Chinese archaeologists are calling the bronze ware unearthed in a
Shaanxi
Province: village "a major archaeological discovery in the 21st
century."
"I
was shocked when I saw these relics," said Li Boqian, director of
the Archaeological Department of Beijing University, at Wednesday's
seminar in Xi'an, the provincial capital of Shaanxi, to discuss the
importance and value of the excavation of the 27 bronze pieces.
On
Jan. 19, residents of Yangjia Village presented the relics they had
stumbled upon. The findings have been placed in the museum for
cultural relics in Baoji, a city 200 km to the west of Xi'an.
Preliminary research showed the bronze pieces belonged to a family
with the surname of "Shan" believed to have lived during the reign
of King Zhouxuan in the Western Zhou Dynasty (1100-771 BC). All the
pieces bear ancient Chinese characters.
The inscriptions relate the history of the 12 kings who ruled the
Western Zhou Dynasty, Li said.
According to Liu Huaijun, an archaeologist in Shaanxi, a large
number of Western Zhou bronze pieces have been unearthed in three
large-scale excavations near the site of Jan. 19 discovery.
Li
Xueqin, director of the Institute of History of the Chinese Academy
of Social Sciences, told Xinhua that the value of an archaeological
discovery is determined by its archaeological and historical
usefulness.
Both Li Xueqin and Li Boqian are members of a government team which
conducts research on the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties
(11thcentury-256 BC).
(People's Daily January 30, 2003)