Summary: In December 2011, due to the implementation of the Project for the S106 Provincial Road’s Route Changing and the Comprehensive Development of the Northeast District, Fuping County, the People’s Government of Fuping County, Shaanxi Province applied to the

In December 2011, due to the implementation of the Project for the S106 Provincial Road’s Route Changing and the Comprehensive Development of the Northeast District, Fuping County, the People’s Government of Fuping County, Shaanxi Province applied to the Shaanxi Province Administration of Cultural Heritage for the Project’s cultural relic investigation according to the Cultural Relics Protection Law. Being approved by the Province Administration, the Shaanxi Province Cultural Relic Exploration Co. Ltd, together with cultural relics departments of Weinan City and Fuping County, were decided to conduct the cultural relics investigation for the Project, and they would present their results of investigation into report for the Province Administration.

On the 6^th February 2012, the Province Administration of Cultural Heritage assigned the Shaanxi Province Cultural Relic Exploration Co. Ltd to take up the cultural relics investigation and exploration tasks of the Project. With the supports from local city and county’s cultural relics departments, as well as the Taoyi Village, the Company conducted the Project’s comprehensive investigation and exploration of the cultural relics from the 6^th February 2012 to the 10^th December 2013; and it entrusted the Scientific Archaeology Group of Yingou Sites, Fuping County, which was led and established by Zhejiang University in May 2015, to conduct scientific analysis and research on the production’s site and period.

On the 17^th March 2016, the Province Administration of Cultural Heritage organised the Reporting Conference of the Archaeological Exploration and Excavation at the Yingou Sites, Fuping County, in which experts from the Research Group composed by Zhejiang University, National Light Industry Porcelains Products Quality Testing Centre, Shanghai Museum, the Scientific Archaeology Centre of Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Science, and the Jingdezhen Institute of Inspection and Quarantine Science and Technology, Jiangxi Province, released the preliminary outcomes of the scientific archaeology at the Yingou Site. The Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology then reported the future excavation plan of the Site.

 

The Outcomes of the Cultural Relic Investigation of Yingou Site

The Yingou Site locates at the Yingou Village, Huazhu Township (now Huazhu District), Fuping County, lying at the second terrace on the northern side of Wenquan River. Its north part goes as far as the Yang River, while southeast part to Wenquan River. The Site’s overall terrain slopes down from the Northwest to the Southeast in a shape of stairs with its central terrain a little bit higher than the average. The Yingou Gully crosses the central area from the South to the North, and the S106 Provincial Road goes across the same part from the northeast to the southwest. The main landscape of the Site includes agricultural field, village, and roads.

A great number of relics of ancient kilns, wells, and ash pits have been discovered on both the east and west precipices of the Yingou Gully. With the discovery of the cultural layer which was as thick as 0.7 metre on the terrace’s field ridges on both sides of the Gully, huge amount of porcelains and pottery remains and architectural materials such as ancient bricks and tiles were found remaining on the ground. During the Third National Survey on Cultural Relics in 2008, the Yingou Site was considered as “unmovable site of cultural relics”; in October 2011, the People’s Government of Fuping County announced the Yingou Site to be the fourth instalments of cultural relics at the county level.

To figure out the comprehensive distribution area of the Yingou Site in the purpose of the Project for the S106 Provincial Road’s Route Changing and the Comprehensive Development of the Northeast District, Fuping County, the Shaanxi Province Cultural Relic Exploration Co. Ltd has made detailed working plans, full preparations and consulted numerous literature archives. By integrating fieldwork materials from interviews with local people, the Company has conducted elaborate on-the-spot exploration in an extended 2 kilometres area that was bounded by Chenjiadian, Huazhu District to the south, Gouyu Villiange, Xijian Village, and Jiubeishe Village, which were to the north of the Yisang Road, to the north, Huayou Road to the west, and Guoyao Village (S106 Provincial Road’s changing route) to the east. Eventually, the distribution of the Site was depicted through the observation of the the relics on the cliffs and ground ridges, and the layers’ accumulation conditions.

