Kublai Khaan’s Imperial Palace Discovered Under the Forbidden City

New Historian

Posted By: Ginger PeralesPosted date: May 09, 2016

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www.newhistorian.com...
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The relics have been lying underground, buried for more than 600 years, beneath the feet of museum experts. The museum told the South China Morning Post the relics had been unearthed last year, but testing to confirm their age has only just been completed.
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The sprawling complex known as the Forbidden City was the location of China’s imperial palace from 1420, during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasties (1644-1911). Experts from the museum said in a statement that they had uncovered the foundation of the royal palace from the Yuan dynasty at an archeological dig site in the center of the Forbidden City. Archeologists had begun localized excavations at the site to learn more about its architecture and construction history.
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Interesting.

I think it's a bit sad that they evidently have decided not to excavate further in order to protect current Forbidden City buildings etc.

It seems to me that given Chinese ingenuity, they could figure out a way to do both. Evidently it's not that kind of priority to them.

I'd love to see what pottery they might unearth.

I don't recall the specific percentage, but IIRC, DNA studies have confirmed that Genghis Khan--the great grandfather? sired enough children over his entire empire such that 10% or some much larger percentage of men in that vast region are his descendants.

Seems strange that ancient cultures buried cities and built on top of them. They didn't have dump trucks or excavators back then. It seems like it would take a lot of work to do that. Was there a hill nearby that could have fueled a landslide? Was there a big sandstorm or a volcano that spread ash? I wonder what buried it?

originally posted by: rickymouse
Seems strange that ancient cultures buried cities and built on top of them. They didn't have dump trucks or excavators back then. It seems like it would take a lot of work to do that. Was there a hill nearby that could have fueled a landslide? Was there a big sandstorm or a volcano that spread ash? I wonder what buried it?

I haven't read the article but mostly it's not a case of an actual city buried underground, the buildings in the old city have been demolished at some point and new buildings built on the land, creating a new city.

This of course leaves relics behind also foundations of buildings, pathways marked, stones walls etc.
This way they can outline and estimate the size of the city.

a reply to: rickymouse
Since they had no concrete, it would be comparatively easy to demolish a house down to the foundations and smooth over the surface of what was left. I suspect that "building on top of" was a gradual process, one building at a time.
The attractions that brought them to that site in the first place would have kept them there.

a reply to: rickymouse

Many places in Europe did this, too. Many of Europe's large cities are built on top of older ruins, while others have extensive catacombs underneath them. Jerusalem is also like this, to an extent. When people live in the same area for hundreds to thousands of years, it's bound to happen.

a reply to: rickymouse


I've often wondered that, too.

However, having lived in China . . . their 'trash dumps' can be incredible--just with person carried stuff.

And, I wonder how much stuff a sandstorm off the desert West of Beijing can dump there.

Still, such a high priority piece of real estate would seem likely to be protected.

One part of the article talked about the old buildings being "taken away" to build the new. Quite plausible.

Cool article.

As far as building on top of other temples or palaces.

The ancient chinese capital of chang'an was three times bigger and populated than rome was at the same time period. Much more advanced technologically too. So impressive was chang'an that the japanese modeled their capital kyoto after the city plans of chang'an to make a mini replica of the famous chinese capital. But there very little left of the city today. The modern city of Xian has been built on top of it.

The aztec and mayan pyramids are all like russian dolls built on top of or encasing older pyramids their ancestors had built. Most several times over.