Shichengzi ancient city

Shichengzi site

synonym

The ancient city of Shichengzi generally refers to the site of Shichengzi

Shichengzi site is located in the east of magouliang village, banjiegou Town, Qitai County, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, the south of hebayan village and the northwest of magou river.

It is generally believed that it is the former site of shulecheng garrisoned by Geng Gong in the Eastern Han Dynasty

. It was discovered in 1972. Because there are a lot of rocks on the east side of the site, it is called "Shichengzi" by the masses. In 2013, the Shichengzi site was announced as the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council.

In May 2020, it will be selected as the "top ten new archaeological discoveries in China in 2019".

Historical evolution

The site of Shichengzi was first discovered in 1972. The site was investigated in detail during the second national cultural relics survey in 1988 and the third national cultural relics survey in 2009. It was announced as an autonomous regional cultural relics protection unit in 1999 and a national key cultural relics protection unit approved by the State Council in 2013. From 2014 to 2016, the Institute of cultural relics and Archaeology of Xinjiang autonomous region continued to carry out archaeological investigation on the sites, mainly found the city gate, inner city and other relics, and made important achievements. At the same time, advanced technologies such as geomagnetic exploration, RTK, aerial photography and 3D synthesis were used to collect all-round data of the site.

Researchers use carbon 14 to date the unearthed wood and bones, which shows that the age of Shichengzi site is the Han Dynasty

.

According to the requirements of the State Administration of cultural relics, Bufang was excavated in the northwest corner of inner city from May to September 2016, with a total excavation area of 640 square meters. 2 groups and 8 rooms were cleared out. The West Group house site is 22.5 meters long from east to west and 12.4 meters wide from north to south. There are five houses in the structure of inner and outer layers, with the door facing south. In the south is the hall, which is in the shape of East-West long strip. In the Middle East, there are three stone pillars arranged in the north-south direction. The door is located in the middle of the south wall, 190 cm wide. In the north, there are 4 small rooms arranged in east-west direction. The wall is made of adobe with a width of 70 cm and a residual height of 10-130 cm. The wall is plastered with grass and mud, and white ash is applied on it. A layer of red is applied on the door edge, wall corner and anchor line. Most of the gates are located at the east end of the south wall, with a width of 106-123 cm. The residual height of wooden threshold is about 5 cm. The house site is surrounded by roadways, and the width of the roadways is less than 100 cm. There are scattered water in the North Lane; the eastern part of the east group house site has not been excavated, which is 15.4 meters long from east to west and 12.6 meters wide from north to south. There are three rooms, arranged in a north-south direction. The door is on the west wall. The wall is rammed and about 100 cm wide. The wall base is pasted with square bricks and adobe, the upper part is pasted with broken tiles, and the surface is plastered with grass mixed with mud and coated with lime. The northernmost room is paved with blue square bricks. In order to extract data and information to the greatest extent, in addition to the collection of traditional artificial relics, the samples of plant seeds, animal bones and other specimens were also collected; the charcoal, ash and other relics in the ruins were also scientifically sampled, which provided physical data for further scientific excavation and in-depth study of the Shichengzi site.

Site features

Shichengzi city site is high in the north and low in the south. It is built according to the terrain. There are three walls in the north, West and East. The site is approximately rectangular in plane, about 280 meters long from east to west and 380 meters long from north to south, with a total area of about 110000 square meters. There are city walls in the north and West, and deep streams in the East and south. In the northwest corner, an inner city was rebuilt, about 200 meters long from east to west and 100 meters wide from north to south. The city wall was built by hand and rammed. The base of the wall is about 960cm wide and the remaining height is more than 3m. The gate is located in the middle of the west wall, with clear shape. The surface of the city has been destroyed, and the south side has been turned into a large area of cultivated land. The surface is scattered with building materials such as tube tile, plate tile and square brick, and remains such as pottery fragments. The distinguishable utensils are mainly pots, basins, urn, bowl, etc. The wall collapses in the form of soil ridges, with a top width of about 4 meters and a bottom width of more than 10 meters. Among them, the north wall is about 280 meters long and 1.5-2.5 meters high; the remnant of the west wall is 155 meters long and 1-2.5 meters high, and the north section has a slight outward turn; the east wall is poorly preserved and the trace is not obvious, the remnant is 140 meters long and most of the remnant is less than 1 meter high. The walls in the northeast and northwest corners of the site are thick and tall, which may be the remains of turrets; there is a protruding platform in the middle of the north wall, which is about 14.5 meters long, 14 meters wide and 2.5 meters high, which may be the remains of facilities such as horse face.

Han Shule city is located in the southeast of Qitai County, with a straight-line distance of 50 kilometers. It is located in the mountainous area on the north slope of Tianshan Mountain, and belongs to magouliang village, banjiegou town. The site is located on the edge of magou River in Qianshan hilly area. The city site is close to the cliffs in the East, the magou River in the South flows eastward around beizeheigou to xinhuliang, the slope in the north is high in the South and low in the north, and the hills in the West are connected with magou River and Xinhu river. The dangerous terrain is the geographical feature of the city. Because there are exposed rocks in the city, it is commonly known as "Shichengzi".

