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Ji or Jicheng was an ancient city in northern China, which has become the longest continuously inhabited section of modern Beijing. Historical mention of Ji dates to the founding of the Zhou dynasty in about 1045 BC. Archaeological finds in southwestern Beijing where Ji was believed to be located date to the Spring and Autumn period. The city of Ji served as the capital of the ancient states of Ji and Yan until the unification of China by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC. Thereafter, the city was a prefectural capital for Youzhou through the Han dynasty, Three Kingdoms, Western Jin dynasty, Sixteen Kingdoms, Northern Dynasties, and Sui dynasty. With the creation of a Jizhou (蓟州) during the Tang dynasty in what is now Tianjin Municipality, the city of Ji took on the name Youzhou. Youzhou was one of the Sixteen Prefectures ceded to the Khitans during the Five Dynasties. The city then became the southern capital of the Liao dynasty and then main capital of the Jin dynasty (1115–1234). In the 13th century, Kublai Khan built a new capital city for the Yuan dynasty adjacent to Ji to the north. The old city of Ji became a suburb to Dadu. In the Ming dynasty, the old and new cities were merged by Beijing's Ming-era city wall.
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Yejiashan Cemetery is an ancient Western Zhou cemetery and archaeological site in Suizhou, Hubei, China. Extensive archaeological excavations at Yejiashan have uncovered 65 tombs and one horse pit, recovering over 700 artifacts including ceramic and proto-porcelain vessels, bronzes, and jades. Notably, some bronzes have inscriptions of “Zeng 曾”, “Hou 侯 (marquis)”, “Zeng Hou 曾侯 ”, “Zeng Hou Jian 曾侯谏 ”. This evidence, combined with the style of the other burial goods, suggests that Yejiashan Cemetery was the family cemetery of the Marquis of Zeng in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. Archaeological research at Yejiashan Cemetery has significantly bettered our understanding of the relationships between the Zeng, E (噩), and Chu states to the east of the Han River in the early Western Zhou.
Majiayuan (Ch:马家垸遗址) is an 3rd-2nd century BCE archaeological site in Gansu, China. The site is considered as belonging to rulers of the culture of the Xirong, recently subjugated by the state of Qin, who included them within the defensive wall of King Zhao of Qin, built in 271 BCE. It is rather similar to another Xirong site about 50 km away, the Wangjiawa cemetery (王家洼墓地). Majiayuan was a zone of interraction between the Chinese and their nomadic neighbours to the west and north during the Warring States period.
References
- ↑ George Modelski, World Cities: –3000 to 2000, Washington DC: FAROS 2000, 2003. ISBN 0-9676230-1-4.
- ↑ 西周燕都遗址博物馆
- Allan, Sarah (ed), The Formation of Chinese Civilization: An Archaeological Perspective, ISBN 0-300-09382-9