Among the 69 ash pits some are very valuable. For example the Ash pit H52, which was found at the south most of the excavation area, yielded various objects including bronze basins, iron animal head applique, arrow heads, ceramic building roofs, bronze brushes, millstones, stone balls, floor bricks, jars, coins and vessel handles. Some pits contain plenty of seals and burnt earth.

Totally 6 urn remains have been found in some pits and 5 of them were uncovered, yielding some bone fragments and a human skull.

Ceramic piles, for example TD8 and TD10, were found in the north most area. They are mainly gray clay tile pieces, including arc shaped and flat tiles. There are 3 house foundations; all were found in the middle of the excavation area. The House F1 has a plan in the shape of 凸.

The excavation yields a great deal of artifacts, which are made of bronze, iron, ceramic and stone. There are a great number of seals with various characters, telling that they are mostly private items. Bronze objects are mainly various coins, crossbows, mirrors, belt hookers and arrow heads. There is a bronze belt hooker decorating with a running horse. Iron wares are mainly farming implements. Some iron thorns are also found. In the Ash pit H48 an iron baking tray has been found.

Numerous in variety tile ends were collected. They are engraved with cloud pattern, Chinese characters, images and persimmon-stem shaped patterns. Chinese characters read “Qianqiu Wansui” and “Yang”. The latter word probably was originally “Guyang”, with the former character “Gu” lost. Ceramic wares include celadon, white porcelain, white and blue porcelain. Most of them only remain the bottom or mouth. Stone objects are mainly millstones, mortars and whetstones.

The excavation to the Guyang city-site is a new progress for study on the Han Dynasty county sites on the reaches of Huai River. The achievement provides new materials for exploring the social history of Han dynasties of this area.

Editor: Liu Xiongfei