After detailed and considerate investigation, the Yingou Village was defined as the central area of the Site’s distribution, which from the south to the north reached a distance of 350 metres, while from the east to the west 450 metres, covering an approximately 16 square kilometres region. Within the central area, the accumulation of remains, relics and cultural layers were extremely rich. The relics were highly observable in the central area, and decreased gradually in line with the distance. To the 100 metres of the east of Guoyao Village, the southwest of the Jiubeishe Village, and the west of Xijian village, as well as outside the 200 metres of the southeast of Gouyu Village, the east of Huazhu Village, and the northeast of Chenjiadian Village, relics of kilns, wells and ash pits could be seen, with porcelains and pottery remains on the ground surface. According to the distribution of these relics and remains, it could be concluded that the Yingou Site contained an area which went east to the east of Guoyao Village and the southwest of Jiubei Village, north to the north of Xijian Village, west to Gouyu Village and Huadong Village, south to the south of Chenjiadian Village and Yingou Village.

During the investigation of the cultural relics, 980 pieces of porcelain, pottery, stone and other species were gathered and collected, among which 863 were porcelains, 21 were potteries, 15 were stones, 18 were construction materials, and 63 were other species.

Among the total 863 pieces of porcelain, there were 648 pieces of celadon, 87 pieces of white porcelain, 66 pieces of black porcelain, 19 pieces of tea-dust glaze porcelain, 5 pieces of light yellow porcelain, 9 pieces of caramel porcelain, 2 pieces of grey porcelain, 2 pieces of colourful porcelain, and 25 pieces of unglazed porcelain.

The total 20 pieces of pottery include 1 disk, 3 bowls, 3 tubs, 1 amphora, 1 earthen bowl, 1 clapboard, 2 crucibles, 4 inkstones, 2 molds, 1 lotus seat, and 1 bell.

As for the stone-made materials, 1 of them was a stone brick, 1 a stone ball, 1 a stone inkstone, 1 a stone roller, 6 stone pestles, 4 stone mortars, and 1 tub.

The 18 construction materials were 5 pieces of bricks and 13 pieces of tiles

 

The Outcomes of the Cultural Relic Exploration of Yingou Site

To confirm the specific area of the Yingou Site, its type, and distribution, the Shaanxi Province Cultural Relic Exploration Co. Ltd has organised comprehensive exploration work on the cultural relics within the Site for two times.

The first phase of the exploration ranged from the 6^th February 2012 to 20^th December 2013. The exploration area reached 157,500 square metres, covering an area which went to as west as Jinshan Avenue, as east as Huancheng East Road, as south as Huaide Avenue, and as north as 500 metres north to the Huazhu Crematorium, all in the Huazhu District. The coverage of this exploration mainly focused on the Yingou Site Protection Area’s central area. Ancient kilns, ramparts’ remnants, and a number of ash pits, ancient wells, and remains of roads were discovered. The second phase of the exploration started from 15^th September 2012 to 20^th December 2013. It expanded the detecting area from the central area to 2,137,103.84 square metres, discovering numerous ancient kilns, relics of buildings, city walls, roads, ancient wells, ash pits, mines and cemeteries.

Through the two phases of exploration, a variety of cultural relics and their preservation conditions were verified, and the specific attribution of the Site, was cleared as well, involving Yingou Village, Guoyao Village, Jiubeishe Village, Xijian Village, Gouyu Village, Huadong Village, the Funeral Management Office, Huazhu Factory of Colour Steel and Tiles, and Huazhu Factory of Bricks, etc. Its southwest corner was Chenjia Village (GPS coordinate N34°47′01.67″, E109°11′59.95″, H465m), southeast corner the south part of Guoyao Village (GPS coordinate N34°47′20.87″, E109°12′43.15″, H467m), northeast corner Jiubeishe Village (GPS coordinate N34°48′02.37″, E109°12′21.46″, H484m), northwest corner Gouyu Village (GPS coordinate N34°47′56.86″, E109°11′42.63″, H489m). The Site occupied an area around 2.3 square kilometres, with a 1600 metres’ distance from its east end to west end, while a 1800 metres’ one from the south end to the north end.

1910 remnants were discovered during the two phases of explorations, among which 318 were kilns, 832 ash pits, 234 remains of mining materials, 145 ancient wells, 2 rammed earth city wall foundations, 8 houses, 10 roads, 12 entrenchments, 112 tombs, and 229 earth pits.

Among the 318 kilns, there were 289 in round shape, 17 in ellipse, 6 in semicircle, and 6 in shape of a hoof.

