The Capital of Yan State in Western Zhou Dynasty (11th century-771BC)

Geographical Location: Fangshan County, Beijing

Period: 11th century-8th century BC

Excavated in 1973

Significance: The site has provided important material objects for the study of the early history of the State of Yan, as well as its relationship with the Western Zhou Dynasty.

Introduction

In China, this ancient city ruins unearthed in the Dongjialin Village at Liulihe(琉璃河Liúlíhé), Fangshan District, is the earliest city in the history of Beijing.

The Liulihe Site, covering an area of nearly 5 million square meters, is the ruins of the capital of Yan State in early Western Zhou Dynasty. In the site, city walls, moats, foundations of houses and graveyards were discovered and a large number of precious bronze wares, jade and stone wares were excavated. So far, 200 or so royal tombs have been unearthed.

An ash pit was found there, with a lot of potsherd and oracle bone inscriptions. On one of the oracle bones unearthed in Ash Pit 108 there are two characters Chengzhou. Chengzhou was built in the early Zhou during the King Cheng reign, thus it implies that the early Liulihe Culture existed in the early Zhou years.