Archaeologists confirmed Monday that they have found the site of
ancient kilns used to produce the famous Tang trio-color ceramics.
The discovery was announced after days of work at Gongyi city,
central China's Henan
Province, where 12 ancient kilns have been unearthed.
Baking of Tang trio-color pottery, or Tang San Cai in
Chinese, is a famous technique for glazing ceramics with three
colors -- yellow, green and white or very occasionally blue. It
came into being in the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) and flourished
in the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
Among the excavated kilns, which were laid out in an orderly
pattern, two date back to the Han Dynasty, six belong to the Tang
Dynasty and four can be traced back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279).
About 1,500 bags of porcelain fragments and pottery have been
found, including over 800 undamaged or reconstructable objects.
The unearthed items and tools needed for porcelain production offer
substantial proof of the advanced expertise in the craft of that
time, said Xun Xinmin, chief of Henan Archaeology Research
Institute. The discovery would help research in topics such as kiln
construction, pottery production techniques and the disposition of
workshops, he said.
Judging from the relics, archaeologists have confirmed that the
trio-color glaze technique reached its apex during the Tang
Dynasty.
Archaeologist also found evidence to indicate the Tang San
Cai industry declined in the Song Dynasty until the kilns fell
into disuse.
(Xinhua News Agency March 5, 2003)