Ancient Kiln Site in Jiaocheng

Ancient Kiln Site in Jiaocheng

The Ancient Kiln Site in Jiaocheng is a cultural heritage site protected at the provincial level in Shanxi Province.

Ancient Kiln Site

Ancient Kiln Site (Third Batch of Provincial-Level Protected Sites)

Era: Tang Dynasty

Location: Ciyao Village, 3 km northeast of Jiaocheng County

The Tang and Song dynasty kiln sites overlap with the Ciyao site, which belongs to the late Neolithic period and dates back about 6,000–4,000 years. The Tang and Song kiln sites are divided into an eastern riverside area and a western riverside area. The eastern riverside area is 200 meters long from north to south and 200 meters wide from east to west; the western riverside area is 300 meters long from north to south and 200 meters wide from east to west. A large number of ceramic fragments in black, white, blue, yellowish-brown, and other colors are piled up, with some sections reaching a thickness of 1 meter. The artifacts mainly include daily-use pottery such as basins, bowls, and jars, along with a small number of rare specimens featuring white glaze with green speckles and white glaze with red speckles. According to *The History of Chinese Ceramics*, the Tang and Song kilns in Ciyao Village, Jiaocheng, are noted as: “...Jiaocheng in Shanxi is one of the newly discovered ancient kiln sites from the Tang and Song dynasties in the Shanxi region in recent years. In the Tang dynasty ruins, many specimens of black-glazed spotted waist drums were also found, but they differ slightly from those of the previous two kilns (referring to Duan Dian in Lushan, Henan, and Xia Baiyu in Yuxian). The waist drums from the Jiaocheng kiln are smaller in size, have thinner bodies, and the spots show clear brush marks.” The discovery of the Jiaocheng kiln waist drums provides important information for research on the origin of painted ceramic waist drums from the Tang dynasty.

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Provincial-Level Cultural Heritage Protected Sites in Shanxi Province