Archaeologists have taken two years to excavate a buried town dating back to the Tang and Song dynasties (618-1279) in Fuping County of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province.
The excavation helped show that the Yiting Town was a trade hub during the Kaiyuan reign (713-741) of Emperor Li Longji in the Tang Dynasty. It is so far the country’s only well-preserved county seat of the Tang Dynasty.
It was the second excavation after the first phase ended in 2012. Archaeologists with the Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology have cleared an area of 1,400 square meters in total.
Wang Xiaomeng, a researcher of the academy, said that the excavated stratums could date to four different periods from the Tang Dynasty to modern times.
Dense ash pits were found in Tang Dynasty layer, together with a large amount of sintering soil pieces, which suggest the town had built a thriving handicraft production for pottery, tiles and bone tools.
In the Song Dynasty layer, archaeologists found famous Yaozhou porcelain objects and pottery, indicating the booming business and prosperity of the ancient trade hub that lasted 600 years.(UNI)