Download Recurrence of Yuan Dynasty sluice from Zhidanyuan relics and

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Chinese Science Bulletin 2003 Vol. 48 No. 22 2507ü2511
Recurrence of Yuan Dynasty
sluice from Zhidanyuan relics
and paleostream evolution
1
2
1
ZHANG Yulan , SONG Jian & ZHAO Quanhong
1. Key Laboratory of Marine Geology of the Ministry of Education,
Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China;
2. Shanghai Museum, Shanghai 200003, China
Abstract The excavation of Shanghai Zhidanyun relics
makes the recurrence of a splendid Yuan Dynasty sluice. It is
a good example for the study of Shanghai history in the Wusongjiang River irrigation, the ancient shipping and the town
development. Based on the data of microfossil Pediastrum,
Zygnema, Concentricystes, diatom, foraminifera and ostracods from the sediment section of the relics, the paleostream
change after the construction of the sluice was guessed. The
paleostream was influenced by the sea water due to the connection with the sea in the earlier stage. The upstream of the
sea water was enhanced in the middle stage that was indicated by the increase of marine diatoms and foraminifera.
The decrease of marine diatoms and foraminifera in abundance reflected that the connection of the paleostream with
the sea was reduced, and the sea influence was decreased
gradually in the later stage.
Keywords: Zhidanyuan relics, sluice, paleostream, algae,
ostracods, foraminifera.
DOI: 10.1360/03wd0253
Shanghai is located near the mouth of the Changjiang River, the longest one in China. It reaches the Changjiang River in the north, Hangzhou Bay in the south, East
China Sea in the east and the Taihu Lake Plate in the west.
Shanghai is the traffic center of eastern China, the most
important industry base, and the trade and financial center.
The history of the land appearance in Shanghai is not
very long, and the land area was quite small before the
Han Dynasty. Shanghai is considered unimportant in the
history before the modern times. For a long time, it has
been always thought that no ancient relics exist in Shanghai for archaeological study. In fact, however, as early as
in the 1930s, Jin Zutong, Wei Juxian and others investigated the relics of Qijiadun area, and found the Qijiadun
relics[1] that was the first time in Shanghai. After 1949, a
large number of excavations have been made by the
Shanghai archaeologists for the ancient relics. Several
decades of relics have been unearthed successively,
ü
ü
including the relics of Songze[2 4], Guangfulin[5 7], Maü
qiao[8 10], Fuquanshan[11], Guoyuancun[12], Jinshanting[13]
lin , Fengxian Jianghai[14], Qingpu Siqian[15], tombs of
the Warring States and Western Han[16] in the outskirt of
Jiading, Zhangyi tomb of the Southern Song Dynasty in
Chinese Science Bulletin Vol. 48 No. 22 November 2003
Minhang’s Zhuhang[17], and Pan family’s tomb of the
Ming Dynasty in Shanghai urban districts[18]. A distinct
figure of the time and space distribution of ancient culture
in Shanghai has been understood well based on decades’
field work. An archaeological frame and time model have
been erected from the Majiabang culture to Songze,
Liangzhu, Maqiao and Shangzhou cultures[1]. All of these
are precious data for the reconstruction of the archaeological time model of the areas around the Taihu Lake and
for the study of culture pedigree.
Most of the relics mentioned above are situated in
Shanghai suburbs, rarely found in urban districts. The
previous archaeological researches were rarely combined
with the sediment environment reconstruction. The excavation of the Zhidanyuan relics in August of 2002 opened
a new page for the archaeological history in Shanghai City,
providing the best example for the study of the Wusongjiang irrigation, shipping and town development history of
Shanghai. In addition, it will promote the study of the relationship between human and the environment to a new
level.
1 The recurrence of the sluice of the Yuan Dynasty in
Zhidanyuan relics
It is a wonder that a large-scale ancient architecture
was buried beneath the flourishing metropolitan. The
discovery of the Zhidanyuan relics is a rare example for
the study of the development history of the town irrigation.
The Zhidanyuan relics are situated near the intersection of Zhidan Road and Yanchangxi Road (Fig. 1). It was
found in May 2001, and began to excavate on August 26,
2002. Now, a large-scale, fine constructed and well preserved sluice of the Yuan Dynasty has been unearthed
from the 7-m-deep underground[19]. The sluice system lies
from east to west, and the river flowed into the gate from
west to east. It occupies an area of ~1300 m2 , and its plan
figure looks like the Chinese character “”. Two huge
square posts of the sluice gate are made of green-stone,
standing in a south-north line in the middle of the sluice
system. The width of the gate is 6.8 m between the two
posts. The upper part of the two posts was broken to a
certain extent. The southern one is 5 m high and the
northern 6 m high. The two posts have a similar width of
0.96 m and a thickness of 0.7 m. On the opposite surface
of the two posts, there is a vertical groove of 0.28 m width
and 0.17 m depth with a very flat bottom. The southern
stone bank of the sluice system is more than 32 m long,
and 12 m high. It was made of rectangular green-stones.
