The piece of oracle bone inscribed with the characters Qin ren (the Qin people) Photo: Courtesy of Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology

Chinese archaeologists have uncovered a well-preserved rammed-earth architectural complex at the Zhouyuan site in Baoji, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, which consists of three successive city walls - the palace city, the main city, and secondary city walls - from the Western Zhou ­Dynasty (1046BC-771BC). 

Among the discoveries is a piece of oracle bone inscribed with the characters Qin ren (­literally Qin people), making it the earliest known written record of the local Qin people, ­according to a document that the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology sent to the Global Times on Sunday.

More than 200 oracle bone fragments were discovered outside the southern wall of the palace city, said the document.

"This excavation marks the first discovery of oracle bones inscribed with the characters Qin ren, which represent the earliest known ­written record of the Qin period," Zhong ­Jianrong, director of the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, told the Global Times on Sunday. 

"The discovery of these oracle bones provides valuable physical evidence for the study of oracle bone scripts and the history of the Western Zhou period." 

The palace city, situated in the northern part of the secondary city, covers 500,000 square meters and has a grid-like road network. 

In the southwest area of the excavation site, archaeologists unearthed two large buildings from the pre-Western Zhou ­period stretching over 150 meters from north to south. 

Their main structure measures 68 meters in length and 34 to 37 meters in width, covering over 2,500 square meters.

They consists of a gatehouse, wing rooms, a front hall, rear chambers, and both front and rear courtyards. 

This is the first pre-Zhou cultural building to be fully excavated at the Zhouyuan site and the largest pre-Zhou building uncovered to date.

The main city, spanning 2,700 meters from east to west and 1,800 meters from north to south, covers 5.2 million square meters. 

Excavations of key areas, including the southeast and southwest corners and gates, indicate that the city was built during the late Western Zhou period.

The southeast city gate features an impressive structure, including a 95-meter-long city platform, inner and outer moats, and wide entry roads, an ­unprecedented discovery at pre-Qin urban sites. 

The secondary city, located to the northwest of the main city, spans 1.75 million square meters.

Excavations suggest its walls date back to the transition from the Shang to the Zhou dynasties (c.1600BC-771BC) and were abandoned by the early Spring and Autumn period (770BC-476BC). The size of this city exceeds that of other settlements of the time.

It is worth noting that human and animal remains were also found in the trench on the southern gate's western side with human remains of 40 to 100 individuals, ranging from infants to the elderly alongside bones from cattle, sheep, dogs and horses. This discovery is highly unusual for such a location.

These findings offer crucial evidence that the Zhouyuan site may have been the capital of the Zhou Dynasty before the fall of the Shang Dynasty.

The discovery of the three concentric city walls, particularly the city gates, has enhanced our understanding of the settlement patterns at the Zhouyuan site and contributes vital insights to the history of ancient Chinese urban development, as reported by CCTV News.