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The Xia Dynasty Travel Episode IV The Guchengzhai Site in Xinmi: Thousand-Year-Old City Wall Still Stands
Source：dahe.cn
Published：2021-09-16 15:29
The Xia Dynasty Travel Episode IV
The Guchengzhai Site in Xinmi: Thousand-Year-Old City Wall Still Stands
追寻夏的轨迹④丨新密古城寨城址：历经千年城墙犹在
After setting off from Zhengzhou city of Henan province, we drove south along the Daxue Road to visit the Guchengzhai Site in Xinmi, a county-level city of Zhengzhou. About one hour later, we reached our destination. To our surprise, the field is normal. Soon, however, we found the city wall built with yellow soil, not far from us. Thousands of years of erosion by wind and rain did not pull it down. The city wall stands there, as if telling the prosperous and glorious stories of this area in history.
从郑州出发，顺着大学路一路向南，1小时左右，就抵达了新密古城寨城址。导航提示已抵达目的地，举目四望，风吹豆苗，一片静寂，和普通的田野并无差别。不过，很快，我们就发现，不远处横亘着一周土黄色的老城墙。历经几千年的风雨剥蚀，沧桑更迭，古城寨老城墙却依然巍峨矗立，雄风犹在，似乎就是为了证明这里曾经的繁荣和辉煌。
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Did the mysterious power built the city overnight?
城墙今犹在“一夜鬼修城”？
Hindered by a river, we could not reach the wall. A local villager who was fishing there told us that the city wall has three sections with a moat. "I can't say how old this wall is, but it's been used all the time. In times of war, it would become a fortress to resist invaders." As the origin of the wall is unclear, there has been a legend that "some mysterious power built the city overnight", but it should be a wild guess since apparently there is no scientific basis, said him. Perhaps ancient people built such a high wall for military needs.
奔着城墙而去，不料却被一条小河挡住了去路。一位正在钓鱼的村民告诉我们，这个城墙分三面，墙下还有护城河。“我也说不清楚这个古城墙究竟有多少年了，但这个城墙一直在利用，每逢乱局，这里就是个堡垒，令攻击者望城兴叹”。他说，因为说不清楚城墙的来源，当地曾广为流传着“一夜鬼修城”的神秘传说，但显然没有科学依据，应该是没有人说不清城址来源，才胡乱猜测的。古人修建这么高大的城墙，想必是为了军事需要吧。
The north gate of the Guchengzhai Site. [Photo/Henan Daily App]
The local villager's saying is simple, but conforms to the archaeological findings in recent years. It has been confirmed that the site was an ancient capital city with a complete military defense system.
村民的分析虽然朴素，却与近年来的考古发掘相吻合。目前已经确认，该遗址是带有都邑性质的古城址，的确有着完备的军事防备体系。
According to the report on the excavation of the Guchengzhai Site released in 2002, the site covers an area of 176,500 square meters with the discovery of three sections of city wall, rammed-earth building and corridor foundations, ash pits, tombs, foundation pits, etc. The rammed-earth building foundations should be built for the palace buildings. With a high city wall and a deep moat, it was carefully and intentionally designed and built with insular and military characteristics, showing the complete dual defense system in the the city-building history of ancient China.
在2002年刊发的“河南新密市古城寨龙山文化城址发掘简报”中，有这样的描述：古城寨城址总面积17.65万平方米。主要发现有城墙、夯土建筑基址和廊庑基址、灰坑、翁棺葬、奠基坑等。夯土建筑基址当为宫殿建筑。其高墙深池，显示了封闭性和军事色彩，是经过统一规划和精心设计的，显示了我国古代筑城史中完备的双重防御体系。
Who was the owner?
城是谁的城，国又是谁的国？
City wall with moat is a sign of civilization, meaning that the Guchengzhai Site could be an ancient country since the palace buildings were also discovered there.
从这份发掘简报中还可以看出，古城还发现了宫殿式建筑。城池是文明产生的标志之一，这意味着，当城内出现宫殿式建筑，它就有可能就是一个古国。
Remote sensing image of the Guchengzhai Site. [Photo/Henan Daily App]
Who was the owner of such a large and magnificent country? Which country was it? There has been many speculation. For example, it was the Kuai State destroyed in 767 BC, or buit by Zhurong (China's god of fire) or the Yellow Emperor (the legendary ancestor of the Chinese nation). In the 1980s, the site was named as the Ancient City of the Kuai State. However, later excavations suggest that the site is even older than the Kuai State. The remains discovered there are mainly of the Longshan Culture (around 2500 BC-2000 BC). Some experts speculated that the Guchengzhai Site was used to be the Xuanyuan Hill, the birthplace of and the capital city built by the Yellow Emperor. Others raised different opinions that as is generally believed, the Yellow Emperor was living in the Miaodigou Culture (around 5,500 years ago), so the Guchengzhai Site cannot be proved as the Xuanyuan Hill.
