Ancient City Village Site

Ancient City Village Site

Ancient City Village Site is a cultural heritage protection unit of Shanxi Province.

Ancient City Village Site (Fifth Batch of Provincial-Level Protected Sites)

Era: Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Han Dynasty

Location: Eastern platform area of Gucheng Natural Village, Chengbei Village, Longquan Town, Xixian County, Linfen City

The overall shape of the ancient city site is unclear. The city walls were mostly built along the natural terrain. Currently, only small sections of the eastern and southern city walls remain. The earthen walls are made of pure compacted soil, with rammed pits about 4 cm in diameter, and layers about 7–10 cm thick. In the northeastern corner of the site, there is an approximately circular earthen platform about 5 m high, with a perimeter of about 55–60 m, and earthen layers about 10 cm thick. The widest part at the top is about 8 m. No pottery shards or other relics were found on the platform, but a large number of rope-patterned tubular tiles were distributed below the platform. The cultural deposits within the ancient city are relatively thick, mostly plain or rope-patterned tile ends.

The remaining eastern city wall is also the longest preserved section, standing 3–4 m high, with the top up to 5 m wide at its broadest point. Overall, the eastern wall stretches over 600 m from north to south. The “Ancient City Village Site,” located to the south, has a thick and rich cultural layer, mainly comprising semi-circular plain tile ends, circular tile ends of tubular tiles, and the very common flat tiles. The period dates back to the Warring States and Han Dynasties. Of particular importance is a broken fragment of a Western Han Dynasty circular inscribed tile featuring the character “萬” (ten thousand), with the full inscription reading “千秋万岁” (a thousand autumns and ten thousand years). Such auspicious inscriptions were not typical of ordinary residences or general buildings, indicating the presence of official facilities such as government offices in the ancient city during the Western Han period.

The site retains existing city walls and earthen wall remains, with relatively thick cultural deposits and a dense distribution of relics, including plain half-tile ends, rope-patterned flat tiles, as well as a small number of painted pottery shards. The site is associated with the “Puyang Ancient City” of the Warring States and Han Dynasties and is one of the more intact and typical city sites preserved in the Lüliang Mountain area of western Shanxi from that period. It holds significant value for studying the layout of cities at that time.

Source: Shanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau

Chengbei Village: Chengbei Village... More detailed information on Chengbei Village++

Further Reading:

· Fifth Batch of Shanxi Provincial Cultural Heritage Protection Units