Chinese archaeologists have discovered traces of a territory ruled by a nobleman dating back to around 3,000 years ago in Shaanxi Province. This finding opens a new picture of how the Western Zhou Dynasty maintained the capital and controlled its territory.
As reported by China Daily, quoted Tuesday, June 23, the findings were at the Changchun Site, Fuping County, Shaanxi Province. After four years of research, archaeologists concluded that the area was a caiyi, a region given by the Zhou king to the royal family or trusted officials.
In the Western Zhou Dynasty, around the 11th century BC to 771 BC, the power of the kingdom was not only based on the two capitals, Fenghao in the present-day Xi'an region and Luoyi in Luoyang. The kingdom was also supported by a network of noble territories spread across the core power area.
Caiyi generally had its own government, collected taxes, maintained trade and communication routes, and remained under the control of the kingdom.
The discovery of the Changchun Site was included in the list of China's 10 best archaeological findings of 2025 compiled by the China National Cultural Heritage Administration.
Excavations began in 2022 as an effort to rescue looted tombs. But the results were much bigger. Archaeologists discovered a residential and burial complex in eastern Guanzhong, an area that used to be an important part of the Zhou kingdom.
The site covers about 2.2 million square meters. Inside it is a large settlement and a cemetery complex of 200,000 square meters.
According to the chief archaeologist Li Yanfeng, the Guanzhong area has been the center of research on Western Zhou. However, most of the research has been done in the western region so that the eastern part still has many questions.
The report said the cemetery complex in Changchun contained more than 3,150 graves and war graves. A total of 12 large-sized graves had a grave passage, a feature that usually indicates a high social status.
"A cemetery complex of this size, with so many large tombs with aisles, has never been found before in eastern Guanzhong and is still rare in Western Zhou archaeology," Li said, as quoted by China Daily.
All the tombs face northeast and are neatly arranged according to size. The higher north is occupied by large and medium tombs, while the south contains small tombs.
Excavations also found elite tombs with three layers of coffins. Many tombs contained war chariots that were deliberately dismantled and placed as burial supplies, a tradition common in the Zhou era.
Although many tombs have been looted for a long time, a number of important artifacts are still being found. Among them are gold ornaments in the shape of animal masks, jade plaques with dragon motifs, and objects made from coral fossils.
After finding the cemetery area, archaeologists searched for the location of the residence of the people who were buried there. They then found a residential area of about 2 million square meters south of the cemetery.
The settlement is surrounded by the Shichuan River, one of its tributaries, and two artificial moats. One of the moats separates the residential area from the tomb area.
To understand the spatial layout of the area, the researchers traced the traces of roads, water channels, and defense structures. They found a network of artificial ditches that formed a checkerboard pattern.
According to Li, the pattern is reminiscent of the urban planning of the Xia and Shang Dynasties. However, in Changchun, the spatial layout is built following the water network.
Wang Wei, a senior archaeologist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said such a layout had never been found before at the West Zhou site.
Further excavations revealed a fairly large production area of handicrafts. Archaeologists found evidence of bronze casting, pottery making, to the production of tools from deer horns.
In an area of 50,000 square meters, 30 pottery firing kilns were found. The scale is equivalent to the ceramic production area in the ancient capital of Fenghao.
Near a workshop for making arrowheads from deer horns, the remains of four people were found. DNA analysis showed that two of them had a mother-child relationship.
Studies of their skeletons show heavy physical activity performed repeatedly over the long term and poor health conditions. According to Li, the findings are consistent with the profile of professional artisans.
Based on the size of the settlement, the layout, the cemetery complex, and its population composition, the researchers believe that the Changchun Site was one of the major aristocratic regions during the Western Zhou period.
The caiyi system emerged at the beginning of the Western Zhou Dynasty as a way for the kingdom to manage the territory while rewarding the royal family and meritorious officials.
Unlike subordinate states that are on the border, caiyi are concentrated in the core region of the kingdom. The ruler can manage the territory and collect revenue, but does not have the political, military, and diplomatic authority as the ruler of the subordinate state.
According to Li, this site likely developed when the influence of the Zhou Dynasty began to weaken. At that time, the kingdom needed a buffer region to help protect Fenghao as a center of power.
"A well-designed and fully functional princely territory like this provides an important example for understanding the political and organizational structure of the state during the Western Zhou Dynasty," Wang said, quoted by China Daily.
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