那么，这个规模宏大、城墙高大、气势雄伟的古国，究竟是什么国？主人又是谁？郐国、祝融、黄帝都曾被一一猜想。上个世纪八十年代，这里曾被命名为郐国故城。通过后来持续的考古调查，又发现这个城址的年代应该比郐国故城更早。该城址各种文化错综复杂，但仍是以龙山文化遗存为主。也有专家提出新密古城寨遗址可能是黄帝古都轩辕丘的论断。但反对者认为，黄帝更多被学界认为是在仰韶文化的庙底沟时期，古城寨遗址是黄帝古都轩辕丘的说法不成立。
With meat to eat and wine to drink, ancient people's good life
古人“有酒有肉”的好日子
Although it still exists disputes about the issues mentioned above, the consensus is that the Guchengzhai Site was used to be a capital city, in other words, a large first-tier city at that time. So what kind of life did the people live?
无论是哪个王、谁的城，虽然争论不休，但目前形成共识的是，这个古城有都邑性质。换句话说，这里是当时的“一线”大城市。那么，当时的人们是一种什么样的生活场景？
Large foundations discovered at the Guchengzhai Site. [Photo/Henan Daily App]
Archaeologists reconstructed their lives for us. The remains related to the processing of stones, jades, bones and clams indicate that there was a certain division of labor in handicraft industry at that time. The discovery of a large number of wine vessels proves that there was surplus grain for brewing, while that of bones of cattle, pigs and sheep shows that agriculture was developing rapidly and livestock raising was common. That suggests the people at that time already had a good life with meat to eat and wine to drink.
考古学家为我们还原出了当时的社会场景。从出土器物的特征来看，当时各种石、玉、骨、蚌的加工制作、说明各种手工业分工精细。大量酒器的出现，说明粮食已有剩余，可以用来酿酒。牛、猪、羊骨骼的发现，说明农业已经有很快的发展，家畜饲养较为普遍。可见，当时的人们已经过上了“有酒有肉”的好日子。
At the Guchengzhai Site also discovered various sacrificial remains, meaning that with ritual activities prevailed at that time, the people exclusively engaged in religious activities were already existed. It seems to be a slavery "dynasty" appeared in the later days.
同时，遗址内占卜、玉环和奠基坑的发现，说明当时已经有宗教活动的神职人员，祭祀活动盛行。这似乎是奴隶制“王朝”鲜明丰富的物化载体。
Dog skeleton in a pit. [Photo/Henan Daily App]
According to Zhang Xiaohu, who heads the excavations at the Guchengzhai Site, the site is one of the most important places in the Central Plains for the study of the Xia Dynasty, and various remains have proved that close to the core area where the Xia people lived, the site is one of the important symbols separating the culture of the Xia Dynasty form the culture of the late Neolithic Age. Particularly, the source of the rammed-earth foundations for palace buildings at the Erlitou Site has been found with the discovery of the city wall and the large rammed-earth building foundations (for palace buildings) at the Guchengzhai Site, a precedent for the layout of the palace buildings of the Shang Dynasty (1600 BC-1046 BC) which were located in Northeast Zhengzhou at that time. Besides, the Guchengzhai Site has unveiled the characteristics of the civilizations of both the Xia and the Shang dynasties, becoming an important evidence to study the formation of ancient Chinese civilization and the emergence of the state. This is the significance of the excavation. The Guchengzhai Site was included on the list of China's top 10 archaeological finds of 2020.
新密古城寨城址考古发掘负责人张小虎认为，新密古城寨是中原地区夏文化探讨最重要的对象之一，种种迹象表明，古城寨地近夏人活动的中心地区，是新石器时代晚期文化与夏文化分界的重要标志之一。特别是城垣与大型建筑（宫庙）基址的发现，为二里头文化宫殿基址找到了源头，也为郑州商代宫殿基址坐落城东北部的布局开了先河。揭示了夏商文明的基本特征，成为研究我国古代文明形成、国家产生的重要佐证。发掘古城寨的意义也正在于此，2000年，“河南省新密市古城寨龙山时代古城”籍此入选中国十大考古新发现。
Corridor foundations discovered at the Guchengzhai Site. [Photo/Henan Daily App]
At the end of the interview, we were informed that a new round of excavation would be launched soon. It is hard to predict what grand history will be "pieced" together with the new piece of pottery fragment discovered by our archaeologists. Let's wait for it.
此行，我们是来寻找“夏的轨迹”的，似乎触摸到了蛛丝马迹，又似乎仍很神秘模糊。因为每一项考古发现的密码破解，要形成共识，都需要经过严谨而漫长的研究。采访结束，我们被告知，古城寨城址马上要启动新一轮的发掘。难以预料，考古调查人员下一块捡拾的陶片，又将拼接起怎样宏伟的历史？我们静静期待。（中文来源/河南日报客户端 记者/刘春香 翻译/赵汉青 视频/实习生王君艺 审校/李文竞）
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Editor：Zhao Hanqing