Site of Dongyang City

Site of Dongyang City

The site of Dongyang City is located at the foot of Yunshan Mountain, about 35 kilometers east of Xuyi County. In 1976, the Nanjing Museum conducted a survey and trial excavation here. Most of the earthen city walls surrounding the ancient city are still clearly visible. The city consists of two parallel sections—eastern and western—forming a roughly square layout that faces true north-south. The eastern section is relatively better preserved, with the eastern wall measuring 862 meters in length and the southern wall 933 meters in width, covering an area of over 70,000 square meters. The western section has suffered more damage, and from the remaining wall remnants, it appears to be slightly smaller than the eastern section. The combined area of the two sections is approximately 1.5 square kilometers. The walls are generally 20 meters wide and have surviving heights of 3 to 5 meters, all built by compacting layers of yellow earth. There is currently a gap in the eastern wall of the eastern section, believed to be the original location of a city gate. No moat remains have been found outside the city. Over the years, artifacts unearthed within the city include Qin dynasty bronze weights, "ban liang" coins, patterned square bricks, tree-patterned roof tiles, Han dynasty rope-patterned tiles, cloud-patterned roof tiles, as well as Han dynasty "ban liang" and "wu zhu" coins. Archaeological findings largely align with historical records indicating this site as the location of Dongyang County during the Qin and Han dynasties. There are also numerous burial grounds from the Qin and Han periods around the site. In 1974 and 1976, the Nanjing Museum excavated a group of Qin and Han tombs southeast of the city.