Cultural relics

There are a large number of collapsed tiles in the house, mixed with a small amount of residual pottery and sporadic square bricks. There are burning traces of burnt soil, carbon particles, ashes and so on under the tiles. It is preliminarily speculated that the house site should be destroyed by fire.

The relics mainly include building materials such as plate tiles, tube tiles and tiles, as well as pottery, copper, stone and bone ware. The majority of building materials, metal rare. The fire of building materials is high and hard. The tile tongue of the tube tile is rotated by the pottery wheel, and the tile body and the tile head are respectively made and then connected. There are rope pattern on the surface of tile, cloth pattern on the inner wall, a small amount of rhombic pattern, and cloud pattern on the surface of tile, which has obvious Chinese style. Pottery is made by turns. Most of them are gray pottery with sand. Most of them are plain and a few are stringed. The shape of utensils mainly includes basin, steamer, bowl, bowl, etc.

History and culture

According to textual research, the biography of Geng Gong in the Han Dynasty records that Geng Gong, a famous general sent to the western regions to guard the border in the Han Dynasty, was stationed in shulecheng and garrisoned his fields to consolidate the border. Gongyi Shule city is surrounded by streams. In May, it is the base of the army. In July, the Xiongnu came back to attack Gong. Gong raised thousands of soldiers to go straight to Gong, and Hu rode away. So the Xiongnu held the river under the city. Gongyu had no water to drink when he was fifteen feet through a well in the city. The officials were thirsty and drank from horse dung. Gong Yang sighed: "I heard that the general of the second division (Li Guangli of the Western Han Dynasty) pulled out his sword to stab the mountain, and the spring gushed out. Today, the gods of the Han Dynasty are not poor." Then he put on his clothes and prayed for the officials. If there is a flash of water, the spring will come out. Long live, everyone. According to the records of the Eastern Han Dynasty, "Gong personally held the cage, so he ordered the officials not to drink. He first mixed with Mudu city and publicized it.". He thought that he was a God, so he led him away. During this time, fan Qiang led 2000 Han soldiers and arrived from the ancient city of Jiaohe, Yuetian mountain. When he heard the sound of soldiers and horses in the city at night, he thought that the prisoners were coming. "I'm a fan of Qiang," he said. The Han Dynasty sent troops to meet the captain. " Long live the city. Open the door and cry together. Tomorrow, we will return together. The soldiers chased after him and fought with him. There were 26 people who died along the way. When they arrived at Yumen in March, only 13 people remained.

According to the records of Han Dynasty, there are streams beside Shule city and wells in the city. It is suitable for farming around the city. The ancient city of Jiaohe is close to the mountain, and some typical Han Dynasty cultural relics, such as rope pattern tile and cloud pattern tile, were unearthed in Shichengzi. For this reason, the historians concluded that Shichengzi was Shule city in Han Dynasty. Shule city is as important as Loulan city. It is the remains of two ancient cities of Han Dynasty in Xinjiang and the sister city of Loulan city.

Shule city is famous in history because Geng Gong and his army made immortal achievements in fighting against Xiongnu. They defeated the enemy's siege for more than seven months with very few troops. The bravery of the officers and men of Han Dynasty and the ferocity of the battle will be remembered by later generations. In the end, it created a miracle in the history of our country that the weak won the strong and the isolated army won. For Shule city in the history of pacifying the western regions to write a heavy color.

Historical data show that Shule city went through the Han, Wei, Jin, Sui and Tang Dynasties. Archeologists have collected a large number of pottery pieces, such as tube tile, plate tile, square brick and sand mixed with lime, which are shaped like pots, pots, urn, bowl, etc., as well as carbon tiger ornaments and complete pottery. All of these objects have a typical Han Dynasty style.

Research value

Shichengzi site is located at the northern foot of Tianshan Mountain, which is the strategic channel for the Central Plains Dynasty to manage the western regions in the Han Dynasty. The excavation of the ancient city can have a clear understanding of the management system, site selection and connotation of the Central Plains Dynasty to manage the western regions. Under the historical background at that time, it is an empirical study of the management of the western regions in the Han Dynasty, with great academic value.

The unearthed relics are similar to the artifacts of the same period in the mainland in terms of production technology and artistic style, and have local characteristics, which is of great significance for understanding the cultural exchanges between China and the west along the silk road.

Honors

In April 2020, it will be shortlisted for the final evaluation of the top ten new archaeological discoveries in China in 2019

.

In May 2020, it will be selected as the "top ten new archaeological discoveries in China in 2019".

Address: about 1 km northeast of magouliang village, banjiegou Township, Qitai County, Changji Prefecture

Longitude: 89.744987487793

Latitude: 43.672698974609

Chinese PinYin : Shi Cheng Zi Gu Cheng