According to the latest reports from the Zhougong Temple
archeological team, they are busy piecing together the more than
700 fragments of oracle bones and inscribed tortoiseshell that have
been recovered from the site.
The temple is located at the foot of Mount Fenghuang, in Qishan
County of northwest China's Shaanxi
Province. It was built in AD 618 to commemorate Zhougong, a
lord of the Western Zhou Dynasty (c.1100-771 BC). The tombs found
there are the richest of the dynasty so far discovered, and there
has been speculation that they may be royal.
The Western Zhou is the only dynasty whose royal tombs have not
been located, and since work on the Zhougong tombs began in
October, they have attracted a lot of attention.
Zhougong's actual name was Ji Dan, and he was the fourth son of
King Wenwang and a brother of King Wuwang. He helped Wuwang
overthrow the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BC) and acted as regent for
seven years before returning power to King Chengwang.
Xu Tianjin, a professor from Peking University's Department of
Archaeology, said that excavation of tomb No.18 had been halted due
to cold weather, but will begin again in March. It is hoped that it
will reveal more about the true nature of the site's history.
Now their main work involves reassembling bone and tortoiseshell
fragments, hundreds of which have been unearthed but, unlike those
from the Yinxu Ruins, almost none of which are complete. Once they
are pieced together, the inscriptions may divulge more detailed
information.
Altogether more than 760 fragments from over twenty porcelain
items had been concealed in tomb No.32, a huge amount that is hoped
to give a rare insight into the era. Since porcelain ware is
unusual in Western Zhou tombs, they are seen by experts as
significant as bronze ware would be from other sites.
There is still disagreement about whether the porcelain
artifacts were actually made in northern China or transported from
the south. Xu believes they could prove that people in the north
were capable of producing porcelain ware, because the yellow and
green glazed items found have seldom been seen in contemporaneous
southern sites.
(China.org.cn by Chen Lin, February 1, 2005)