The total 832 ash pits included 39 round ones, 420 ellipse ones, 115 strip ones, and 258 in irregular shapes.

Among the 234 remains of mining materials, 144 green ones, 33 red ones, 54 yellowish-green ones, 2 white ones, and 1 black one were found.

The 145 wells had 129 ones in shape of round, while 16 in ellipse.

The 2 rammed earth city wall were distributed in a shape of “┻”, with a ruined east-west part with a length of 340 metres, while the width of which were between 6 to 10 metres from the south to the north. The rammed earth had a depth between 1 to 2 metres to the ground, and a width of 1 metre. The width of the single rammed level ranged from 0.08 to 0.1 metre. Inside the rammed earth found tiles fragments, pottery fragments, ash of grass and wood, and charcoal particles; the remained south-north city wall remnant was as long as 164 metres, and as wide as 6 to 8 metres. Its rammed earth also had a depth between 1 to 2 metres to the ground, and a width between 0.8 to 1 metre. The width of the single rammed level, too, ranged from 0.08 to 0.1 metre. Similarly, tiles fragments, pottery fragments, ash of grass and wood, and charcoal particles were discovered.

Among the 8 building ruins, 6 of them were in shapes of rectangle, 1 in strip, and 1 in trapezoid.

As for the 112 tombs, there were 88 ancient tombs and 24 modern ones. Most of the ancient tombs could be dated to Han and Tang Dynasty, among which 40 were catacombs, 18 square combs with a single passage, 8 vertical shaft tombs, 2 tombs with domatic tomb passage, and 20 extended vertical shaft tombs.

The results of the cultural relics exploration confirmed that the Yingou Site covered an area of 2.3 square kilometres. Within the sites remained the ruin of the ancient city, ancient kilns, ancient cemeteries. Besides, a large number of porcelain fragments of the Tang Dynasty, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and the Song Dynasty, as well as remains of construction material like bricks and tiles of the Tang Dynasty were discovered on and underneath the ground.

To make sure the historical and cultural value of the Yingou Site, the Shaanxi Province Cultural Relic Exploration Co. Ltd, together with the Centre for Cultural Relics Preservation and Identification of Zhejiang University, the National Light Industry Porcelains Products Quality Testing Centre, and other higher education and research institutes, employed scientific archaeological methods to test on the porcelain species and to conduct porcelain industrial studies of the Yingou Site. In addition, scientific measures were adopted to confirm the porcelain species’ site and period. Some great progresses have been made until now.

After the investigation and exploration on the cultural relics of Yingou Site, Fuping, the Shaanxi Province Cultural Relic Exploration Co. Ltd edited the outcomes into volumes, which was published by Sanqin Press as Investigations and Explorations of Yingou Site, Fuping County.

 

The Scientific Archaeological Methods Used in Yingou Site

It is difficult to conduct further field archaeological work at the Yingou Site, Fuping County, due to its age-old remains, and complicated and damaged stratums. Therefore, scientific archaeological methods were employed for studies and identifications of the relics, remains and remnants.

In May 2015, the Shaanxi Province Cultural Relic Exploration Co. Ltd assigned Zhejiang University to invite Professor Shaohua Zhou from Zhejiang University, Professor Chuan Li from the National Light Industry Porcelains Products Quality Testing Centre, Researcher Junding Xia from the Shanghai Museum, Researcher Qinghui Li and Dr. Song Liu from the Scientific Archaeology Centre of Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Science, and Director Wenzan Yuan and Tao Fang from the Jingdezhen Institute of Inspection and Quarantine Science and Technolog, to establish the Yingou Site, Fuping Scientific Archaeology Group, whose responsibility was to scientifically analyse and research on the excavated objects’ site and period.

All species analysed by the Group were provided by the Shaanxi Province Cultural Relic Exploration Co. Ltd in line with the materials from the Investigations and Explorations of Yingou Site, Fuping County (2012-2013) and from field archaeological investigations and collections. The group selected over 170 pieces of species from the excavated objects from Yingou as research objects and processed the early analysis on material samples extracted from the archaeological investigations.

