New discoveries have been made at the Xiwubi site in Jiangxian County, Shanxi, which fills the gap in China’s metallurgical archaeology. The Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology stated on the 19th that archaeologists found a special site in the Erlitou cultural period. Charcoal kiln, which is the earliest charcoal kiln discovered so far in China.
Since 2018, a joint archaeological team composed of the National Museum of China, the Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology and the Yuncheng Cultural Relics Conservation Institute has carried out continuous archaeological work at the Xiwubi site, confirming that the site is a large-scale and professional site during the Xia and Shang period. Copper smelting site with a high degree of chemistry.
Local archaeologists discovered a special relic during excavation in the eastern area of the copper smelting remains concentrated in the ruins. Through refined excavation, it is fully exposed. In order to understand its nature, archaeologists combined the archaeological background to find clues from folk materials, and verified them through experimental archaeology, and finally determined that the special relic was a charcoal kiln from the Erlitou cultural period.
Archaeological and documentary data show that charcoal was widely used in the fields of heating, metallurgy, and moisture prevention in the pre-Qin period, and the amount used was very large, but in the past, there has never been a place where charcoal was produced during the Xia and Shang periods in field archaeological work.
Tian Wei, the executive leader of the Xiwubi archaeological excavation project, believes that the charcoal kiln in the Erlitou cultural period at the Xiwubi site is the earliest relic of charcoal kilns discovered so far in China. The discovery of this relic is to study the early production, use of charcoal and the quality of early charcoal. The problem provides important materials, and at the same time adds new materials to restore the copper smelting production work chain and clarify the layout of the copper smelting workshop, which has relatively important academic significance. (over)
Original title: The earliest charcoal kiln found in China so far in Shanxi