The Liujiawa site of the Rui state of the Eastern Zhou in Chengcheng County, Shaanxi Province

Abstract

In 2017 and 2018, Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology and other institutions conducted a rescue excavation to the Liujiawa site, which recovered features including city site, ditches (moats), rammed-earth foundations, burials, and unearthed bronze ding-cauldrons with “Rui Gong (Duke of Rui)” inscription, as well as bronze gui-tureens, chime bells, zheng-bells, chime music stones, jade ge-dagger axes, and other ritual and musical instruments. The scale of the site and the ranks of the artifacts all showed that the Liujiawa site was the site of the capital of the Rui state at its late stage in the early and mid Spring-and-Autumn period; the bronze chime bells and chime music stones unearthed at this site provided critical materials for the studies on the development history of ancient musical instruments and musical archaeology of China.