The main significance of the research included: scientifically and reasonably confirmed and positioned the Yingou Site’s cultural essence and period; discussed the relationship between the Yingou Site and the Dingzhou Kiln (鼎州窑) recorded by written materials in the Tang Dynastry, with the hope to reveal the truth of the Dingzhou Kiln lasted for thousands of years; discussed the relationship between the Yingou Site and Chai Kiln (柴窑) recorded by historical literature, possibly to decode the mystery of the Chai Kiln haunting the Chinese archaeological world; solving the problems of Dingzhou Kiln and Chai Kiln would be the landmark event of the Chinese porcelain history, through which not only the current history of the Chinese porcelain might need to be rewritten, but also the status and effects of the Shaanxi Porcelains would be improved in the Chinese porcelain history; the research would further provide scientific evidence for local cultural relics’ scientific preservation and effective usage and for the exploration of the possibility of the transportation of porcelains via the “silk road” in the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.

The main content of the research contained: the re-study on the literature material of Fuping area’s historical trajectory; the research of the Dingzhou Kiln of the Tang Dynasty and the Chai Kiln in ancient literature records; the archaeological, craft and technological, material science research on the excavated objects from the Yingou Site and the identification research on their site and period; the function of the objects (including living and social perspectives) and their cultural connotations; the historical position and significance in the Chinese porcelain history of the Yingou Kiln, Fuping County.

The technological difficulties included: due to the unique feature of the Yingou Site, probing into the relationship between the Site and the Dingzhou Kiln of the Tang Dynasty, as well as between the Site and the the Chai Kiln of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, were simultaneously the point of complication and innovation. Once the Site is regarded as the Tang Dingzhou Kiln and the Chai Kiln of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the unsolved mystery for over a thousand years in the history of the Chinese ancient porcelain research will be revealed, which will mark a landscape in the history. Hence, the Site will highly possible to be included as a State-level Key Protected Object, changing the current porcelain history of China: the research of Yingou Kiln would absolutely improve the historical status and significance of the Shaanxi porcelains in the developmental history of Chinese Porcelains.

To compensate the lack for materials of the field archaeology, this research employed the methods of scientific archaeology to confirm the essence of the Yingou Site. This was a new attempt in modern archaeological methods, and its maturation during the development of archaeology has leveraged the traditional archaeology to a new level. Modern archaeology is no longer a process which consists of the addition of literature archaeology and field archaeology. It further should include the process of scientific archaeology.

The theories, methods, and measures of scientific archaeology must be reliable, advanced, and scientific; which requires a set of utmost progressive theories and methods, modernised devices and equipment, and experienced professional talents. Theories, methods, equipment, and professions are all indispensable for this research. Therefore, all scientific experiments of the research were carried out by the Research Centre of Cultural Relics Materials of Zhejiang University, the Scientific Archaeology Centre of Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Science, the Scientific Archaeology Centre of the Shanghai Museum, and the National Light Industry Porcelains Products Quality Testing Centre.

For the first time, this research adopted the theories and methods of scientific archaeology, employing the most progressive investigation methods worldwide to date the site and period of the objects. A. Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) (for the chemical components of the glaze-body). B. confocal laser Raman spectrometer (LRS) (for the analysis of the material structure). C. Keyence Machine Vision Inspecting System CV-3500 with 25 to 500 times continuing adjustment (for microstructural analysis of the glaze-body). D. optical coherence tomography (OCT) (for the image analysis of the glaze layer’s 2D and the fraction’s 3D structures). E. TL – used the RISOTL/OSLREADERMODELDA-20 detector produced by the Risø DTU National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy (thermoluminescent dating technology).

Using the principles of material science and craft technology to conduct research on unearthed remains from the Site would help solve the originating problem of these porcelain species, while the principle of the thermoluminescent dating technology would date the species’ period.

A comprehensive research was carried out via three methods by the research group. First, they thoroughly made understandable the historical changing trajectory, belonging, and area of the Yingou Site via literature review. Second, the excavated objects were classified and compared, and some representative object species were further categorised to confirm its essential function; meanwhile, through physical, chemical, and material test and analysis on certain typical objects, their origin was scientifically studied, while through the thermoluminescent dating technology, their period were confirmed. Third, on-spot investigations that focused on sampling and analysing the mining materials surrounding the Site were included, which mainly emphasised the field investigations and confirmations on the porcelain kilns, using the principles of craft technology to study the glaze-body’s components and kiln technology of the porcelain species unearthed from the Site.

