song Dynasties, circular copper smelting furnaces, underground mining sites of Han and Tang Dynasties, were found in muyushan and jinniudong of Tongling City, jiangmuchong and Talimu of Nanling County, and copper ingots, bronzes, irons and pottery were unearthed.

Cultural relic value

The discovery of dagongshan Fenghuangshan copper mine site is of great academic value. It not only provides important clues and material evidence for finding the famous origin of "Danyang copper" in Chinese history, but also provides rich information for exploring the origin and development of bronze civilization in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, studying the historical progress of mining and metallurgical technology in ancient China, and the social and economic history at that time.

The large-scale development of copper is an important driving force for the rapid development of bronze culture in southern Anhui. Since the 1980s, dozens of copper mining and smelting sites of the Zhou Dynasty have been discovered in Nanling, Tongling, Fanchang and other places with dagongshan and Fenghuangshan as the center. The earliest time can reach the Western Zhou Dynasty. In this area, there are many sites from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the spring and Autumn period. At the same time, this area is also the most densely distributed area of Mound Tombs. The appearance of such a prosperous scene shows that southern Anhui should play an important role in the development of Jiangnan culture in the Zhou Dynasty.

Cultural relics protection

In November 1996, the dagongshan copper mine site in Nanling County and the adjacent Fenghuangshan copper mine site in Tongling County were approved by the State Council as the fourth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

In 2012, in order to strengthen the site protection, Tongling Municipal Bureau of cultural relics commissioned Anhui provincial cultural relics protection center to prepare the overall protection plan of Fenghuangshan copper mine site, and formally applied to the State Bureau of cultural relics for the establishment of the protection plan. In October 2013, the State Administration of cultural relics officially approved the establishment of Fenghuangshan copper mine site protection plan. At the same time, Tongling City commissioned a professional planning unit, together with Anhui Provincial Institute of archaeology, to do a good job in the preparation of Fenghuangshan copper mine site protection planning.

In 2018, Tongling City started the bidding work of the third batch of municipal cultural relics protection monument, boundary pillar production and environmental improvement projects. Planning and compiling projects for cultural relics protection units, historical buildings and industrial heritages. We will promote the preparation of the protection plan for dagongshan Fenghuangshan copper mine site and Fushan cliff carvings, and actively carry out the preparation of the protection plan for historical buildings and industrial heritage in Tongling City.

History and culture

According to historical records, there were many copper producing areas in the Han Dynasty. Compared with 37 salt officials and 48 iron officials set up all over the country, only one bronze official was set up in Danyang at that time. The position of Danyang copper official in the bronze civilization and bronze industry of the Han Dynasty can be seen from this. There is Tongshan in Danyang. "Tongshan is 50 miles southeast of Fanchang County, producing good copper. In ancient times, it was called Danyang copper.". According to historical records and Hanshu, the bronze officials of the Western Han Dynasty were set up at the foot of Tongguan mountain in today's Tongling. The copper mining and smelting sites of the Western Han Dynasty discovered in Fenghuangshan area probably belonged to a regional mining and smelting site under the jurisdiction of the bronze officials at that time. There are also some inscription mirrors engraved with "copper comes out of Danyang". The best copper was in Danyang at that time. Danyang used to be the name of an ancient area, also known as "Danyang county". The West Han Dynasty in Tongling area belongs to "Danyang county". According to today's administrative divisions, its jurisdiction includes the east of Chizhou in Anhui Province, the west of Jurong in Jiangsu Province, the South Bank of the Yangtze River in the north and Anji in Zhejiang Province in the south, roughly including today's Xuancheng area. The copper raw materials produced by ancient copper mines in southern Anhui had three directions: transporting copper raw materials abroad, processing them locally, and casting money near the mining area. According to the published materials such as unearthed bronze mirrors in Lu'an and selected bronze mirrors of Han and Wei dynasties in Wanjiang, Southern Anhui may be a casting center of bronze mirrors in the Warring States period, Han and Wei dynasties.

Address: 006 County Road, Tongling County, Tongling City

Longitude: 118.028411

Latitude: 30.874744

Chinese PinYin : Feng Huang Shan Tong Kuang Yi Zhi