Each stone is 11.35 m long, 0.6 m wide and 0.30.4 m
thick. The bottom of the sluice system is the
well-preserved flat bed of stone with a length of more than
30 m. After being restored, the whole sluice system covers
an area of about 40 m long and 35 m wide, of which the
bed of stone is 32 m long and 30 m wide (Fig. 2). An in2507
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tact Yuan Dynasty bottle, the Han bottle, was discovered
nearby the sluice gate. It was named because in the Yuan
Dynasty, Han Shizhong once used it to contain wine to
reward his army[20]. Han bottles were popular at that
time. Besides the Han bottle, the archaeological team has
also dug some porcelain and fragments made of
Longquanyao with the Yuan Dynasty style, and some iron
tenons whose age is similar to the silver Yuanbao of the
Yuan Dynasty.
Fig. 1. Location of the Zhidanyuan relics (▲ sluice of Zhidanyuan).
Fig. 2. The photo of the sluice in the Zhidanyuan relics.
The Zhidanyuan relics are 1 km away from the modern northern bank of the Wusongjiang River (or the
Suzhou Creek). The Wusongjiang River once was the
main river of Shanghai area before the Ming Dynasty, and
flowed into the East China Sea. It is considered as the
“mother river” of Shanghai. According to historical data,
the Wusongjiang River flowed through today’s Huangduxiang, Fengbang, Jiangqiao, Caoyangxincun, Tanziwan,
Pudongdonggou and Huangjiadu, and finally into the East
China Sea[21]. Based on the geographical location and historical data, the Zhidanyuan sluice is inferred to be situated at the lower reaches of the Wusongjiang paleoriver,
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and was built in its branch. Ren Renfa, a Songjiang native
and an official responsible for irrigation works in the Yuan
Dynasty, was ordered to dredge the lower reaches of the
Wusongjiang River in Dade 8th year (B.C.1304), 10th
year and Taiding 1st year (B.C.1324), and several stone
and wood sluices have been built in order to limit tide[22].
The Zhidanyuan sluice was likely linked to Ren Renfa’s
work on the Wusongjiang River system.
2
Algae assemblages and the paleostream evolution
In order to study the paleostream change after the
construction of the stone sluice, we collected sediment
samples from the northern section of the Zhidanyuan relics, which is situated in the paleostream. Total 33 samples
were taken from the 4.89-m-long section with a depth
from the Wusongjiang Datum 2.4 to −2.49 m. Most of the
sampling interval is 0.15 m. The sediment of the section is
yellow brown clay at 2.4ü2.10 m intervals, bluey gray
clay at 2.10ü−1.9 m interval, and bluey gray sandy clay
at −1.9ü−2.4 m intervals. All samples have been analyzed for algae.
The following algae have been identified from the
samples: Concentricystes, Zygnema, Pediastrum, Pyrrophyta, diatom and others. Of them Concentricystes[22],
ü
Zygnema and Pediastrum[23 26] are fresh water algae, and
Pyrrophyta marine algae. In the diatom fossils, Coscinodiscus argus is a coastal marine species which was found
commonly in samples, Cos. ocuscus-iridis a eurythermal
species, Cos. oculatus a coastal species, Cos. divisus an
intertide species, Tricerateum favus an eurythermal intertide species, and Cyclotella an eurythermal coastal and
ü
intertide diatom[27 29].
Based on the changes in abundance of the different
algae fossils, the paleostream change at Zhidanyuan was
inferred to have the following three stages:
(1) Earlier stage (−2.49ü−0.8 m interval, sample
Nos. 33ü21): Diatoms found from samples are all coastal
intertide taxa, of which Coscinodiscus argus, Cos. oculatus and Tricerateum favus were commonly occurred. Marine Pyrrophyta is also common in samples of −2.49ü
−2.19 m intervals. In addition, Concentricystes and Zygnema seldom appeared. This assemblage indicates that a
mixture condition of sea water and stream water often
occurred in the earlier stage.
(2) Middle stage (−0.5ü1.8 m interval, sample Nos.
20ü5): Diatom Coscinodiscus argus, Cos. oculatus, Cos.
divisus, Tricerateum favus and debris of Coscinodiscus are
found increased in abundance, indicating that the upstream of sea water was enhanced and the paleostream at
the Zhidanyuan was more influenced by sea water than
before.