 

The Outcomes of the Scientific Archaeology at the Yingou Site

According to the result of the thermoluminescent dating test on typical species exploited from the Site, it could be concluded that the Yingou Site was a significant remnant of porcelain-made kiln factory from the mid-to-late Tang Dynasty to the Northern Song Dynasty. The experiments showed that the species of the bluish white porcelain with yellow earth-made foundation could be dated to the Five Dynasty and Ten Kingdoms period and the early Northern Song Dynasty. The species of the celadon bowl with pattern in lines and lotus feet were dated from the late Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. There was one piece of species, a bowl with folding fan patterns and engraved foundation, which was in the same style with the celadon made by Yaozhou Kiln. It was a work made between the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period to the early Northern Song Dynasty. And the two fine-made transparent species of the bluish white porcelain were dated from the early to middle of the Song Dynasty. Therefore, the porcelain species excavated from the Yingou Site shared the cultural features of the late Tang Dynasty – early Northern Song Dynasty period.

The field investigation on the raw materials surrounding this area suggested that the raw materials for porcelain making were quite sufficient. According to the analytical data on the mining material species generated with the help of the X-ray diffractometer and the Raman technology, kaolin clay, sericite porcelain stone, calcite stone, Zijin clay with high volume of hematite, and quartz mines, etc. The glaze stone here was a mixture of mining materials including the microcrystalline of calcite stone, mica, and quartz, etc., hence the Site used to have the condition to made its own glaze. In regardless white porcelain, bluish white porcelain, celadon, or black porcelain, all of their raw materials could be found in this area – the Site had all raw materials to produce all kinds of porcelains.

Due to the fact that a diversity of porcelains including white porcelain, bluish white porcelain, celadon, and black porcelain were discovered in this Site, it is reasonable to believe that since the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the kiln workers here had already respectively mastered the formula and techniques to produce the glaze – body binary (possibly more than the binary). This technique was far ahead than its counterpart employed by Jingdezhen (the Yuan Dynasty) for almost 300 years. The kiln used to produce white porcelain, bluish white porcelain, celadon, and black porcelain simultaneously, among which the bluish white porcelain enjoyed the highest quality. The abundant mining materials located around the Site’s area were supportive to this kind of techniques, which maintained the producing of various porcelains in the same kiln.

The comparative study between the transparent bluish white porcelain from the Yingou Kiln and its fine-made counterpart from the Lv’s Family Cemetery at Lantian were carried out with the EDXRF detector. Through the comparison between their glaze-bodies’ chemical components, it was found that their basic elements were the same, while both were obviously different from the bluish white porcelain excavated from the Jingdezhen Pit. Therefore, the bluish white porcelains species from the Lv’s Family Cemetery and the Yingou Site shared the same origin, and the Site should be the place of origin. Such high quality, high class, and high standard productions were both at the top level, which were likely not coincidence.

The field investigation at the Ganniyuan area, Baimiao County within the region discovered kilns that could be dated to the late Tang Dynasty to Song Dynasty. A number of kiln tools were found on the ground, among which the M-shape bowl confirmed that the kilns in this area were the ones for porcelain making which required high temperature. This discovery provided fact evidence to make sure the nature of the kilns in this area. Additionally, porcelain clay was also discovered at the field, which corresponded to the convention of the Tang and Song Dynasty to establish kilns at the producing area of the mining raw material.

By analysing the unearthed species from the Site with a viewpoint of the craft technology, both the celadon and the white porcelain’s thickness of the body, equality, and round feet were very regulated. And their kinds were also diversified yet regulated as well. Such evidences suggest that the tools and moulds used here were very advanced, and the wheelers here had a high accuracy. In particular, the bluish white porcelain, which had an exquisite body and a high porcelain comprehension, proved that its transparency, whiteness of the body, strength, and producing temperature, etc., had all reached the highest level of the Jingdezhen Kiln in the Ming Dynasty. It had a high vitreous level of the glaze, a well combined glaze-body structure, a high-quality glaze surface, elegant engravings, and sophisticated craft techniques. The types of ceramic fragments found in the Site were very rich, and their craft techniques were considerably advanced, especially the white porcelain (bluish white porcelain) could be ranked top in its time, being quite rare in the Chinese history of porcelains. From this perspective, it could be concluded that the kiln production at the Yingou Site should have its own remarkable position in the history of the Chinese porcelains.