It is hard to remember sometimes, that Rome was not the only game in town. In fact, it wasn't even the largest game in town. The Chinese newswire Xinhua has a report of a dig at Chang'an. Not only was it the capital of the Western Han Dynasty from 202BC to AD8, at its peak it was four times the size of Rome and home to 240,000 people:
"After about five decades of work, we can map out the city's clear layout now, but we still know little about how its 240,000 residents lived," said Liu Zhendong, the head of an excavation team from the Institute of Archaeology under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), in an interview with Xinhua here.
The 12-gate, walled city had eight avenues, each of which were 45 to 55 meters wide and lined with trees.
Its wall was 12 meters high, 25,700 meters long and surrounded by an eight-meter-wide moat. To run around it would be equal to take running half marathon.
"Archaeologists have excavated several major palaces and city gates but have not discovered the residences of ordinary people," Liu said. "Did they live in courtyards like those in old Beijing? We do not know."
The city was divided into 11 neighborhoods. Those of royal families and nobles were in the city's southern part while shops, workshops and houses of common people were situated in the northeast.
Liu and his colleagues have been working in that area for months.
"Some construction material was unearthed, such as stone slabs with inscriptions of names of locations, or their owners," he said. "This area will be our focus in the coming years."
Meanwhile, the archaeologists will work on the later relics that laid upon the Western Han ruins as Chang'an remained the capital of several later kingdoms.
The 12-gate, walled city had eight avenues, each of which were 45 to 55 meters wide and lined with trees.
Its wall was 12 meters high, 25,700 meters long and surrounded by an eight-meter-wide moat. To run around it would be equal to take running half marathon.
"Archaeologists have excavated several major palaces and city gates but have not discovered the residences of ordinary people," Liu said. "Did they live in courtyards like those in old Beijing? We do not know."
The city was divided into 11 neighborhoods. Those of royal families and nobles were in the city's southern part while shops, workshops and houses of common people were situated in the northeast.
Liu and his colleagues have been working in that area for months.
"Some construction material was unearthed, such as stone slabs with inscriptions of names of locations, or their owners," he said. "This area will be our focus in the coming years."
Meanwhile, the archaeologists will work on the later relics that laid upon the Western Han ruins as Chang'an remained the capital of several later kingdoms.
Full story here. More on the history of the city here. A poem, written at the end of third century, shows what the city was like after it had been abandoned for almost 300 years. It reminds me of Gildas:
Street wards are deserted and desolate;
Town dwellings are sparsely scattered.
The buildings and offices, stations and bureaus,
Shops and markets, official storehouses,
Are now concentrated on a single corner of the wall--
Of a hundred, barely one survives...
Great bells have fallen in the ruined temple;
Bellframes have collapsed and suspend no more...
Town dwellings are sparsely scattered.
The buildings and offices, stations and bureaus,
Shops and markets, official storehouses,
Are now concentrated on a single corner of the wall--
Of a hundred, barely one survives...
Great bells have fallen in the ruined temple;
Bellframes have collapsed and suspend no more...
Terracotta Han horse head, 1st-2nd century AD, Wikipedia.
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