故宫长信门明代建筑遗址2016-2017年发掘简报

Briefing on Archaeological Excavation of Ming Architecture Site of Changxinmen Gate of the Forbidden City 2016-2017

2016年故宫博物院考古研究所对慈宁宫花园东院遗址的长信门探坑进行随工清理和发掘,发现明代早期墙基类建筑及其附属的夯土与碎砖瓦交互层、木质桩承台、基槽等遗存。2017年又在慈宁宫花园东院北端即长信门东南侧发现地层关系、营造工艺与长信门探坑遗存一致的明早期墙基类建筑遗迹。经过科技检测,长信门探坑木质桩承台木材采样的碳十四测年数据集中在公元1420-1450年之间,探坑底部黄砂层采样的光释光测年数据为距今约1800年。结合文献记载、考古发现和科技考古工作,可以确认长信门为明代建筑,长信门探坑出土的青胎砖、瓦、构件和琉璃瓦等建筑材料残块和陶瓷残片为元皇宫遗物,探坑底部黄砂层、淤泥层为古高粱河流经紫禁城区域的自然遗存。

Approved by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage,the Archaeological Research Institute of the Palace Museum conducted archaeological excavation to the Changxinmen pit located at the eastern courtyard site of the Cining Palace Garden in 2016 and 2017,followed by the successive discoveries of the early Ming wall base site with the alterative layers overlapped between the rammed earth and broken bricks and tiles,wooden pile caps,foundation trenches,etc.The wall base ruins later excavated in the southeast to Changxinmen Gate share the stratum relation,construction techniques with the Changxinmen pit.The scientific test result indicates the carbon 14 dating data of the wood sampling of the wooden pile caps of the Changxinmen pit ranges within 1420 and 1450 AD,the optical luminescence dating data of the yellow sand layer at the bottom of the pit is about 1800 years ago.It is judged by the combination of historical documents,archaeological discoveries and scientific and technological archeology research that Changxinmen Gate was built in the Ming dynasty.The gray bricks,tiles,structural elements,glazed tiles and ceramic pieces unearthed in the pit of Changxinmen Gate are the remains of the Yuan Imperial Palace site,whereas the layers of both yellowish sandstone grains and sludge at the bottom of the pit are left behind after the ancient sorghum river flowing through the Forbidden City.