(3) Later stage (1.95ü2.4 m interval, sample Nos. 4
ü1): At this time the abundance of marine diatoms decreased greatly, and correspondingly the abundance of
Chinese Science Bulletin Vol. 48 No. 22 November 2003
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fresh-water Concentricystes and Zygnema increased. This
assemblage indicates that the connection of the paleostream at Zhidanyuan with the sea was reduced, and the
influence by the sea was weakened gradually.
3 Foraminiferal and ostracod assemblages and paleostream change
The 33 samples analyzed for algae were also used for
ostracod and foraminiferal study. Samples were sieved
into coarser (63ü150 µm) and finer (> 150 µm) fractions,
and all fractions were examined and identified for ostracods and foraminifera under the stereomicroscope.
Total 8 ostracod species belonging to 7 genera were
found in the coarser fraction. Of them Candona sp., Cypria aff. ophthalmica, Cypris aff. globasa, Ilyocypris bradyi and I. sp. are non-marine taxa; Dolerocypria mukaishimensis, Sinocytheridea impressa and Tanella opima are
brackish-water species[30]. Five foraminiferal species of 5
genera were recovered, including Elphidium kiangsuensis,
Haynesina germanica, Helenina anderseni, Ammonia
beccarii and Cribrinonion subincertum. The former three
species are brackish-water and the latter two are euryhaline taxa[31,32]. These ostracods and foraminifera are
found common in the brackish water of modern flat and
supralittoral zones of the Changjiang estuary, and can be
considered as autochthonous elements in the paleoenvironmental reconstruction [33,34] . Non-marine ostracods
occurred mainly in the upper sediments of the section
above depth of 2 m (equivalent to Wusongjiang Datum 0
m), and brackish-water ostracods and foraminifera in the
lower sediments (Fig. 3). Based on the distribution of
microfossils of different ecology in the section, it is
inferred a meso- to oligo-haline water condition with a
salinity lower than 10‰ in the earlier and middle stages,
and oligohaline water condition with a salinity no more
than 3 ‰ in the later stage.
The finer fraction contains a diverse foraminifera
(>20 species). Two groups can be distinguished in terms
of their ecological data: the shallow marine foraminifera
and the brackish-water foraminifera. The shallow marine
foraminifera were the typical allochthonous elements in
the Changjiang estuary sediments, and they were transported by the upstream tide from the sea and then deposited in the river. The brackish-water foraminifera were
autochthonous or allochthonous in the sediments. The
abundance and test size of the marine foraminifera can be
implied to infer the dynamic condition, distance from the
sea, and connection with the sea for the studied area. In
the northern Zidanyuan section, the abundance (%) of
marine foraminifera in the whole assemblage accounts for
~70% in the lower part, and then decreased upwards, indicating that the connection of the paleostream with the
sea was decreased gradually, or the influence of the sea on
the paleostream was reduced gradually.
Fig. 3. Depth distribution of microfossils in the northern section of the Zhidanyuan relics. ●, Rare occurrence;
Chinese Science Bulletin Vol. 48 No. 22 November 2003
,
common occurrence.
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4
ics, Chinese Sci. Bull., 2003, 48(3): 287ü290.
Conclusions
The excavation of the Zhidanyuan relics by Archaeology Department of the Shanghai Museum has made the
recurrence of the stone sluice of the Yuan Dynasty. This
stone sluice, being large-scale with exquisite workmanship, is a precious relic of the Yuan Dynasty. It is a rare
example for the study of the irrigation work history of the
Wusongjiang River, ancient shipping history and the
development history of towns. The stone sluice had played
an important role in the rise and development of Shanghai.
This implies that Shanghai is a great city with historical
details and full of connotation. The present discovery will
be an encouragement for Shanghai which is building into
one of the shipping centers in the world.
Based on the data of microfossil Pediastrum, Zygnema, Concentricystes, diatom, ostracods and foraminifera in sediments of the Zhidanyuan northern section, the
stream change after the construction of the sluice is inferred. The stream was affected by the connection of the
sea water in the earlier stage. The abundance of marine
diatom and foraminifera increased in the middle stage,
indicating that the upstream of the sea water was enhanced.
The decrease in abundance of marine diatoms and foraminifera reflects that the connection of the paleostream
with the sea was reduced gradually, or the influence of the
sea on the paleostream was decreased gradually in the
later stage.
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Acknowledgements We thank to Archaeology Department of Shanghai Museum for sampling, and to He Jiying, Chen Jie, Zhang Minbin and
Lu Bingquan for their assistance. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40276021 and
40146024), the State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research,
East China Normal University, and the Key Laboratory of Submarine
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(Received May 20, 2003; accepted August 1, 2003)
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