Digging into Beijing's birth

Echoing recordings

According to ancient recordings, Lord Shao, a member of Zhou royal family with the official title of Taibao was entrusted with founding the Yan state. In 2021, the discovery at Liulihe of inscribed ritual bronze ware in a nobleman's tomb, coded M1902, vividly brought that history back to life.

The simple phrase taibao yong yan ("Taibao built the city of Yan") directly connected this archaeological site to the key chapter of history for the first time. Other inscriptions also mentioned Lord Shao organizing a sacrifice at the palace of the Duke of Yan as a groundbreaking ceremony.

"This monumental finding of these inscriptions also indicates that a palace city could already have existed when Lord Shao came," Wang says. "He might have built a new city, probably the outer city we recently excavated."

Some histories are written, while others are hidden in the earth. Following the clues, Wang's team is still working to look for the palace. Their mission is to put together the pieces and work up an overview of the era.

During the current round of excavations, 17 tombs with burial passages, including M1902, indicating that their inhabitants were either of the ruling dukes' family or aristocrats, were found at Liulihe.

Wang says that DNA analysis has identified four generations of Yan dukes. As there is no mention of Yan lineage after Lord Shao in surviving documents until nine generations later, she says it is a key reference in filling in the gaps of history.

In-depth research of individual samples could also help to reveal a bigger picture, according to Wang.

Wu Xiaohong, director of the Commission of Archaeological Chronology of the Chinese Society of Archaeology, and her team have been unraveling the puzzles surrounding the man who had long been sleeping in M1902. According to bronze inscriptions, the remains are those of a historian named Huan.

Based on 60 samples collected from 40 spots around the tomb, radiocarbon dating is providing a picture of Huan's life.

"He was 40 to 45 years old when he died, probably some time between 1045 and 1010 BC," Wu says. "It not only unrolls the time of the beginning of Beijing, but also helps solve the chronological issue of the Western Zhou as a whole."

Due to the lack of an accurate timeline, opinion about when the Western Zhou Dynasty was established has varied, with 1046 BC being the most widely accepted answer based on the study of documents, archaeological and astronomical evidence.

"Huan witnessed the groundbreaking ceremony shortly after the Western Zhou Dynasty was founded, and the carbon dating results could provide supporting evidence," Wu adds.