Ancient kiln found in Xi'an

Archaeologists have recently discovered a kiln, dating back to the Tang Dynasty. They have also unearthed many rarely seen ceramic relics in Xi'an, the capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

The recently discovered Tang Dynasty kiln [Credit: CNTV]

This ancient multi-chamber kiln was found at a construction site in Xi'an. It was arranged in good order, with one long firing chamber, pierced with three smaller chambers on each side. 

Gao Bo, archaeologist of Xi'an Inst. of Historic Relic Archaeology, said, "We've found six chambers sharing one firing chamber, and all of them are on the same level, in the shape of the Chinese character fei. This kind of kiln is rarely-seen in Xi'an." 

The recently discovered Tang Dynasty kiln [Credit: CNTV]

Archaeologists say that the scale of the kiln is quite large, since most kilns in the Tang Dynasty have only two or three chambers. After clearance, they noticed that most unearthed relics are raw construction materials. 

Archaeologists also unearthed some ceramic bowls and pots, as well as several funeral objects. These relics are valuable for researching the pottery-making industry in the Tang Dynasty. 

The recently discovered Tang Dynasty kiln [Credit: CNTV]

Gao Bo said, "The discovery of this kiln is important for our research about pottery craft in the Tang Dynasty, and the evolution of Chinese kilns." 

Since the relics range from construction materials to objects used in daily life, specialists are still not sure if it's used for officials or civilians. 

Source: CNTV [March 16, 2012]