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Period: Sixteen States Period (304-439)
Listed in: 2004
Excavated by: the Cultural Relics and Archeological Research Institute of Liaoning Province
Archeological team leader: Tian Likun

  Site description

The site was first discovered in 2003. More than 10,000 square meters was excavated from July 2003 to December 2004, revealing a great number of cultural relics. The gate facing thesouth was initially built in the Former Yan (of the Sixteen Kingdoms Period) and sank into complete oblivion in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). It was then underwent construction and reconstruction in the six dynasties of the Former Yan, Later Northern Yan, Northern Wei (386-534), Tang (618-907) and Liao (916-1125) and Jin (1115-1234), covering over 1000 years.

This is an archeological finding rarely seen in the excavation of city ruins in China. The structure of the doorway is well preserved with a unique architectural style, which has provided archaeologists with substantial material for the study on city gate in north China in the Sixteen States Period.

  Significance

The search for Sanyan's capital city is an important task of the archeological work of the Sixteen States Period. The unearthed city gate, located at the northern point of Beijing's central axis, is concluded to be the south gate of the palatial Dragon City in the Sanyan period, which sheds light on the research on Dragon City's planning.