Excavation report of Shierqiao site, Chengdu

Compiled by Sichuan Provincial institute of Archaeology and cultural heritage
                    Chengdu Municipal institute of Archaeology and Cultural heritage

Abstract:

 The site of Shierqiao is situated on the northwestern side of the Shierqiao sector of Chengdu. It is estimated that the site covers a zone of roughly 142 m long and 133 m wide from North to South with a total area of over 15000 m2. The site was discovered during construction work in December of 1985 and the excavation of the site ran from 1985 until 1988 covering a total of 1800 m2. Roughly 4 m of cultural deposit were uncovered and these were divided into 13 cultural levels. The bulk of the remains concern the Shang and Zhou period, however the site also contains remains from the Warring States period Qin, Han, Sui and Tang periods.
 Cultural levels 10 – 13 represent the Shang and Zhou components of the site. The unearthed remains include pottery, stone tools, and bronze pieces as well as worked bone. Judging from the ceramic chronology it is possible to divide these remains into two different phases: one early and one late period. Layers 13 and 12 represent the early components, whereas layers 11 and 10 represent the later layers of this phase. This earliest period correspond roughly to the third and forth periods of Yinxu, whereas the latter corresponds to the Early Western Zhou. The pottery unearthed from these earliest layers of the site can clearly be divided into types A and B. Group A is mostly composed of small flat bottomed guan, high handled dou, he, ping, hu, bird shaped spoon / handles, zun shaped pieces, gu, fine handled vessels etc. Group B is mostly composed of vessels which have a pointed bottom as a feature such as cups (jiandibei), zhan, guan as well as trumpet shaped guan, high necked guan, pen basins, bo bowls, mianwen guan, wide bellied guan, footed guan, as well as gui shaped vessels. Vessels of group A are well known from the site of Sanxingdui, however those of group B are not found in the site of Sanxingdui and hence constitute a major point of difference between the two sites. The pointed vessels unearthed in the forth period of the site of Sanxingdui are typical of the site of Shierqiao and correspond to the early levels of the site of Shierqiao. In what concerns the new kinds of cultural remains found at the site of Shierqiao, it is clear that these are representative of the new cultural phase of the Chengdu plain. These remains were termed Shierqiao cultural remains after their type site. The earliest period of the Shierqiao site is representative of a transitional period between Shierqiao and Sanxingdui. The pottery typical of the later period of the site developed out of the B group remains and thus its cultural type is closest to that of Shierqiao. Pottery containing elements of the Sanxingdui period became slowly eliminated around this period of time and despite the fact that small amount of pottery containing Sanxingdui influence were unearthed, it is not impossible that the pottery unearthed in these layers are in fact representative of earlier cultural remains which had been transmitted.
 The most important discovery in these earliest phases of the site is without a doubt the remains of a wooden construction. These remains of this collapsed structure were discovered in layer 13 of the site and it is possible that this structure was destroyed during a flood. Its total surface area covers 1300 m2 and is composed of foundations of orderly wooden beams, walls of woven bamboo, and roof composed of layers of grass as well as large amounts of rounded wooden components. The recording of these remains has allowed us to accurately reconstruct the original architecture of this construction.
 Layers 5 – 9 of the site contain remains ranging from the Warring States to the Qin / Han period including house remains, wells and ash pits. Unearthed cultural remains were dominated by pottery and on the basis of their distribution one can divide these phases into early, middle, and late phases: level 9 corresponds to the early phase, level 8 to the middle phase and levels 7 – 5 as well as structures J3, J6, J7 and J8 to the later phase. From the degree of change manifested in the cultural material one can see that the early and middle phase share some similarities which indicates that these two cultures were not separated by a long temporal gap, however the difference between the remains of the middle and the late phase are considerable indicating that there was a lack of continuity between these two phases.
 Layers 3 and 4 contain remains from the Sui and Tang dynasties including: ash pits, wells and workshops. The cultural remains uncovered consist mainly of porcelain, followed by more coarse pottery, slightly concave tiles and barrel tiles as well kiln remains. According to the porcelain unearthed in each of the levels as well as the characteristics of the pottery one can further divide this period into two different phases: early and late which covers the period ranging from the Sui to the late Tang. It is likely that the remains from this site are closely associated with those of the kiln site of the Qingyang temple.