Tiantai Earth City Ruins

Tiantai Earth City Ruins

The Tiantai Earth City Ruins are a protected cultural heritage site of Hubei Province.

Earth City Ruins

Located in Tucheng Bay, Tucheng Village, Shihexian Town, Tianmen City, this is a Western Zhou Dynasty site, covering an area of approximately 42,000 square meters. The shape of the city wall is roughly like a shoe sole, approximately 510 meters long from north to south and up to 280 meters wide from east to west. Outside the city wall, remnants of a moat about 80–100 meters wide can be found. The rammed earth city wall stands approximately 4–6 meters high at its highest remaining sections, with the top being 4–6 meters wide and the base 10–20 meters wide. Two trial excavations were carried out in 1982 and 1989, revealing that the entire city wall was built on top of the late Shijiahe cultural layer. The latest artifacts found within the city wall included fragments of Western Zhou pottery li tripods. There are large areas of Western Zhou cultural deposits and relics within the city. (First Batch)

Source: Hubei Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau

Further Reading:

· First Batch of Protected Cultural Heritage Sites in Hubei Province