New archaeological finds in Banqiao Town, Jiaozhou City, Shandong Province

      Since the beginning of this September the site of Banqiao Town in Jiaozhou City, Shandong Province has been uncovered by archaeologists. It was composed of three periods of strata: Tang Dynasty, Song Dynasty, and Yuan, Ming, Qing and the Republic of China periods. The excavation of the Song Dynasty strata was almost complete in over one month, which yielded ancient wells, kitchen stove, ash pits and a zoomorphic tile end, etc., affirming that the disclosed architectural complex, with constituent parts that co-relating and correspond to one another, could be the ancient official residence of the Shi-Po-Si (Bureau for Foreign Shipping) of Banqiao Town in Song Dynasty.

      So far the strata of Song Dynasty produced almost one hundred various valuable artifacts successively, among which eight articles including the zoomorphic tile end, the brick with inscriptions, the golden hairpin, the porcelain dish in lotus white, the clump of iron coins, the ceramic ink-slab, the bronze mirror, ceramic and stone spindle wheels are of the great importance for archaeological research. Archaeologists said that these eight artifacts have witnessed the glorious history of the Shi-Po-Si official residence of Banqiao Town, Jiaozhou City in Song Dynasty, and provided important physical materials for future archaeological study of Song Dynasty.

      The achievement of this excavation so far could be the largest archaeological complex with the best-preserved architectural remains of Song Dynasty in Shandong Province, which makes a breakthrough of its sort. The site is a typical microcosm of the Song culture, and therefore supplies valuable archaeological materials for its study.  (Translated by Tong Tao)