The excavation of the bronze casting remains in Zhuangli Locus West at Zhouyuan Site
AbstractIn the springs of the years 2003 and 2004, the two terms of excavations of Zhouyuan Archaeological Team to the Locus West of Zhuangli Village uncovered 650sq m in total, from which 27 burials, one chariot and horse pit and 57 ash pits of the Western Zhou Dynasty were excavated. This report mainly introduces the ash pits and the potteries and bronze casting implements unearthed from these ash pits and strata. The analyses to the potteries showed that the excavated remains were formed in the later stage of the mid Western Zhou Dynasty to the late Western Zhou Dynasty. The pottery molds were found in six strata, 25 pits and the fills and looting tunnels of four burials. Most of the molds were abandoned fragments after stripping, and the original types and patterns of 587 pieces of them could be identified. Most of these molds were outer molds and few of them were inner molds and cores. The molds for casting chariot and horse fittings took the first position in amount, followed by that for casting miscellanies, vessels, weapons and tools. The identified types are